Cadel Evans says Giro d'Italia will determine retirement date Cadel Evans concedes he may consider retirement if his form is not up to scratch in 2014. How Cadel Evans fares in his all-out assault on the Giro d'Italia will provide him with an "indicator" of how long his career will continue. As Evans (BMC) approaches his 37th birthday - February 14 - the subject of retirement is one has found himself facing, even if it is not by choice. Like it or not, retirement is a question many have been asking of Evans as he continues his pursuit to rediscover the form that in 2011 helped make him the first Australian to win the Tour de France. Evans has not wanted to entertain the subject, opting to focus on his next major race. This year, that goal will be the Giro from May 9 to June 1, after which he will miss the Tour for the first time in 10 years. While Evans focuses on the Giro, rising American star Tejay van Garderen will lead the BMC team in the Tour. When asked on Monday - on the eve of the Tour Down Under - if he has thought about his future, Evans said: "I would like to do a good Giro and use that as an indicator to the future. My main thing, as I have said before, is to get back to my top level whether that is 2011 level or one or two per cent less - whatever my best is, [to] get back to that and then make assessments on the future on that. With his contract at BMC expiring this year and the inevitability that a decision on his future will have to be made one way or the other, he realises there will be growing interest in what call he makes. "Ever since I was about 20, I didn't want to retire from the sport having any regrets in terms of not having tried harder or worked harder," he said. I wouldn't want to retire early thinking six months down the track: 'I could be up there at the front beating those guys.' I have no experience retiring from sport. [You] don't want to cut yourself short, but you don't want to be caught trying to squeeze out any more than is actually there. Evans believes he still has more to "squeeze out" in the Giro. Last week's national road title in which he placed second to Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) and the six-day Tour Down Under are important races to provide a reference for his form. Evans says having to miss the Tour was "initially" hard to accept, but he has since embraced the Giro campaign, especially as he will have a team that will also train and race with a view to peaking for the Italian tour. Last year, while placing third overall, he made a last-minute decision to race the Giro as preparation for the Tour; but he did so with a team that had been selected earlier and without the assets needed to help him best. Evans said it will be much better now: "To go for the Giro with a serious plan and serious intention and with the whole backing of a team behind me [and] to do it properly rather than go there, not half heartedly but not properly prepared like we did in 2013 ... The result was OK [in 2013], but it could have been much better. This year we go in much better prepared. That in itself is much more appealing than to go into another Tour de France with goals for three different riders or three different goals.