Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race - Live coverage

We’re 10 minutes away from the start of this year’s race, which is expected to be a battle between last year’s winner Elia Viviani (Cofidis), Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) and Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Sam Bennett.

The men’s race is starting under considerably better weather than yesterday’s women’s race, which was won in the rain by Sunweb’s Liane Lippert.

We’re under way for 171km of racing, with the riders now heading south towards Cadel Evans’ adopted hometown of Barwon Heads on the coast.

Have a look at the start list for today’s race (scroll down to 'men'). Last year’s winner Elia Viviani (Cofidis), Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) and Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Sam Bennett are the ones to watch, but there’s also the 2018 winner Jay McCarthy (Bora-Hansgrohe), Mitchelton-Scott’s Daryl Impey and Israel Start-Up Nation’s André Greipel to look out for.

The flag has dropped after a short neutralised zone to take the race out of Geelong, and there’s already an attack from the Kordamentha Australian National Team’s Rudy Porter.

Porter’s been joined by his Kordamentha Australian National Team teammates Connor Leahy and Carter Turnbull, so we have a three-rider breakaway from the same team with 168km of racing ahead of us. And they have Mitchelton-Scott’s Sam Bewley chasing alone. They’d do well to wait for him at this stage of the race.

Bewley appears to have given up his chase of the front three Kordamentha Australian National Team riders, who have their heads down. It’s a little odd that they didn’t wait for him, but perhaps they didn’t think it was worth losing some of their lead for. The bunch appears happy to let them go, though.

The bunch was happy to let the break go, but Team Ineos have just been applying some pressure on the front of the peloton to try to split the bunch in the wind.

That pressure from Team Ineos has brought the gap to the breakaway down to just 38 seconds.

Team Ineos appear to have caused a split already, although the race isn’t in echelons - just one long line into a headwind. It’s still a large bunch, but a few riders have already been dropped. This is very early pressure.

Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) is one of the riders to have been caught out due to the pressure from Team Ineos at the front of the bunch, but the British rider has teammates trying to take him back to the peloton.

It’s already over for the three Kordamentha Australian National Team riders who attacked from the gun, and with 155km to race, we’re all back together - apart from the riders that have been dropped due to the forced efforts of Team Ineos, who are being helped by riders from Israel Start-Up Nation and Deceuninck-QuickStep.

We’ll try to get confirmation of whether any big names have been dropped by the fast start to the race – and whether Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) has got back on, after having been put in trouble. Although the race tends to be won from a reduced bunch sprint, Yates might have fancied his chances on the Challambra Crescent climb, which is tackled four times on the finishing circuit in Geelong.

Team Ineos have help from EF Pro Cycling and Israel Start-Up Nation at the front of the race, and appear to be leading a group that is perhaps only about 80-90 riders strong, with a 55-second gap over the rest.

We’re still trying to see who’s in that large front group – and, more importantly, who’s not. We’re reached Barwon Heads and are now onto the stunning Great Ocean Road.

Lotto Soudal’s Caleb Ewan has made the split, as has Mitchelton-Scott’s Daryl Impey, and Danish road race champion Michael Mørkøv’s there, too. He’ll be trying to lead out his Deceuninck-QuickStep teammate Sam Bennett today.

There’s a block headwind along the coastline, and the large chase group appears to be closing the gap, which is now just 24 seconds.

Elia Viviani missed the split, and so his Cofidis teammates are leading the chase, along with NTT. It looks as though their efforts have paid off; the chase group is just 10 seconds away from the peloton now.

The race is all back together again, and everyone can breathe a bit easier for a while.

That effort by Team Ineos to split the race apart was interesting, though. They have a squad here that is packed with a number of 'hard men', who are getting some good practice here ahead of the spring Classics back in Europe. Today’s squad is made up of Owain Doull, Chris Lawless, Luke Rowe, Pavel Sivakov, Ian Stannard and Dylan van Baarle. Doull would likely be their man if it does come down to a reduced-bunch sprint today. They were certainly keen to do that 'reducing' early today. 

