The ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on international cycling and major events, meant the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race could not proceed in January 2021. We are working closely with our stakeholders to plan for 2022, ensuring we can deliver a safe event for all.
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Inspired by Europe’s prestigious one-day classic races, the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race (CEGORR) is the first of its kind in Australia and was rapidly embraced at a local and international level as a unique competition and spectator experience.
The CEGORR is a four-day international event where spectators can get up close to the world’s best teams and elite riders competing in the UCI WorldTour Elite Men’s Road Race and the UCI Women’s WorldTour Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race.
The action-packed four-day cycling festival kicks off with the TAC Race Torquay, which was introduced in 2020 for the elite riders, and spans through to an epic weekend including two participation events – the VEGEMITE® Family Ride and the Swisse People’s Ride, followed by the UCI WorldTour Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race and concludes with the UCI WorldTour Elite Men’s Road Race.
The first edition of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race was held from 31 January – 1 February 2015.
This also marked Cadel’s final professional race. Cadel finished his career with many highlights including being a four-time Olympian, 2009 UCI Road World Champion and of course only one of three non-Europeans to win the Tour de France, as he did in 2011.
Driving: When driving, Geelong is an easy 60-minute drive along the Princes Freeway from Melbourne. There is no designated parking for the event so it is advised to plan ahead.
Public Transport: V-Line services depart regularly to Geelong from Southern Cross Station, enjoy a scenic 60 minutes from Melbourne CBD. Arriving at Geelong Station is the most practical option, as it is only a 10-minute walk to Steampacket Gardens and the Start/Finish line.
Flying: Melbourne and Geelong are serviced by two airports. Melbourne International Airport at Tullamarine is a 60-minute drive from Geelong using the connecting freeway networks. Avalon Airport, located 30 minutes to the north of Geelong’s city centre services domestic airlines Jetstar and internationally, AirAsia.
Ferry: Departing twice daily from Docklands, cruise direct to Geelong Waterfront and the finish line of the race. The 400 seater vessel has an on board café and Free Wi-Fi. Book online
Parking: Off road car parks on the race route will be accessible if the road is open, however please be aware that there may be restricted access to and from the car parks.
For further details, please click here
The Geelong and Torquay climate in January / February can be characterised as warm to hot. Day time temperatures will generally reach highs of 26°C (79°F), while the night temperature will drop to around 16°C (61°F).
The average daily relative humidity for January is 55% and February is around 65%, with the average monthly rainfall being approximately 30mm in January and 36mm in February. Please consult the weather forecast closer to the event in 2022 for further details.
Explore the Visit page on the website. This provides an overview of the regions along the different race route and a link to booking.com.
We would love to hear from you! Please email the team through the Contact Us page, with your details and a brief overview of your proposal. Visit the contact us page.
You can purchase Swisse People’s Ride merchandise through the Santini Australia website.
Visit Victoria owns the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
Visit Victoria is the primary tourism and events company for the State of Victoria in Australia. We inspire people to visit Melbourne and Victoria through captivating stories and amazing events. Our purpose is to ignite and challenge any imagination.
In 2020, more than 120,000 people attended the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, held over four days.
Cadel raced in the inaugural event in 2015, which marked his final professional bike race. Since Cadel’s retirement, each year he joins more 3,000 participants in the Swisse People’s Ride.
As long time supporters of equal opportunities in sport, the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race is proud to award equal prize money to both our Elite Men’s and Women’s races.
In an Australian first, the Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race opened the 2020 UCI Women’s WorldTour calendar.
The race first began in 2015 at the inaugural Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. It was elevated to a UCI 1.2 status in 2016, and then again to a UCI 1.1 status in 2018, before making it onto the WorldTour calendar in 2020.
Held each year on the Saturday of the race week, the UCI WorldTour Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race follows the mass participation Swisse People’s Ride.
Scott Sunderland, Race Director for the Elite Women’s Road Race has created a dynamic 121km course through Geelong and the Surf Coast. The race departs from the Geelong Waterfront and charges towards the Surf Coast. After passing Bells Beach, riders veer off the Great Ocean Road and loop back to where the celebrated Challambra Climb awaits, before returning to Steampacket Gardens for a screaming finish.
In 2020 the race welcomed 14 Elite Women’s Teams including six UCI WorldTour Teams and the Australian National Team. Team Sunweb’s Liane Lippert took out the race win and is now the defending champion.
The Elite Women’s Road Race is proudly sponsored by Deakin University. Deakin University offers a personalised learning experience, enhanced by an innovative digital environment. The University leads by creating opportunities to live and work in a connected, evolving world.
Read more about the UCI WorldTour Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race.
The first one-day classic of the UCI WorldTour season, the CEGORR Elite Men’s Road Race produces hair-raising cycling along Australia’s most iconic coast line. Race Director Scott Sunderland designed the 171km course in consultation with Cadel Evans, keeping the early season timing in mind.
