''Did you see the Simoncelli accident? Bloody hell … '' the Australian Tour de France champion told the Herald from his home in Stabio, Switzerland, by telephone just hours after the tragedy.

Simoncelli's death one week after English IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon was killed in a 15-car pile-up at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway came in a year in which Evans's sport has farewelled three of its own in chilling circumstances - and after almost losing a fourth rider in another race crash.

The heart of the peloton is still heavy over the deaths of Belgian rider Wouter Weylandt, in a crash in the Giro d'Italia in May, Spaniard Xavier Tondo, in a freak accident in a garage soon after as he was about to go training for the Tour de France, and Australian Carly Hibberd, who was struck by a vehicle while riding north of Milan in early July, and the near-fatal crash of Colombian Mauricio Soler - Tondo's teammate - in a Tour of Switzerland stage in June.

Such tragedy, in a year of so many awful crashes, was a reminder of how costly a price can be paid in sport, a price reinforced by the life-taking incidents that have sent motor sport into mourning recently.

But for their peers who survive, does it make them question whether their pursuit is worth it?

Evans says: ''No … no, no. Life is there to be lived.''

Don't be mistaken. Evans, who returned to Australia for his off-season break yesterday, is not dismissive of the pain and suffering from such tragedies in sport, especially for families and friends of victims. He has seen that from within the peloton and shared its mourning.

But Evans says it is an inevitable consequence, given the speed, large size of pelotons and the unpredictability of constantly changing conditions and courses. ''It is like life, I guess. People get ill or lose loved ones,'' says Evans, whose Italian trainer and mentor Aldo Sassi died in December of a brain tumour.

''In sport, there are accidents - some are serious, some of them are fatal. It is not something we want to happen, but it happens occasionally. What can we do?''

Evans agrees there are humanitarian tragedies that warrant greater attention than they receive. ''Yeah,'' Evans says. ''That's probably more important, starving children in Africa, etc.''

After such a successful year on the bike, and with his Tour defence to come, Evans also has plenty of cause to feel enthusiastic about what awaits him.

So he should - with his BMC team having signed superstars Philippe Gilbert and Thor Hushovd, climbers Tejay Van Garderen from the US and Briton Steve Cummings and Italian time-trialler Marco Pinotti. Add to that a Tour route next year suited to him and the team despite the absence of a team time trial.

''It is a good course for us,'' Evans says. ''With Hushovd and Gilbert, it would have been nice to have a team time trial.

''The first week looks like it is going to be exciting and unpredictable,'' he says.

''The second week looks more traditional, but that doesn't always indicate what might happen.''

A crucial step forward was a meeting between Evans, Gilbert and Hushovd during at a four-day team camp at Como in Italy to plan for next year's season.

Evans will lead BMC in the Tour but Gilbert and Hushovd have ambitions and he wanted to ensure there was no misunderstanding of roles when the Tour started at Liege in Belgium, where Gilbert will be feted as a local hero.

Reinforcing that need is that the only time all three riders are likely to race together next year before the Tour's June 30 start will be in the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race in Italy in March.

Gilbert will aim to win the hilly Ardennes classics in Belgium but he is a former Lotto teammate of Evans's and a friend.

Hushovd, last year's world champion and from Norway, is focused on trying to win the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix classics and has never ridden alongside Evans.

In the Tour, both recruits will be stage-winning prospects and showed this year they are attacking riders. It helps, too, that Hushovd no longer sees himself as a big-bunch sprint winner who expects a team lead-out that would use up manpower Evans will need.

But, in their Como meeting, Evans wanted to hear the game plan outlined so everyone was clear about it.

''I was surprised when they said they wanted to come to my team and ride with me and for me,'' Evans says.

''Our team is already good and it is going to be better with them.

''But I still wanted to make a point of sitting together and talking face to face after having spoken to them and hearing their goals and motivation,'' he says. ''They were upfront and honest, which is how it should be.''

As for two of his main rivals - Luxembourg's Andy Schleck and Spaniard Alberto Contador - Evans has noted the potential impact that certain changes in the peloton could have on their threats.

Evans welcomes the search by Contador's Saxo Bank-SunGard team for climbers that is rumoured to be aimed at Vuelta a Espana winner Juan Jose Cobo from Spain, who has ridden with the recently disbanded Geox team.

''In some ways, it wouldn't be bad to have another team with a general classification rider to help control things in the mountains,'' Evans says.

Evans also expects Schleck will benefit from having Johan Bruyneel as his sports director, as a result of Schleck's Leopard team merging with the RadioShack team that Bruyneel has managed.

''I would expect Andy will be a better rider under the eye of someone with the experience of Bruyneel,'' Evans says.

''He is not just a tactician or team builder but, from a training and racing aspect, he has a really well-rounded knowledge and a pretty good outlook and perspective.''

As for his scheduled outing as a celebrity guest at Flemington for Derby Day today?

''I don't know what to expect. I have only ever been to the Melbourne Cup,'' Evans says, laughing. But he has a warning for entrants in the Fashions on the Field, for which his wife, Chiara Passerini, will be a judge. ''Sorry for the girls in the competition, but she is a hard marker,'' Evans says.

This reporter is on Twitter: @rupertguinness