139km to go, and Carter Turnbull of the Kordamentha Australian National Team is having another go, having been part of the early breakaway, and he’s been joined by his teammate Elliot Schultz.

It’s a good time to go, as the bunch seems content to take it easy now after that initial panic caused by Team Ineos.

The two-man breakaway of the Kordamentha Australian National Team duo Carter Turnbull and Elliot Schultz already have over a minute’s advantage.

It’s looking like this could be the day’s breakaway now, as no one wants to chase.

Groupama-FDJ’s Kilian Frankiny has just crashed, but seems to be okay, and shouldn’t have any problems re-joining the bunch.

Current situation:
Kordamentha Australian National Team pair Carter Turnbull and Elliot Schultz have a 2:47 lead over the bunch with 134km to go.

The race heads inland for a little way now, but will soon drop back onto the coast to Torquay, where there’s an intermediate sprint. The two breakaway riders are very unlikely to contest it, though, being on the same team. The prize money on offer will be shared among them regardless.

Torquay was the scene of the Race Torquay 'warm-up race' on Thursday, and was won by Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Sam Bennett. Can the Irishman win again today?

Schultz and Turnbull’s advantage has now gone up to 4:20 with 128.5km to go. The bunch is happy just trundling along for now.

The two leaders – Turnbull and Schultz – have gone through the intermediate sprint without competing for it, as expected. They now have a 5:00 lead over the rest with 124km to race.

Lotto Soudal are now leading the bunch. They’re riding for Caleb Ewan today, who was second last year to Elia Viviani.

Ewan joined Australia’s Channel 7 commentary team during yesterday’s women’s Cadel race, and talked about his chances ahead of this year’s men’s event.

"Last year I wasn’t completely happy with my sprint, and think that if I’d started it earlier, I could have competed [with Viviani]," he said.

"I got over the climb last year, having not been sure I could get to the finish, but it gave me confidence that I could, and could be there at the end," said Ewan.

Ewan added that he thought that Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Sam Bennett was likely to be the one for him to be most wary of:

"I think Sam is the one to watch out for if it’s going to come down to a sprint. Elia Viviani is maybe not in the same form as he was last year, but he’ll be motivated after having won this race a year ago."

117.5km to go, and the two-man breakaway has a 5:45 lead over the Lotto Soudal-led bunch, who are still taking it easy.

New EF Pro Cycling signing Neilson Powless has just crashed, but was quickly on his feet again, and shouldn’t have any trouble getting back into the race.

The two breakaway riders – Kordamentha Australian National Team teammates Carter Turnbull and Elliot Schultz – have gone through Bells Beach and are climbing back inland, with 116km to go, and with a lead now of six minutes.

Over in Argentina at the Vuelta a San Juan stage race earlier today, Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Zdenek Stybar attacked inside the final kilometre of a stage that 'should' have ended in bunch sprint to win stage 6. With just one stage remaining, his teammate Remco Evenepoel still holds a 33-second lead over the Italian national team’s Filippo Ganna. You can read our race report, and see the pictures and results from the stage, here.

Back here at the men’s Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, the bunch is being led by Lotto Soudal’s Matt Holmes – the British rider who ended Richie Porte’s run of six-straight wins on the climb of Willunga Hill at the Tour Down Under last week.

What made it more extraordinary was that Holmes was riding in his first WorldTour race, having only joined Lotto Soudal this season from British Continental squad Madison Genesis. He was pretty calm and collected after what was easily the biggest win of his career, though, and appears to be a star of the future.

104km to go, and Lotto Soudal appear to be putting just a little bit of pressure on the two breakaway riders, whose lead has now dropped to 5:40.

At this point on the course, it’s a steady uphill slog back towards Geelong.

Once back in Geelong, the riders face three-and-a-half laps of a 16.6km finishing circuit, with four ascents of the Challambra Crescent climb to come. It’s not too tough on its own, but it will split the race apart coming off the back of more than 100km of racing when it’s tackled for the first time.