Held on the Sunday of event week, the Elite Men’s Road Race provides an electric finish to a fantastic weekend of cycling in Geelong and the Surf Coast.
In 2020 the race had its strongest line-up in the event’s history, with attendance from the best teams around the world. The race welcomed 15 UCI WorldTour Teams, of which six teams where part of the top 10 in the world. It was Deceuninck-Quick Step’s Dries Devenyns who took the race win in 2020.
There can be a fast and sometimes windy start to the race along the exposed roadways before technical sections including city circuits, four times over the Challambra Climb and an electric sprint to the finish.
Highlights of the race include the Surf Coast Sprint – a high intensity race for Mapei Sprint Classification points in the first intermediate sprint of the day – the Swisse King of the Mountain battle, the decent off the Challambra Climb where speeds of up to 85 km/h are reached before coming through Queens Park, and the Geelong Waterfront finish.
Read more about the Elite Men’s Road Race.
UCI stands for Union Cycliste Internationale, otherwise known as the International Cycling Union. The UCI is the world governing body for cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland.
The UCI issues racing licenses to riders and enforces disciplinary rules. The UCI also manages the classification of races and the points ranking system in various cycling disciplines including mountain biking, road and track cycling. This applies to both men and women at amateur and professional levels. The UCI also oversees the World Championships.
The UCI WorldTour brings together the world’s greatest road races, including the biggest stage races of the sport such as the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España and one day classic races such as the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, Paris-Roubaix and the Strade Bianche.
The quality of the sporting show is guaranteed thanks to the participation of the best teams – and therefore the best riders – in all the UCI WorldTour events. All UCI World Teams will participate in all the events on this calendar.
Three rankings (individual, teams and nations) are calculated at the end of each UCI WorldTour event and published at the end of the event.
The UCI has a classification criterion that relates to races across all cycling disciplines. This is used to signify the importance of each race in relation to UCI points and prize money.
The ‘1.’ refers to a single day race, while a ‘2.’ represents a stage race.
The higher the second number, the lower the classification; so for example, the 1.1 classification for TAC Race Torquay means it is a one-day race with the highest classification.
Late January each year, sometimes extending into early February depending on the UCI WorldTour calendar.
This is the timeslot allocated to the event by the UCI. Being held in January makes the event the first one day race on the men’s UCI WorldTour and the UCI Women’s WorldTour calendars each year.
Within Australia, the Elite Men’s and Elite Women’s Road Races are televised live on the Seven Network.
The event is also broadcast internationally, made possible by our distribution partner, IMG Media. The 2020 event for example, was beamed into over 331 million households worldwide across 140 countries and territories.
The Elite Men’s and Elite Women’s Road Races are for professional teams who are invited to participate.
The Elite Men’s Road Race features Men’s UCI WorldTour teams, with additional invitations extended to some UCI Pro Teams, UCI Continental and the Australian and New Zealand National Teams.
The Elite Women’s Road Race feature UCI Women’s WorldTour teams, with additional invites extended to UCI Women’s Conti-Teams, National Road Series Teams and the Australian and New Zealand National Teams.
With some of Victoria’s most spectacular scenery as its backdrop, the race starts in Geelong and travels through Cadel’s hometown of Barwon Heads, passing through Thirteenth Beach, Torquay, Bells Beach, the rolling hills around Moriac with a dramatic finish on Geelong’s Waterfront.
Course details can be found here.
The proposed course was designed by former Australian professional cyclist, Scott Sunderland, in consultation with Cadel Evans.
The course includes elements of the successful 2010 UCI Road World Championships course.
Scott has been the Race Director of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race since it’s inception in 2015 and is also the Race Director of the famous Flanders Classics and RideLondon.
There are 10 jerseys awarded throughout the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
The Mapei Sprint Jersey is awarded to the winner of the sprint classification in the WorldTour Road Races, and in 2020 Carter Turnbull from Kordamentha Australian National Team won the Men’s, and Maaike Boogaard from Ale BTC Ljubljana won the Women’s.
The Swisse King and Queen of the Mountain Jersey is awarded to the KOM and QOM classification winner and in 2020 Carter Turnbull from Kordamentha Australian National Team won the Men’s, and Brodie Champan from FDJ Nouvelle – Aquitaine Futuroscope won the Women’s.
The Gerry Ryan Award goes to the Best Young Rider of the race and in 2020 Pavel Sivakov from Team Ineos won the Men’s, and Liane Lippert from Team Sunweb won the Women’s.
Trophies are also awarded to the podium finishers at a presentation at the conclusion of each race.
The ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on international cycling and major events, meant the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race could not proceed in January 2021. We are working closely with our stakeholders to plan for 2022, ensuring we can deliver a safe event for all. Stay tuned for news about TAC Race Torquay.
