Place Name: Eastern Beach Road
Address: 6-8 Eastern Beach Road, Geelong Victoria 3220, Australia
Details: February 1, 2026
The final major UCI race in Australia has arrived for the year with the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. The course takes in many of the training roads in Victoria of the former Tour de France champion and the race's namesake. The first 90KM of the 182KM race is flat and relatively straightforward with the passage through Ocean Grove and Torquay along the coast line. A turn back inland takes the riders towards the circuit which is the defining feature of the race. With 72KM to go, the riders enter the circuit and immediately start the first of four ascents of the 1.3KM, 7.8% Challambra Crescent climb. At the bottom of the descent comes a narrow bridge and a difficult 700M ramp at 5% up Minerva Road that kills much of the momentum as the race moves towards the finish line for three more full laps. The full circuit is 21KM long and has produced a reduced bunch sprint, a small group, and a solo winner which is the hallmark of a great race.
A few squads started the race with six riders due to injury from the recent Santos Tour Down Under but no team was hit as hard as UAE-XRG who started with just four riders. That didn't stop them from being aggressive however because when the break was getting established, Vegard Stake Laengen was active and made the split and was joined by Oliver Peace of Picnic-PostNL and Julian Baudry of the Australian National Team. The three riders entered the circuit and by the top of Challambra Cresent with 70.5KM to go, their gap to the peloton was just 35 seconds. Stake Laenge was dropped, leaving just Baudry and Peace out front. Baudry was forced to let go of Peace on Minerva Road but just 2KM down the road, Peace was also caught and the race was all back together.
Baptiste Veistroffer of Lotto Intermarché attacked alone and was first across the finish line to take in the first passage of the finish line but he was brought back and the race reset once more. The pace went out completely but as the riders made their way back around the circuit towards Challambra Cresent for the second time, things got active again. The peloton was a washing machine and no one team was able to hold their position. Bahrain Victorious were best organized however and they strung out the bunch at warm speed, hitting the climb first with 51KM to go. Robert Stannard did nearly the entire climb at the front and put a lot of riders into trouble but the bunch was remarkably still together over the top. Stannard continued to lead across the bridge but at the bottom of Minerva Road, Santiago Buitrago took over and made his move. A group of seven formed but no one was interested in riding because fast man Matthew Brennan of Visma-Lease a Bike was present.
The group of seven were caught and Edoardo Zambanini of Bahrain Victorious countered. He was joined by Andreas Kron of Uno-X Mobility but they too were brought back after about 1KM. Given the good form of Brennan, Visma-Lease a Bike put resources to the front to control the race and led through the finish line for 2 laps to go. It wasn't until the lead in to Challambra Cresent with 35KM to go that other teams came forward. Across the road was Movistar, Visma-Lease a Bike, Alpecin-Premier Tech, Groupama-FDJ United, Ineos, and Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe. Jayco AlUla arrived in the last possible moment before the climb started and led the group to the bottom.
Ben O'Connor of Jayco AlUla made the pace up the climb but it didn't seem as hard this time around. 75M from the top, Buitrago attacked again but it wasn't enough to break up the group and the majority of the bunch started Minerva Road together. Over the top of Minerva Road with 25KM to go, Anders Skaarseth of Uno-X Mobility attacked with Chris Harper of the Australian National Team tagging on. The duo heard the bell for one lap to go with a gap of 40 seconds. Visma-Lease a Bike took charge of the chase and whittled the gap down to 20 seconds with 13KM to go as the race crossed the Barwon River.
Simon Clarke of NSN brought forward Ethan Vernon to the front of the peloton on the run to Challambra Cresent in what was the final act of service of a long career set to end at the conclusion of this race. EF-Education EasyPost and XDS-Astana were more present this time around as they neared the climb. Like last lap, Jayco AlUla brought Mauro Schmid to the front in the last possible moment, right before the first roundabout at the bottom. Ineos set the early pace but it was a crash, not the pace, that split the group 2/3 of the way down the bunch.
Jayco AlUla took over when the climb got steep with O'Connor, once again, which brought Harper and Skaarseth back into the fold. Luke Plapp took over and kept the pace as high as he could manage all the way to the top. As hard as he rode, the bunch was still around 25 riders over the top including top sprinters like Brennan and Tobias Lund Andresen of Decathlon CMA CGM. On Minerva Road, Buitrago made a big effort and was only followed by Luke Lamperti of EF-Education EasyPost. They were joined by Brennan and Filippo Zana of Soudal Quickstep as they neared 5KM to go. It was a mad scramble behind to close the gap and more riders came across. The group swelled back to 25 riders with 3.5KM to go
No one got away on the few attempted counter attacks and the group was still together through 1,500M as they turned onto the finish straight into a block head wind. Kevin Geniets of Groupama-FDJ United took the group until 800M to go when Plapp tried to take them all by surprise with a move from the back. Brennan was straight on his wheel so Plapp converted his effort into the lead out for Schmid who nestled into fifth wheel. Plapp peeled off with 300M to go and Brennan was left with no choice but to start the sprint into the wind. He held his left side on the barrier but it was too far. Lund Andresen came around and notched another win for the French squad in the Aussie Summer. Brennan held on for second with Brady Gilmore of NSN Cycling swooping in for third place.
Tags: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, 2026, February, Geelong, Vegard Stake Laengen, Oliver Peace, Julian Baudry, Baptiste Veistroffer, Robert Stannard, Santiago Buitrago, Matthew Brennan, Edoardo Zambanini, Andreas Kron, Ben O'Connor, Anders Skaarseth, Chris Harper, Simon Clarke, Luke Plapp, Tobias Lund Andresen, Luke Lamperti, Filippo Zana, Kevin Geniets, Brady Gilmore