Profile & Route Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race 2026

On the 1st of February, the World Tour hosts its first World Tour one-day race of the year: the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. The race will take place on the 1st of February, starting at 01:10CET and finish at 05:30CET. We take a look at its profile.

The Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race has rapidly become one of the most anticipated one-day classics on the early season calendar. First held in 2015 as a farewell salute to Australia’s only Tour de France winner, Cadel Evans, the race was launched in his home region of Geelong and along the scenic Victorian coastline.

It is a World Tour one-day race, the first of the year, and provides an opportunity for the sprinters and classics specialists to prolong their stint in Australia, as well as chase UCI points and a reputable victory. Notable recent winners in the men's race include Marius Mayrhofer (2023), Laurence Pithie (2024) and most recently Mauro Schmid who won with a solo attack in the 2025 edition. Ally Wollaston was the winner of the women's race.

The Australian race revolves around the city of Geelong, with deep connections to Cadel Evans. It is a mostly flat race all throughout, before entering the final circuit where the riders will race around on four occasions, and they will have two climbs within it.

The climb to Challambra Crescent is 1.3 kilometers at 7.9%. Not too hard, but enough to split the peloton, drop several riders, and on the final lap attack hard, specially as towards the summit it goes up to 15%. It's a very explosive section that ends with 9 kilometers to go where the riders will be in small groups, but have around two kilometers to reorganize.

Following that there will be a small uphill pitch where some attacks are, again, possible, of around 300 meters at 10%. However from there on the race changes quite significantly and the final 6 kilometers will be much more prone to chasing.

Along big avenues, the riders will have only two corners until they reach the finishing straight. It is as simple of a finale as it could be where a solo rider stands little chances, and having a large group can be very beneficial. This is where the balance between the early attackers and the sprinters will be interesting.

The race usually ends in a sprint and it shouldn't be an exception this year. The final kilometers take place by the sea and have no technical features, which makes it very viable for a group to chase back. If it comes down to a sprint, it will be flat and surprises will not be easy, even if we won't likely have strong leadouts.