Roe woe ahead of TDU

The BMC rider will miss the January WorldTour season opener after the problem flared up at the end of the 2011 campaign - his first season in professional racing.

Mathias Frank, winner of the mountains classification at the Tour de Suisse two years ago, has been slated to take Roe's place in Adelaide.

"It's probably due to my increased workload and how hard the racing was," Roe said.

"For sure, this is disappointing. I would have loved to have raced my home race, but I know how hard it is to get ready for the season and this will help make my body right."

BMC Racing Team chief medical officer Dr. Max Testa said: "We will re-evaluate Tim this week, but we do expect him to be able to participate in training camp next month."