Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race 2018 [LAST 50 KM]

January 28, 2018

Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race 2018 – Geelong – Geelong : 164 km

The 2018 Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race was a road cycling one-day race that took place on 28 January 2018 in Australia. It was the fourth edition of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and the second event of the 2018 UCI World Tour.

In a thrilling finale of the 2018 Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, Jay McCarthy (Bora-Hansgrohe) came up trumps in a reduced bunch sprint to take the biggest win of his career.

Late dives to the line by Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors), and Tour Down Under champion Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) proved too little too late as McCarthy became the fourth different winner in four editions and the first Australian to triumph.

Having fallen short of a repeat Tour Down Under podium this summer, victory in Geelong was instant redemption for the 25-year-old.

“I was a little a bit disappointed at Tour Down Under but I know I gave it everything there and I felt like I deserved more out of it. Coming into today as the last race in the Australian summer, I felt like I have had a pretty consistent time here and, to finish with a win, I couldn’t ask for much more,” said McCarthy, who also claimed silver in the Australian nationals at the start of January.

Ensconced in the lead group coming into the final kilometres, McCarthy – along with Impey and BMC’s Simon Gerrans – packed the fastest finish but the task was made immeasurably harder when the second group on the road joined up under the flamme rouge. Viviani and defending champion Nikias Ardnt (Sunweb) were the chief the danger men from behind.

However, McCarthy kept a cool head in the hot conditions for the best win yet of his young career.

“As you see, Viviani was coming in hot onto my heels in the final there,” he added. “It all worked out today. Some days it goes your way and today was my day.”

The opening stanza

From the gun, the day’s major breakaway was established with representation from Lasse Norman Hansen (Aqua Blue Sport), Pavel Kochetkov (Katusha-Alpecin), Robbert De Greef (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij), and the Kordamentha-Australia duo of Alex Porter and Sam Welsford.

The quintet was given the all-clear from the peloton and quickly built their advantage. At the first intermediate sprint, the gap was over six minutes as Welsford took maximum points in Torquay. In the peloton, Mitchelton-Scott, Trek-Segafredo and QuickStep-Floors were the teams taking up responsibility.

After the non-contest of the sprint point, Hansen and Porter challenged each other for the mountains point with the Aqua Blue Sports rider claiming the prize. Entering the first of the Geelong circuits, the breakaway’s advantage continued to hover above four minutes as the mercury tipped over 40 degrees.

Following the first of four ascents of Challambra, Welsford and De Greef lost contact. Second time up the climb, Hansen again took the KOM points to seal the classification while the peloton cut the breakaway’s advantage to a touch over three minutes. Third time up, it was only Hansen and Kochetkov left at the head of the race as the Dane again crested first.

The breakaway was caught on the final lap with Challambra to prove decisive in the outcome of the result. Bora’s Peter Kennaugh lit the fuse to force the selection and the front group came to include the likes of McCarthy, Kennaugh and Daniel Oss of Bora, LottoNL-Jumbo’s George Bennett and Robert Gesink, Mitchelton-Scott’s Daryl Impey and Esteban Chaves, plus Gerrans, Pierre Latour (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Dries Devenyns (QuickStep-Floors).

A cat and mouse final five kilometres played into the hands of the chase group, who kept up the pressure and made the junction inside the final kilometre just as a late move from Chaves was foiled.

In the sprint for the line, Maurits Lammertink led off before McCarthy came around and then held off the fast kick of Viviani, Impey and Gerrans for his victory.

Results :
1 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora – Hansgrohe 4:04:00
2 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick – Step Floors
3 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott
4 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick – Step Floors
5 Simon Gerrans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
6 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
7 Steele von Hoff (Aus) Kordamentha Real Estate -Australia
8 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Team Katusha Alpecin
9 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team Lotto Nl – Jumbo
10 Lars Bak Ytting (Den) Lotto Soudal
11 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Lotto Nl – Jumbo
12 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky
13 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
14 Koen De Kort (Ned) Trek – Segafredo
15 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Team Lotto Nl – Jumbo
16 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
17 José Gonçalves (Por) Team Katusha Alpecin
18 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
19 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal
20 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Trek – Segafredo
21 Nathan Earle (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy
22 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora – Hansgrohe
23 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
24 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick – Step Floors
25 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:00:20
26 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
27 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora – Hansgrohe
28 George Bennett (NZl) Team Lotto Nl – Jumbo
29 Jhoan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Mitchelton-Scott
30 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:22
31 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
32 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek – Segafredo
33 Tiago Machado (Por) Team Katusha Alpecin
34 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek – Segafredo
35 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Team Dimension Data
36 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
37 Scott Bowden (Aus) Kordamentha Real Estate -Australia
38 Johonatan Restrepo Valencia (Col) Team Katusha Alpecin
39 Jeroen Meijers (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
40 Michael Morkov (Den) Quick – Step Floors
41 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek – Segafredo
42 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
43 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
44 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:01:49
45 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Team Dimension Data
46 Calvin Watson (Aus) Aqua Blue Sport 0:02:39
47 Scott Davies (GBr) Team Dimension Data
48 Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
49 Michel Kreder (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport
50 Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Quick – Step Floors
51 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:30
52 Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team 0:04:52
53 Thomas Leezer (Ned) Team Lotto Nl – Jumbo
54 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
55 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky 0:06:34
56 Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Aqua Blue Sport
57 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Team Katusha Alpecin
58 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:08:25
59 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Team Dimension Data
60 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
61 Timothy Roe (Aus) Kordamentha Real Estate -Australia
62 August Jensen (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy 0:09:34
63 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb
64 Etienne Van Empel (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:10:18
65 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
66 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
67 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky
68 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 0:14:15
69 Nico Denz (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb
DNF Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
DNF Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora – Hansgrohe
DNF Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora – Hansgrohe
DNF Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora – Hansgrohe
DNF Rudiger Selig (Ger) Bora – Hansgrohe
DNF Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Team Sky
DNF Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick – Step Floors
DNF Florian Senechal (Fra) Quick – Step Floors
DNF Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team
DNF Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
DNF Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team
DNF Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team
DNF Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek – Segafredo
DNF Alex Frame (NZl) Trek – Segafredo
DNF Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
DNF Nathan Haas (Aus) Team Katusha Alpecin
DNF Mads Wurtz Schmidt (Den) Team Katusha Alpecin
DNF Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal
DNF Robert Wagner (Ger) Team Lotto Nl – Jumbo
DNF Ben O’Connor (Aus) Team Dimension Data
DNF Mark Renshaw (Aus) Team Dimension Data
DNF Jacobus Venter (RSA) Team Dimension Data
DNF Martijn Budding (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
DNF Tim Ariesen (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
DNF Jeroen Meijers (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
DNF Casper Pedersen (Den) Aqua Blue Sport
DNF Peter Koning (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport
DNF Shane Archbold (NZl) Aqua Blue Sport
DNF Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Roy Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Hamish Schreurs (NZl) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Tyler Williams (USA) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Alexander Porter (Aus) Kordamentha Real Estate -Australia
DNF Samuel Welsford (Aus) Kordamentha Real Estate -Australia
DNF Michael Rice (Aus) Kordamentha Real Estate -Australia