February 2, 2025
The Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race has been won in many different ways. The profile is generally flat and doesn't cause trouble for the sprinters but once they hit the finishing circuit around Geelong, they have to tackle the 1.1KM climb of Challambra Crescent. It is steep at over 8.5% and they have to do it on four occasions with the final one topping out 9KM from the finish line.
Race Summary
The heat was stifling throughout the day, between 35C (95F) and 38C (100F). Only Andrea Raccagni of Soudal Quickstep had the nerve to go in the break and with 100KM to go, he had nearly 7 minutes on a peloton led by Picnic-PostNL, Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, and Lidl-Trek. The speed picked up in the bunch as they got closer to Challambra Crescent and the circuit. Raccagni Noviero had cracked by the time he hit the bottom with 72KM to go. His lead had tumbled to just 1 minute and had just 10 seconds by the top. He was swept up before the left turn over the single lane bridge.
The race started its next phase as attacks started with 67KM to go by EF-Education EasyPost and Ineos. Pieter Serry of Soudal Quickstep and Oliver Bleddyn of the Australian National Team were first to get a gap and held around 40 seconds. Their gap disappeared to just 15 seconds off the downhill and they were caught on the sharp hill after the single lane bridge. A counter attack saw Connor Swift of Ineos, Chris Harper of Jayco AlUla, Max Walker of EF-Education EasyPost and Rudy Porter of the Australian National Team get clear with 46KM to go. The four leaders hit the penultimate ascent of Challambra at 30.5KM to go holding 30 seconds. Walker cracked halfway up but the other three looked good over the top.
A few kilometers later, Harper was not happy with the pace and attacked Porter and Swift. Harper spurred on the crowd as he went through the bell with 21KM to go. Porter and Swift were still chasing at 23 seconds with the rest of the bunch at 31. Simon Clarke of Israel-Premier Tech did all of the chasing in the bunch on the last lap until they hit the climb with 10KM to go. He brought the gap down to 20 seconds and then peeled off as the road got steeper. Lucas Hamilton of Ineos closed the gap and forced the pace but when he swung off, no one attacked.
Ten riders went over the top together but Mauro Schmid of Jayco AlUla nipped off the front on the downhill into the single lane bridge. Schmid never got more than 10 seconds but he kept his head down and managed to keep the power turning on the pedals to get Jayco AlUla's first win at the Great Ocean Road Race in team history. Aaron Gate of XDS-Astana led the chase group of nine riders in for second on a bike throw, beating defending champion Laurence Pithie of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe into third.