Evans dismisses knee injury talk as “rumor”

Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans (Silence-Lott) dismissed as “unfounded rumor” speculation he has suffered a knee injury that could threaten his participation in next month’s Olympic Games in Beijing.

Evans, 31, finished second in Tour de France for the second straight year and on Sunday night joined his Silence Lotto team mates for the traditional post-Tour dinner in Paris. Evans said he did slip on a wet floor but it was no more than that.

Evans woke to a frenzy of media speculation that he had suffered an injury in the fall and may pull out of the Games. The speculation was sparked by a caller to an overnight program on a Melbourne radio station who suggested Evans was injured.

“It is a rumor, that’s all it is,” said Evans Monday after having breakfast with his wife, mother and friends. “I am planning to go home to Italy later today and take my dog Molly for a walk and then go for a ride on my bike.”

Evans is also set to race in a post-Tour criterium on Tuesday before joining Australian teammates later this week at the pre-Beijing training camp in Varese, Italy.

Evans admitted he is still “a bit sore” from the effects of a crash early in this year’s Tour de France and from three weeks in the saddle covering three-and-a-half-thousand kilometers but says he believes the Tour is good preparation for Beijing.

“I think riders who haven’t done the Tour probably won’t be going as well as we who have,” said Evans who last year won the time trial at the Goodluck Beijing road cycling test event less than two weeks after the 2007 Tour.

FILED UNDER: Road / Tour de France TAGS: Tour de France