Our man at this year’s Vuelta a San Juan in Argentina, Barry Ryan, has talked to overall contender Oscar Sevilla (Team Medellin) – currently third on the GC – about his friendship with 2019 Tour de France winner Egan Bernal (Team Ineos). You can read the story here.

Our two leaders here at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race – Kordamentha-Australia teammates Carter Turnbull and Elliot Schultz – are working well together, as you’d expect, and are still holding a lead of 5:20 over the bunch with 95km to go.

The bunch appears to have reawakened now, and the pace has gone up markedly, meaning that the breakaway’s advantage has dropped to below five minutes.

The peloton’s being led by Groupama-FDJ, Deceuninck-QuickStep, EF Pro Cycling, Israel Start-Up Nation and Lotto Soudal. The breakaway may not survive for long now, with their lead having plummeted to 4:40.

Cofidis have taken control at the front of the bunch now for European road race champion Elia Viviani, who is the defending champion.

There’s plenty of racing now coming thick and fast all around the world. Yesterday, the Netherlands' Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado won the elite women’s cyclo-cross world title in Switzerland, and later today (Sunday) it’s the turn of the elite men.

If cyclo-cross, and podcasts, are your thing, why not have a listen to Cyclingnews’ latest podcast episode, brought to you in association with Shimano? It comes to you from the final round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Hoogerheide, in the Netherlands, and features 'cross superstars Wout Van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, while editor-in-chief Daniel Benson even rides a couple of laps of the course.

Current situation at the men’s Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race:

Carter Turnbull and Elliot Schultz (both Kordamentha-Australia) lead the race by 3:40 from the peloton, with 84km left to race.

Team Ineos, Bora-Hansgrohe, Cofidis and Lotto Soudal are working well together at the front of the bunch. European champion Elia Viviani (Cofidis) even just did a turn.

The road race world champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) is right up there near the front of the peloton, too. The Dane would be another good bet for victory today.

The gap to the two leaders has dropped to 2:40 with 82km to go, and it’s coming down rapidly now that the bunch has put the hammer down as we approach Geelong and the finishing circuits.

Apologies – that link again to our latest podcast episode, from the final round of the cyclo-cross World Cup, is here.

We’ve got 80km left to race, and Team Ineos and Lotto Soudal are continuing to drive on the front of the bunch, while the breakaway’s lead has dropped to just 1:34. Its days are numbered now.

The peloton’s splitting into echelons now due to the pressure at the front from Team Ineos. They tried earlier in the day, and succeeded for a time, before everything came back together, but we’re approaching the business end of the race now, and it’s going to be difficult for anyone who’s dropped to come back now.

The breakaway of Turnbull and Schultz is still clinging on with a 42-second lead with 76km to go.

A little of the urgency appears to have gone from the front of the bunch as some Team Ineos and Deceuninck-QuickStep riders have a chat about the damage they’ve done.

The pre-race favourites such as last year’s winner Elia Viviani (Cofidis), Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) and Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Sam Bennett are all still up there. We’re not too far way now from entering the finishing circuit, though, and the first of four ascents of the Challambra Crescent climb.

Taking the foot off the accelerator at the front of the peloton has meant that the second big group behind the bunch is going to make it back.

The two breakaway riders hold just a 10-second advantage, though.

While the peloton’s all back together again, the breakaway’s advantage has gone back out to 30 seconds. Calm reins once more in the 'chasing' bunch.

The Kordamentha Australian National Team’s Elliot Schultz and Carter Turnbull are continuing to survive out in the breakaway, then, with 66km to go, and their advantage going back up to approaching a minute.

One of the riders pushing the pace today for Team Ineos has been Australian Cameron Wurf. Read more about how the semi-retired rider – the 36-year-old had transitioned to the world of Ironman triathlons – has come back into the WorldTour fold.

The two leaders – Turnbull and Schultz – are on the finishing circuit, and have taken their lead back up to 1:18 over the peloton.

The leading duo are on the Challambra Crescent climb for the first time, which is only 840 metres in length, but has sections close to the top that reach a 20% gradient.

