Teams arrive at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race – Gallery
Organisers welcome teams in oceanside presentation
The winner of the 2011 Tour de France, Cadel Evans, stood on stage at an official presentation on Friday to greet the men's and women's teams that will participate in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race this weekend. The women's race, categorised as a UCI 1.1 race, is held on Saturday, while the men will participate in a WorldTour race on Sunday.
Defending champion Jay McCarthy will lead his Bora-Hansgrohe team, but will once again face Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott), who were both on the podium last year.
Chloe Hosking will lead her Ale Cipollini team in a title defence but will have tough competition from the event's former winner Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott), who recently won the Women's Tour Down Under, along with the newly formed Trek-Segafredo Women's Team that recently won the Race Melbourne criterium.
The women will race 113km from Melbourne to Geelong on Saturday, and the men will race 163km. Both events include the decisive Challambra Crescent climb.
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Cyclingnews is the world's leader in English-language coverage of professional cycling. Started in 1995 by University of Newcastle professor Bill Mitchell, the site was one of the first to provide breaking news and results over the internet in English. The site was purchased by Knapp Communications in 1999, and owner Gerard Knapp built it into the definitive voice of pro cycling. Since then, major publishing house Future PLC has owned the site and expanded it to include top features, news, results, photos and tech reporting. The site continues to be the most comprehensive and authoritative English voice in professional cycling.