Keep updated with 2022 event announcements by signing up the our newsletter.
TAC Race Torquay is the official precursor event to the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. It is a UCI 1.1 classification circuit race held in the Surf Coast town of Torquay. The 13km circuit gives fans a chance to get up close to the world’s fastest male and female riders in one of Australia’s most dynamic cycling events. Starting and finishing on The Esplanade, the circuit follows a clockwise direction with the peloton racing along Bell Street before hitting the Great Ocean Road, Duffields and Messmate roads.
You can expect fast and dynamic racing, with the riders guaranteed to be attacking as they punch over the two short climbs on the back of the circuit. The peloton then heads back via South Beach Road, and there’s a quick descent to Horseshoe Bend Road.
The riders battle it out in the Surf Coast Times Super Sprints on laps 3 and 6. The winner-takes-all format for the intermediate sprints will see the racing heat up early with a cash prize up for grabs. From there, it’s all about taking line honours in the heart of Torquay.
Race Torquay is proudly presented by Victoria’s Transport Accident Commission and the Surf Coast Shire. Together we can ride towards a future where every journey is a safe one.
The Surf Coast boasts some of Australia’s most famous beaches and opportunities for outdoor adventure. Torquay is the official start of the Great Ocean Road – a special place to drive and cycle. The Surf Coast is honoured to be part of this international event so close to Cadel’s heart.
Learn more about the TAC Race Torquay here.
This race has a UCI 1.1 classification.
Public transport connections from Melbourne are available via V-Line Train to Marshall Station in Geelong, followed by the local bus service to Torquay. Alternatively, visitors can drive via the Princes Freeway to Torquay.
Visit our getting-there page for more details.
We would love to hear from you! Please email the team through the Contact Us page, with your details and a brief overview of your proposal.
The ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on international cycling and major events, meant the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race could not proceed in January 2021. We are working closely with our stakeholders to plan for 2022, ensuring we can deliver a safe event for all. Stay tuned for news about the People’s Ride.
The Swisse People’s Ride is a mass participation event within the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race premier weekend of cycling. Participants ride the same roads as the professionals and can choose from three course distances – 35km, 65km or 115km – taking in the scenic views along the Geelong foreshore, Surf Coast and Bellarine Peninsula.
Exclusive to the 115km course, the Challambra Climb provides both a physical and mental challenge. The 850-metre, punchy ascent also features in the Elite Men’s and Women’s Road Races where the atmosphere is unforgettable!
The ride is presented by Swisse whose mission is to make millions of people around the world healthier and happier through three pillars of lifelong wellness – mindfulness, movement and nutrition.
Learn more about the Swisse People’s Ride here.
Riders must be over the age of 12 by the event date in order to register. A rider under the age of 14 on the event date may only participate in the 35km course. Riders’ over the age of 14 on the event date are able to participate in either the 65km and 115km courses.
There is no maximum age limit for riders.
Suggestions for bike choices may include road bikes, mountain bikes, city bikes, hybrid bikes and cross bikes. Participants must ensure bikes are well maintained and fit for use in the Swisse People’s Ride.
Speed groups are critically important to ensure that you have the best start possible and to minimise the amount of overtaking needed in the first part of the ride. Please help everyone’s experience by selecting the most realistic and appropriate average speed that you will complete the entire ride at. The categories are: 15-20km/h, 21-25km/h, 26-30km/h, 31-35km/h, 36+km/h.
Yes. All participants must wear an Australian Standards Certified helmet as per Victorian road rules.
The Swisse People’s Ride is staged on open roads. This means that all riders must always abide by the Australian road rules. Failure to do so is at the risk of the participant and may result in the participant being removed from the ride.
Yes, this includes your free rider jersey made by Santini, a puncture repair kit, spare inner tubes, a pump, rear tail light, fully charged and working mobile phone, adequate ride nutrition, and water bottles/carriers.
The ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on international cycling and major events, meant the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race could not proceed in January 2021. We are working closely with our stakeholders to plan for 2022, ensuring we can deliver a safe event for all. Stay tuned for news about the People’s Ride.
The free VEGEMITE® Family Ride is a 1.6km circuit along the Geelong Waterfront, giving the whole family a memorable and safe cycling experience!
Whether it’s on three wheels or two, the VEGEMITE® Family Ride is suitable for all members of your family aged four and over. Pass under the official Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race Start / Finish line gantry – just like the pros! Kids love to leave their parents for dust!
VEGEMITE® is Australia’s most iconic brand, and is proud to join forces with Cadel Evans as the official spreads partner of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. VEGEMITE® is the unique blend that Tastes Like Australia.
Learn more about the VEGEMITE® Family Ride here.
Entry to the VEGEMITE® Family Ride is free for all!
Riders must be older than four on the day of the event to ride the course.