Who will capitalise on Challambra Crescent? - Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race contenders
Circuits into Geelong waterfront prove key for aggressive riders in men’s and women’s races
One-day WorldTour racing makes a splash this weekend on the Surf Coast of Victoria for both the men and women at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
It's the 10th anniversary of the men's race on Sunday, with the women starting the action on Saturday from the waterfront in Geelong for an eighth edition. Both fields continue to swell with top contenders, not just to get off to a hot start in the sultry Australian summer but to grab a hefty haul of 300 UCI points for the winners.
On Saturday, the same 10 Women's WorldTour squads line up again from the opening stage race at the women's Tour Down Under a week ago, where ProTeam EF Education-Oatly stamped their authority through a stage win and overall victory with Noemi Rüegg. Two other rounds of one-day races - Schwalbe Women's One Day Classic and Surf Coast Classic Women - have seen different teams on the podium each time, so it is a wide-open contest for the 141.8km race on Saturday, especially with Visma-Lease a Bike and last year's Cadel Evans Road Race surprise winner Rosita Reijnhout remaining in Europe to start their season.
While men's Tour Down Under GC winner Jhonatan Narváez and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad have departed for European racing, as have five other WorldTour squads, there are still 11 top-tier squads plus one national team for the 183.8km showdown more than 700 kilometres from Adelaide. The terrain favours the sprinters and opportunistic riders with fast finishes on punchy hills.
The key to both days will be finish circuits featuring the Challambra Crescent ascent. The women will make two passes of the climb while the men tackle it four times. Attacks are expected, and risks can be rewarded in the downhill run to the finish.
The races have seen different styles of riders seal victories, from aggressive attacks by all-rounders like Amanda Spratt and Dries Devenyns to surprise wins like Reijnhout and Peter Kennaugh. Especially in the men's race, often the finish comes down to a reduced pack of sprinters, such races won by Elia Viviani and Chloe Hosking.
Here are 10 riders to watch this weekend at the women's Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and the men's Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
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Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race Women - top 5
Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly)
It was an incredible start to the season for Noemi Rüegg and EF Education-Oatly, securing the first Women's WorldTour victory on the calendar at the Tour Down Under.
Rüegg, 23 years old and from Switzerland, came out swinging with a sixth place in the opener into Snapper Point, followed by a victory on Willunga Hill and third place in Stirling, where she was crowned the overall champion.
Rüegg is a powerful climber and will excel on the two ascents of Challambra on the Geelong circuit. While the rest of the route is predominantly flat, she has proven her strength on both hilly and flatter terrain during the Tour Down Under and leading up to this event.
She will also have the support of her teammates Megan Armitage, Babette van der Wolf, Sarah Roy, Henrietta Christie and potential contender Kim Cadzow.
Silke Smulders (Liv-AlUla-Jayco)
Silke Smulders, a 23-year-old rising talent out of the Netherlands, will lead the Liv-AlUla-Jayco team on their home soil.
She has a solid chance at bringing her team an early-season victory after a powerful display at the Tour Down Under, where she finished second in two stages and secured second place in the final GC behind Rüegg.
But she also has a range of teammates who will be looking for success in January, including Ruby Roseman-Gannon and Amber Pate, who recently won the national criterium title and finished second in the time trial and sixth in the road race at the Australian Championships. Georgia Baker also just finished second at the new Schwalbe Women's One Day Classic and then third in Torquay at the lead in event, the 1.1 ranked Surf Coast Classic.
Chloé Dygert (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto)
Chloé Dygert has kicked off the season with a stage win in Stirling at the Tour Down Under, and we can expect to see more success from the two-time former time trial World Champion. She quickly went on to finish second at the Women’s Surf Coast Classic in Torquay.
Dygert is a rider who can do it all, from track racing to time trialling, and a contender in both flat and hilly terrain in road racing. The Challambra likely isn't tough enough to shed a rider as strong as Dygert, and we can expect to see her contest for the win at the finish should the race come down to a small bunch.
The team also have a powerful climber in Neve Bradbury, who could make all the difference on the main ascent.
Elise Chabbey (FDJ-SUEZ)
FDJ-SUEZ have one of the strongest teams with the likes of Elise Chabbey and Ally Wollaston taking the start line.
Both riders have excelled during the Australian summer racing season with Chabbey securing fifth place overall at the Tour Down Under and Wollaston taking the win at the Surf Coast Classic as well as second place on stage 1 of the Tour Down Under.
The course suits both riders, who come into their own on hilly terrain; while Wollaston is a solid option if it comes down to a reduced bunch – particularly given how well she handled the first climb on Wednesday's Surf Coast Classic – Chabbey could be part of a successful breakaway.