Kordamentha’s Carter Turnbull takes the 'mountain' points at the top of the climb, followed by his teammate Elliot Schultz.

An AG2R La Mondiale rider is leading the bunch up the Challambra Crescent climb, and appears to have dragged another few riders with him.

The chasing group of four riders has been caught by a bigger group on the fast descent. We’ll try to get some names.

Schultz and Turnbull have a 49-second lead over a chasing group of around 40 riders approaching the next, smaller climb of Melville Avenue, which is where the women’s winner of Saturday’s women’s Cadel race, Liane Lippert (Sunweb), made her decisive move.

What’s left of the bunch – around 40-50 riders, by the looks of it – is strung out in single file, with a few riders trying to get clear.

Current situation:
Going across the start/finish line in Geelong, with 50km to go – that’s three 16.6km laps of the finishing circuit – Turnbull and Schultz are still maintaining a 50-second lead over the Deceuninck-QuickStep-led bunch, which doesn’t appear to be in any great hurry again, but has been reduced down to around 50-60 riders.

Elliot Schultz has now dropped away from the break, with the long day having taken its toll, but his Kordamentha-Australia teammate Carter Turnbull is still pushing on alone, with a 40-second advantage over the bunch.

Race leader Carter Turnbull (Kordamentha Australia) is on his second time up the Challambra Crescent climb, with two more climbs of it to come after this. The young Australian still has a 48-second lead over the rest, with his teammate and breakaway companion Elliot Schultz having dropped away.

The bunch has come up and over Challambra for the second time out of four. No one team has been leading the chase, but the bunch is strung out now on the descent.

A group of five riders have gone clear of the bunch, and have caught Turnbull after a long day out in front. He’s trying to stay with them.

We now have a six-rider group leading the race by about 12 seconds. They include Carter Turnbull (Kordamentha), who the five riders caught, and Jonas Rutsch (EF Pro Cycling), Falian Lienhard (Groupama-FDJ), Israel Start-Up Nation’s Alexander Cataford, Trek-Segafredo’s Kiel Reijnen and AG2R’s Geoffrey Bouchard.

Heading along the waterfront back to the start/finish line, the six leading riders are still holding a slim lead.

We have just 33km to go – two more laps of the finishing circuit – and the six riders hold a 10-second lead.

Those six leading riders are:

Jonas Rutsch (EF Pro Cycling)
Falian Lienhard (Groupama-FDJ)
Israel Start-Up Nation’s Alexander Cataford
Carter Turnbull (Kordamentha Australia)
Trek-Segafredo’s Kiel Reijnen
AG2R La Mondiale’s Geoffrey Bouchard

The six-man breakaway’s lead has gone out to 22 seconds, and they’re now on the penultimate climb of Challambra Crescent with 29km left to race.

Turnbull’s still doing a fantastic ride to hang on to his breakaway companions having been out in front for most of the day.

EF Pro Cycling’s Jonas Rutsch has attacked from the break, with the others about to be swallowed up by the bunch on the climb.

Mitchelton-Scott are leading the bunch, though, and have swallowed Rutsch up. It’s all back together again approaching the top of Challambra for the second-to-last time, and 26km to go.

Israel Start-Up Nation’s Guillaume Boivin has attacked over the top of the climb.

But Boivin’s been quickly brought back by Mitchelton-Scott on the descent. The Australian WorldTour team is riding for Daryl Impey today, who’s up there in about fourth wheel.

The defending champion Elia Viviani (Cofidis) is sitting in about eighth wheel on this descent, and Lotto Soudal’s Caleb Ewan’s just a place or two behind him, too.

Thanks to Mitchelton’s efforts, a group of around 15 riders has gone clear, including Impey, Viviani and Ewan.

The road race world champion, Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), has made it into the front group of around 15 riders, as has Bahrain McLaren’s Marco Haller. They’re both fast finishers, too.

This could be the winning split. The 15 or so riders have a 26-second lead over the rest. Sam Bennett is not there, but his Deceuninck-QuickStep teammate Dries Devenyns is.

