Australian Cadel Evans is favourite to win the overall ProTour competition at the Giro di Lombardia on Saturday following current leader Danilo Di Luca's exclusion.

Italian Di Luca has been suspended for three months by the Italian Olympic Committee for working with a doctor who has been banned for doping offences.

Evans was 15 points behind Di Luca in the individual ProTour standings but following the Italian's exclusion, he now leads Spain's Alejandro Valverde by 37 points with only the upcoming Giro left to contest.

Evans, who rides for the Belgian Predictor team, scored most of his points for finishing second in the Tour de France and fourth in the Vuelta a Espana.

"My chances look good now. I don't know all the details about Di Luca's suspension but it means my chances of victory have improved dramatically," Evans said.

"It's perhaps not the best way to win the ProTour and unfortunately cycling is being used a political scapegoat at the moment, but these things go both ways.

"Last year I wasn't awarded points when riders were caught for doping and I'm still waiting to find out if I'll get some more points after Alexandre Vinokourov's positive in this year's Tour de France time trial."

Evans lives in southern Switzerland during the cycling season and crossed into Italy on Wednesday to train on the course of the 242km race between Varese and Como.

"It's a tough route but I've ridden the Tour of Lombardy five times and so know the key climbs. The last one near Como is steep but I finished fourth in 2004 and so know what it's like," he said.

"Despite now having a good lead in the ProTour I'm going to try and win the Tour of Lombardy. I'm tired after a long hard season but so is everybody else.

"My big rivals are going to be Frank Schleck, Paolo Bettini, Davide Rebellin and Samuel Sanchez."

Reuters