Dominika Włodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ)
Dominika Włodarczyk finished second place last year behind Visma-Lease a Bike's Rosita Reijnhout, who is not in attendance this year to defend her title.
Włodarczyk, however, has had another successful start to the year during the Australian summer racing season after finishing fourth overall and two top-10 stage finishes at the Tour Down Under.
She is in a good position to have another strong performance in Geelong with support from teammates like Sofia Bertizzolo and Erica Magnaldi.
There are other riders we could have selected as contenders for the race, such as Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility), who was third overall at the Tour Down Under and Clara Copponi (Lidl-Trek), who won the Schwalbe Women's One Day Classic, so watch for them, too, in the final at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race - Women.
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race Men - top 5
Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe brings a few riders from the region to Geelong to lead the chase for the distinct, giant 'C' trophy that depicts an ocean wave. There is no arguing what New Zealander Laurence Pithie can do on this course given he won last year for DSM but that also means he will be given no leeway.
Australian teammate Sam Welsford is of course on a hot streak having won three stages at Tour Down Under as well as the Australian criterium championship and two domestic races. If he could make the most of a solid team to try and propel him to a final sprint he would be hard to beat, but the climb of Challambra may well be a bridge too far.
Then there is a second New Zealander, Finn Fisher-Black, who could also make his mark for the team. He was third on GC at Tour Down Under with a pair of stage podiums. Plus veteran sprinter Danny van Poppel – who gave Welsford the lead out on stage 6 in Adelaide but also turned himself inside out for the team's GC targets on the Willunga Hill stage – should also be a major asset again on Sunday.
Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech)
Just off the podium the past two years, New Zealander Corbin Strong will be part of a strong squad from Israel-Premier Tech. He had three top 10s at Tour Down Under, quickly picking up where he left off in 2024 when he won Giro del Veneto and was second at Gran Piemonte in October.
Last year, Pithie jumped from his back wheel for the victory, so this year, he is motivated to step on the podium from fourth place. There may not be enough climbing for George Bennett and Michael Woods to steal away from the peloton, but they should be able to usher Strong to contest in a sprint finish. Also, let us not forget that this is the team that last year headed into the race fresh from Tour Down Under victory with Stephen Williams. The defence this year didn't turn out quite the way they may have hoped which may deliver that extra bit of motivation to make Sunday count.
Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL)
This is only Oscar Onley's second visit to Australia to start his season, and he has something to prove at Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. Last year, he crashed and broke his collarbone in the event, having hit the Surf Coast after winning the Willunga Hill stage at the Tour Down Under.
This year, the 22-year-old Briton finished second on the same mountaintop finish at the season's opening stage race, repeating with fourth on GC. He said again that while it was a good start to the season he wanted more from the GC and the stage. On form again, he'll look to showcase his explosive power over the Challambra Crescent, and perhaps this time find more.
Bryan Coquard (Cofidis)
From the list of sprinters, Bryan Coquard could be the surprise winner in a bunch sprint. The Cofidis rider makes his debut at Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in his 13th pro season.
Twice, he has competed at Tour Down Under, and last week, he finished second in the points classification behind Welsford by putting up a stage 4 win and two other podiums.
He'll also have Ion Izaguirre to support him on the final circuits, replicating their teamwork from a week ago.
Kelland O'Brien (Jayco-AlUla)
Australian squad Jayco-AlUla has never had a rider win the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. Five times the team has earned a spot on the podium, with Daryl Impey going third three times between 2018-2020. He's now at the race in the car with rival Israel-Premier Tech while sprinter Michael Matthews, fourth last year, started his season in Spain.
It will be up to another to make history for the home team. Luke Plapp was an obvious option, and the initial pick from the team we had in this piece, but then the news came through he would be missing the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race due to a wrist injury from last year that after reassessment the team decided required surgery. That, doesn't, however, mean the team's chances are through.
There are a number of other options for the home team, including Swiss champion Mauro Schmid, who was 14th when he last rode the event in 2023 with Soudal-QuickStep. Then there is Kelland O'Brien, who finished 12th last year and also gave a clear hint of his powerful form in this terrain on Thursday. The results may not show it – 47th – but his actions in the charged race did. The Australian was among a group of three riders left standing within ten kilometres of the race finish in Torquay. He was riding out front with 2014 road race world champion Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) and Casper Pedersen (Soudal-QuickStep), though ultimately they were swamped and it came down to a sprint. If he picks the right move on Sunday O'Brien could charge ahead to improve significantly on that 12th place of 2024.
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. On the bike, she has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast), and spends time on gravel around horse farms in north Georgia.
