FAQ

Inspired by Europe’s prestigious one-day classic races, the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race (CEGORR) is the first of it’s kind in Australia and was rapidly embraced at a local and international level as a unique competition and spectator experience. 

The CEGORR is a week-long international event where spectators can get up close to the world’s best teams and elite riders competing in the UCI WorldTour-sanctioned Elite Men’s Road Race and the UCI Women’s WorldTour Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race.

The action-packed cycling festival kicks off with the mid-week professional races, in 2024, we saw the women’s criterium race – The Geelong Classic, and the men’s point-to-point race – The Surf Coast Classic.

The community is welcomed to join in the fun, with GeelongPort Family Ride and the TAC People’s Ride taking place on the very same roads, followed by the UCI WorldTour Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race and concluding with the elite men’s Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.

Late January each year, sometimes extending into early February depending on the UCI WorldTour calendar. In 2024, it was held in the week of 24-28 January. An announcement on the dates of our 2025 event will be made shortly.

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 General Classification, 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, a scenic 60-minute journey from Melbourne’s 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 onboard 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.

Please click here for further details on how to plan your journey.

The Geelong and Torquay climate in January / February can be characterised as warm to hot. Daytime 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 for further details. 

Explore our Visit page on the website for accommodation recommendations. 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 TAC People’s Ride gear through the Santini Australia website, and Event Merchandise through BikeChain.

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 2024, more than 140,000 people attended the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. Read more here.

Cadel raced in the inaugural event in 2015, which marked his final professional bike race. Since Cadel’s retirement, each year he joins more than 3,000 participants in the TAC 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.

The Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race is the first UCI Women’s WorldTour one-day race of the season.

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 same course as the Men’s Elite race, however rides over the famed Challambra Climb twice.

In 2024, Scott Sunderland, Race Director for the Elite Women’s Road Race, created a dynamic 143km course through Geelong and the Surf Coast. The race departs from the Geelong Waterfront and charges uphill inland toward Ceres and Moriac before heading southbound to Bells Beach. The course follows the Great Ocean Road, through Torquay to Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove before turning back toward Geelong and the waterfront. Turning left at Yarra Street, the women race two laps of a 10.4km loop that features the celebrated Challambra Climb, before returning to Steampacket Gardens for a thrilling finish.

In 2024, the race welcomed 16 elite women’s teams including nine UCI WorldTour Teams, Continential Teams and the Australian National Team. Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s Rosita Reinhout won in a sprint to the line to become the youngest-ever race winner in the event’s history.

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 elite men’s road race – the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race – produces hair-raising cycling along Australia’s most iconic coastline. 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 race provides an electric finish to a fantastic week of cycling in Geelong and the Surf Coast.

In 2024, the race welcomed 13 teams, 10 of which hold UCI WorldTour ranking status. It was New Zealand-born Laurence Pithie of Groupama – FDJ who took the race win in 2024.

There can be a fast and sometimes windy start to the race along the exposed roadways, before technical sections including city circuits, and four times over the Challambra Climb and a downhill sprint to the finish decides the race winner.

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 King of the Mountain battle, the descent 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 – the Cadel Evans Great Ocean 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 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 UCI WorldTour and UCI Women’s WorldTour are the highest categories of road racing on the professional calendar.

The Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race is classified as a 1.UWT race – signifying it is a one-day race on the UCI WorldTour calendar.

The Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race is classified as a 1.WWT race – signifying it is a one-day race on the UCI Women’s WorldTour calendar.

In 2024, the Surf Coast Classic was classified as a 1.1 race – signifying it is a one-day, UCI Category 1 race (the second-tier of race category by the UCI).

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 UCI WorldTour events.

Three rankings (individual, teams and nations) are calculated at the end of each UCI WorldTour event and published at the end of the event.

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, both weekend elite races are televised live on the Seven Network.

The event is also broadcast internationally, made possible by our distribution partner, InFront. 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 WorldTeams, with additional invitations extended to some UCI ProTeams, UCI Continental and the Australian and New Zealand National Teams.

The Elite Women’s Road Race feature UCI Women’s WorldTeams, 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 westward to the rolling hills around Moriac, and south toward Bells Beach, following the surf coast to Torquay, Thirteenth Beach and through Cadel’s hometown of Barwon Heads, before heading north back to a Geelong circuit 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 Tour of Flanders.

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, and in 2024, Jackson Medway of Team Bridgelane won the men’s classification, and Nienke Veenhoven of Team Visma | Lease a Bike won the women’s classification.

The Shimano King and Queen of the Mountain Jerseys are awarded to the KOM and QOM classification winners, and in 2024, Zac Marriage of Team Bridelane won the men’s, and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig won the women’s.

The Gerry Ryan Award goes to the Best Young Rider of the race, and in 2024, both race winners claimed the award – Laurence Pithie of Groupama – FDJ, and Rosita Reinhout of Team Visma | Lease a Bike.

Trophies are also awarded to the podium finishers at a presentation at the conclusion of each race.

In 2024, the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race welcomed back mid-week races for both elite men’s and women’s teams, held across separate days for the first time.

Kicking off festivities on Wednesday, the Geelong Classic was a criterium format race, featuring 25 laps of a 2km circuit around the Geelong Botanical Gardens and Waterfront. Sofia Bertizzolo of UAE Team ADQ claimed the honours in the inaugural edition.

Held on the following day, the Surf Coast Classic saw the elite men’s teams race from Lorne to Torquay. From the hills of the Otways to a sprint finish on the Esplanade at Torquay, Eritrean superstar, Binam Girmay of Intermaché Wanty claimed victory.

In previous years, Race Torquay took place in 2020 for both men and women, while Race Melbourne was held as a criterium race around Albert Park from 2017 to 2019.

The TAC People’s Ride is a mass participation event within the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race festival of cycling. Participants ride the same roads as the professionals and can choose from two course distances – 59km and 113km.

Exclusive to the 113km course, riders have the option of taking on the Challambra Climb or skipping the infamous hill. 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 the TAC, Victoria’s Transport Accident Commission, whose mission is to support those injured on our roads and promote road safety. Together we can ride towards a future where every journey is a safe one.

Entries for the 2025 event are set to open soon. Learn more about the TAC People’s Ride here.

Riders over the age of 14 on the event date are able to participate in either the 59km and 113km 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. eBikes on all distances are allowed too, given our event is a non-competitive recreational ride. Participants must ensure bikes are well maintained and fit for use in the TAC 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 TAC 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.

Yes. For the safety of participants and as a courtesy of local residents, a ‘cut off’ policy does apply to the TAC People’s Ride.

While speed details are being confirmed for the 2024 TAC People’s Ride, in the past, riders have needed to maintain an average speed of 18km/hr.

We would also like to advise participants of the 113km course of the TAC People’s Ride, that due to the timing of the Deakin University Elite Women’s Race on Saturday, there will be a need to shut a section of the course to allow the safe passage of the women’s elite race peloton. Exact details of this cut-off time will be provided in due course.

Details on event registration regarding cancellation, transfer and refunds are coming soon.

The free GeelongPort 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 GeelongPort 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!

GeelongPort 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. GeelongPort is the unique blend that Tastes Like Australia.

Learn more about the GeelongPort Family Ride here.

Entry to the GeelongPort Family Ride is free for all!

Riders must be older than four on the day of the event to ride the course.

Visit Victoria works closely with event stakeholders to ensure future editions of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and the TAC People’s Ride are conducted in a COVID-safe manner.