Gilbert says Evans is "relaxed." Sure, it's not July.

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All Universe, Man of the Year and Champion for Peace Philippe Gilbert says he's ready for the 2012 season. He can't wait to ride the Tour de France with BMC and winner Cadel Evans.

According to the Belgian, things look rosy and he made no mention of possible conflicts between his goal of stage wins and Evans' priority of a second yellow in Paris.

"Already I knew Cadel Evans from being teammates with him before,” said Gilbert. “But I can feel he is different now. He's more relaxed. He's won the Tour already and it's not the same Cadel as I knew from 2009."

Relaxed -- sure, what not? What Tour contender isn't pretty relaxed in January with La Grande Boucle over six months away? Let's see how mellow Evans is during the first crazy week of the Tour when Gilbert and perhaps Thor Hushovd are running their own games instead of taking care of him.

Life could get un-relaxed in a hurry.

We turn to master race tactician RadioShack-Nissan's Chris Horner for his take on the situation at BMC. "The most valuable guy on any tour team is the last guy going up the climb with you. Nobody was with Cadel going up the last climb," says Horner. "One has to question  how those two multi million dollar riders are going to benefit Cadel in the Tour."

For the record it should be noted that in saying that Horner has a look of incredulousness on his face. As an experienced grand tour rider, he looks at that roster and those egos and separate agendas with shock and amazement.

"Will those two riders help Cadel win the tour de France? No. Could BMC have bought six fabulous climbers for that kind of money. Absolutely," says Horner. Now, the man has zero interest in the one day classics so his comments cover the Tour only.

Cadel Evans probably is relaxed about this time of year. We don't expect that to last until July in France.