There are just over 20km to go.

Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) is in this front group, and so is Team Ineos rider Dylan van Baarle.

There are five Mitchelton riders in what is a 16-man leading group, which has a 27-second lead with 18.3km to go, and one more climb of Challambra Crescent.

Current situation with 18km to go:

A 16-rider front group includes defending champion Elia Viviani and his Cofidis teammate Nathan Haas, five Mitchelton riders, including Daryl Impey and Simon Yates, plus Trek-Segefredo’s Mads Pedersen, Dylan van Baarle (Team Ineos) and Bahrain McLaren’s Marco Haller.

One lap to go – 16.6km – and the bunch is being led by NTT for Giacomo Nizzolo, which is 24 seconds down on the 16-rider lead group.

It’s a 17-rider lead group being led by Mitchelton-Scott’s Damien Howson, Nick Schultz and Dion Smith, with a 28-second buffer over the chasers.

The race is approaching the final climb of Challambra Crescent. Will Mitchelton’s Simon Yates try to go on the climb? He surely will, which would leave his teammate Daryl Impey to wait for if it comes down to a sprint finish. The Australian WorldTour team is definitely in the driving seat.

Team Ineos have both Dylan van Baarle and Pavel Sivakov in this front group. Trek-Segafredo have Mads Pedersen there, and then there’s Elia Viviani and Nathan Haas for Cofidis, and Caleb Ewan for Lotto Soudal.

We’re just coming on to the final climb of Challambra Crescent. Simon Yates is still right at the back of the lead group. They still have 27 seconds over the rest with 11km to go.

Mitchelton-Scott are still driving the lead group, with their man Daryl Impey in second wheel.

Mid-way up the final climb and only Impey and Yates are left for Mitchelton. And Simon Yates attacks, followed by Ineos rider Pavel Sivakov.

Impey can just follow the wheels as Yates leads over the top of the climb.

Six riders have gone clear over the top with 8km to go: Simon Yates, Sivakov, Keukeleire, Impey, Devenyns and McCarthy. All the sprinters have fallen away.

Current situation with 7km to go:
Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)
Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott)
Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos)
Jens Keukeleire (EF Pro Cycling)
Dries Devenyns (Deceuninck-QuickStep)
Jay McCarthy (Bora-Hansgrohe)

Over the next little climb, Impey’s attacked, and that’s dropped his teammate Yates.

We have 5.5km to race, and Pavel Sivakov (Ineos) has attacked. He’s being chased by Devenyns.

Dylan van Baarle has made it back to the chase group, and can just sit on Impey’s wheel as Van Baarle’s Ineos Sivakov goes clear.

Deceuninck’s Dries Devenyns has nearly made it across to Sivakov with 4km to go.

The two leaders have a 100m gap over Impey, McCarthy, Keukeleire and Van Baarle.

3km to go, and Impey, McCarthy and Keukeleire, with Van Baarle as a passenger, are chasing Sivakov and Devenyns, who have a seven-second gap.

2km to go: Deceuninck’s Dries Devenyns is leading Ineos rider Pavel Sivakov, with Impey leading the chase group, not far behind them.

Impey is doing all the chasing going into the final kilometre.

One kilometre to go

Sivakov is leading Devenyns. It’s a bit of cat and mouse.

Devenyns opens the sprint and wins from Sivakov.

Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Dries Devenyns wins the 2020 Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race from Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos).

Dries Devenyns gets the win from Pavel Sivakov and Daryl Impey, with Impey finishing third from the chasing group.

"It was aggressive, all day," said Devenyns after his win. "Mitchelton had five riders in that group at the end, and Ineos had two riders, so I was on my own, but I had good legs, and I played my card.

"Of course I had doubts about reaching Sivakov when he attacked near the end. But when I did, we worked a little bit together, and then I had no idea how good he was in a sprint, but I had a good enough punch," he said.

That’s it from us for today’s live coverage, but be sure to check back soon for our full race report, with full results and some great pictures of today’s action, here.