Cadel Evans to seek assurances that BMC will support him for another tilt at the Tour de France

CADEL Evans' future will soon be decided in talks with BMC after the 2011 champion posted his worst Tour de France result.

CADEL Evans' future will soon be decided in talks with BMC after the 2011 champion posted his worst Tour de France result.

The Victorian wants to continue at grand tour level, but will do so only if US-Swiss outfit BMC supports his ambitions.

Evans, 36, failed to deliver on team expectations at the Tour after succumbing to exhaustion.

Philosophical after struggling merely to finish a race in which he has always been competitive, Evans cast doubt over his future - before indicating he wanted to ride beyond next season.

"I have to speak with the team and so on about what they want to work for," Evans said after dropping to 39th overall after stage 21.

"The Tour de France is not something you do on your own."(I need to speak to) a lot of people and see what they want to do, whether they're still confident in me and so on.

"If I'm gonna go on, I need a lot of people behind me to support me in that.

"So that's gonna be a part of it but right now is probably not a good time - the state of (how) things are going - not a good time to reflect on those questions right now."

Evans was later more upbeat as he considered the final year of his current BMC contract.

"Going into next year and so on, first of all I have to see the team (and) what direction they want to continue in," he said. "Then sit down and set out a pathway to go next year and beyond next year.

"And then plan around that but for now at least I've had a season of two grand tours which I was missing for a few years and that's given me a really good base of racing for next year.

"I'll have some health checks and so on and see if everything is ok there and then go on and try and do a good end of season.

"So, course, while we're doing that, we'll be planning for next year."

Evans finished third in the Giro d'Italia, raising hopes he would again be one of the main contenders at the Tour.

He was never a factor, battling exhaustion and frustration.

Evans said illness wrecked his program last year and meant contesting the Giro was vital to rebuilding his fitness base.

"It hasn't been my worst season as a professional but I lost a lot of base and competition in racing last year," he said. "And that was the reason we took on the Giro, but we always knew it could be good, could be a bad choice.

"They're the choices you make in sport. Sometimes you lead out in the sprint early and you win, sometimes you lose it all.

"It's all the same thing with the planning and the decision-making that you make every day of the season that effect your performances.

"Obviously, it (contesting the Giro) didn't work for the Tour. Maybe if I didn't go to the Giro I would not not have got a good result here the same because I missed that base of competition.

"I would have ended up with nothing then, at this point. But that's sport and, if nothing else, it will do me good, if not for the end of this season, for next year.

"The owner of six top-eight finishes from nine Tour starts, Evans joked about this year having to worry about staying inside the race's time limit.

"The time limit - I never ever thought I would have to worry about that in my whole life," he laughed. "I came here with big ambitions and that's how I go for the Tour and that's what brought me good results in the past.

"But this year we made a choice about the program leading into the Tour and we always knew that it could work but it might backfire and not work.

"Obviously, with the result here, it didn't work for the Tour so it's been very, very disappointing overall.

"It's not the first race I've lost in my career.

"I just have to learn from it.

"Now we take a little time away and then, of course go back to the drawing board and look at what we can improve."