While the event’s name is taken from the awe-inspiring ocean backdrop, there’ll be nothing leisurely about the racing when the world’s best teams vie for victory at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in 2025.
The first UCI WorldTour one-day classic of the season will see 182 riders (98 men and 84 women) form 14 men’s and 14 women’s teams.
The women will race 142km, which includes two climbs up Challambra as part of the Geelong Circuit, while the men race 184km and four ascents up Challambra. A final 9km downhill slope to the waterfront finish will determine who etches their name on the famous ‘C’ shaped wave trophy.
Numbers aside, this classic one-day race, offers opportunities for different types of riders to win under different circumstances. A combination of the race’s early season timeslot and the intriguing course itself has meant that the only predictable outcome of the weekend is that exciting racing is in store.
It’s a question that Channel 7 cycling commentator Matt Keenan has pondered himself.
“How do I go predicting a winner? Not very well because so far I haven’t! It’s a really, really hard race to predict!”
“We can name five riders and one or two of them may be on the podium, but it’s really hard to predict who is actually going to win the race because of the nature of the course.”
“A lot of the sprinters will think they can win, and they can – they’re right in the mix – but Challambra changes all that.”
“What we see is a real balancing act between the sprinters trying to hold on up the climb, and the climbers who doing all they can to make sure the sprinters aren’t there toward the run at the finish. It doesn’t 100% favour anyone, which is why it’s such an unpredictable race. It’s what I really like about it.”
Infamous Challambra Climb looms as the ever-critical landmark in the course’s terrain. The ascent first made famous at the 2010 UCI Road World Championships will once again play a pivotal role in the race. 1km from the Barwon Boulevard roundabout to the top, riders will climb 87m at an average gradient of 8.7%, peaking at an eye-watering 11% in the final section.
Each summit marks the opportunity to capture points for the coveted KOM title.
“Anything that happen in the last 100 metres of the climb,” Keenan says, with experience.
“If I was watching the race roadside and not commentating on the race, I would be on Challambra, watching the big screen and having a beer.”
Riders taking part in the TAC People’s Ride will be able to relate, with Long Course riders having the chance to time themselves up Challambra.
“It’s one of the unique things about cycling in comparison to other sports. You can go to the Australian Open and you can watch the best in the world play, but can’t have a hit with them, but here, you can do the TAC People’s Ride. You can go up Challambra, and then you can compare your time from bottom to top to what the pros do on Saturday and Sunday. It’s a good reality check!”
It’s also worth noting that sprint jerseys will not be awarded in 2025, with a Mapei Most Combative Rider Award taking it’s place.
The jersey will reward aggressive attacks, and is a positive change as this is what makes the one-day racing format so exciting to watch.
With history as our guide, we see international riders perform very strongly in Geelong, when comparing results to other races such as the Tour Down Under, where Australian cyclists have the better formguide.
In the men’s race, all but one of the men’s eight previous race winners have been international riders – Jay McCarthy’s sprint win in 2018, the only exception.
In the women’s event, three Australians have won the race, though the most recent was Chloe Hosking in 2018.
“Over the Australian summer, the Aussies hit the ground running because of the national championships and the Tour Down Under,” Keenan said.
“So the Australians are often ahead in their preparation compared to the Europeans, but by the time we reach Cadel’s race, the Europeans are sharper, and that’s why we’ve seen a lot of internationals win here before.”
Can the locals harness the home-ground advantage and buck the trend in 2025? It sounds like we better head to the top of Challambra to find out!