Hampered by an elbow fracture for the last week, world champion Cadel Evans is soldering on, still convinced he can produce a good performance in the Tour de France 2010.

"Of course, our goal of a podium placing in Paris is out of reach but the team is still working for Cadel, hoping to achieve the best possible result in Paris," the Australian's BMC team manager John Lelangue told Reuters on Saturday.

Evans crashed after seven kilometres in the eighth stage to Morzine on the very day he took the race leader's yellow jersey.

It was later found out he had fractured his left elbow in the crash. He started Saturday's 13th stage in 18th overall, more than eight minutes behind Luxembourg's Andy Schleck.

"If it was not the Tour de France, I would have pulled him out," said BMC team doctor Max Testa.

"But this is the Tour and when a rider tells you he wants to go on you cannot pull him out by force."

Evans is having physiotherapy every day before and after each stage and ice is placed on the elbow as his arm swells with his riding efforts. He is also given painkillers.

Testa said: "It's a type-one fracture, which means there is not a great risk of dislocation. But we are keeping a close eye on it and during the race the Tour doctor Gerard Porte also checks it. If he tells us Cadel should stop, we will."

The injury would normally take up to six weeks to heal, but Testa said: "I can understand that a man with the world champion jersey on his back doesn't want to quit."

Evans suffers most when he has to pull on the handlebars, which is mostly the case in climbs so it could be extremely painful for the Australian with four tough stages in the Pyrenees in the last week of the Tour.

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