World champion Cadel Evans will finally return to the race that caused so much tension in last year’s planning. Evans is determined to be a factor in May’s Giro d’Italia, or Tour of Italy.

The Australian cycling star was in conflict with his old team Silence Lotto at times last year because they wanted him in the Grand Tour race.

But Evans was determined to base his season on the Tour de France and then the September world championships at Mendrisio, only a few kilometres from his Swiss home.

While Evans had a disastrous Tour de France, his focus on the world titles paid off with an historic win.

“I’d been thinking about that circuit race around Mendrisio for a couple of years and planning my career around it, just about,” he said on Monday.

“That’s why when the question came up last year about the Giro, I really didn’t want to do it.

“I wanted to do the Vuelta (Tour of Spain) leading into the world championships and looking back now, I’m quite happy with that decision.

“This year, a new team, I will put more emphasis on the start of the year … it fits in really well.

“I’m going to have a big presence at the Giro – that’s my intention.”

Evans led the Giro for one day in 2002, the only time he has competed there.

He is now with Swiss team BMC and says he made the switch because he liked his new employers so much, not because of the well-publicised stresses that developed at Silence Lotto (now Omega Pharma-Lotto).

“It wasn’t so much to leave Silence Lotto but to be in this team – that was my motivation,” he said.

“The team on every level has really been a pleasant surprise, just such a good organisation, such good planning and everything, following a good vision.”

BMC are not a ProTour team and they are not guaranteed a Tour de France start, so Evans has taken a risk with the switch.

But he and team management are confident there performances will earn them a start.

© AAP 2012

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