Preview Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race 2025 | The battle between youth and experience

The past week has been enjoyable in Australia. In lovely conditions, the WorldTour teams competed in the Tour Down Under, and many young talents, in particular, left an excellent impression. Before we leave the land of kangaroos, (most) of the teams will put on one more show in the Melbourne area.

If you look at the list of honors of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, you will see a division between strong sprinters and punchers. Last year was no different. Home rider Laurence Pithie, still in Groupama FDJ livery, won the Australian finale. Dries Devenyns was the last Belgian to win in 2020; a Dutch rider has yet to prevail in Geelong.

2024 Laurence Pithie

2023 Marius Mayrhofer

2020 Dries Devenyns

2019 Elia Viviani

2018 Jay McCarthy

2017 Nikias Arndt

2016 Peter Kennaugh

2015 Gianni Meersman

The course has increased slightly in length compared to last year, at eight kilometers, but for the most part, it remains the same. The biggest difference is that the Australian race starts off less difficult and has few hills, but it can be a fast start where the wind can affect it.

Once the riders arrive on the local laps in Geelong, the heaviest part of the race also begins. After all, the riders have to cross Challambra Hill four times. The Australian showpiece is 1.1 kilometers long and rises at 8.5 percent. This slope is followed by a short descent, after which an incline of six hundred meters at 8.3 percent will send the legs into acidification again. After the final passage, it's another six kilometers downhill to the finish.

Next weekend in Geelong will be old-fashioned "Australian" hot again. Temperatures could reach above 30 degrees Celsius on Sunday, with barely any wind. Whether the riders and the fans will stay dry remains to be seen, as rain is forecast for the afternoon.

Start: 7:10 PM EST

Finish: 11:45 PM EST

The defending champion, Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), is at the start, but he did not stand out at the Tour Down Under, and you never know what can happen. Who does start with excellent legs is Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL), who finished fourth in the GC of the Australian stage race behind Javier Romo (Movistar), who surprised everybody by winning stage three of the Tour Down Under and thus finishing second in the GC.

And what about Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers)? The young American showed several times last week that he is in good shape. Should Pithie not be able to make it for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, they also have a man in form at the start with Finn Fisher-Black, who finished third in the GC at the Tour Down Under. Now that we have mentioned several names that can handle a hill well, we cannot forget one name: Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl-Trek). The young Dane won the youth classification in the WorldTour season opener.

Not only do punchers have a chance to win, but strong sprinters may also dream of victory. Sam Welsford (also from Red Bull) is the man in form with three stage wins at the Tour Down Under. Should he still be there at the end, Welsford is a great contender. We should also not forget Corbin Strong (Israel Premier Tech). Strong finished fourth in last year's Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and is now back in form.

And what can guys like Alberto Bettiol (XdS Astana Team), Michał Kwiatkowski (INEOS Grenadiers), Michael Woods (Israel Premier-Tech), Rémy Rochas (Groupama FDJ), and Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek) do on this course? They are currently not in perfect shape but could surprise on a course like this, just like Stephan Williams (Israel Premier-Tech), who won the Tour Down Under last year.

For the record, WorldTour teams Visma | Lease a Bike, Bahrain Victorious, Decathlon AG2R, Alpecin-Deceuninck, and UAE-Team Emirates - XRG have already traveled back to Europe after the Tour Down Under and thus are not participating. Because the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race (like Dwars door Vlaanderen, Brugge-De Panne, and Eschborn-Frankfurt, among others) was added to the WorldTour only later, top-level teams do not necessarily have to compete in Australia.

Top favorites: Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe) and Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL)

Outsiders: Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech), Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers), Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl-Trek) and Javier Romo (Movistar)

Long shots: Alberto Bettiol (XdS Astana Team), Rémy Rochas (Groupama FDJ), Michal Kwiatkowski (INEOS Grenadiers), Michael Woods and Stephan Williams (Israel Premier-Tech), Andrea Bagioli and Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek).

The first WorldTour one-day race of 2025 will be broadcast on HBO Max at 9:30 PM EST. The finish is expected around 11:45 PM EST. Of course, IDLProCycling.com will report on the race.