Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race 2020 [FULL RACE] (ladies)

February 1, 2020

Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race 2020 (ladies) – Geelong – Geelong : 121 km

The Women’s WorldTour will officially begin at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, when the women’s event called the Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race is held on Saturday, February 1. It is the first time the marquee series has started outside of Europe since its creation five years ago, but the race is expected to make a strong first-impression in Geelong, Australia. It might be the first time that Australia has hosted a round of the WorldTour, but the nation has long held world-class road races for women. In fact, it hosted the first leg of the former UCI Women’s World Cup one-day race series for 11 years between 1998 and 2008 in Sydney, Canberra, the Snowy Mountains and Geelong.

Liane Lippert (Team Sunweb) has taken the biggest win of her career so far, winning the Deakin Women’s Race – the women’s edition of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, and the first round of the 2020 UCI Women’s WorldTour – with a solo attack on the finishing circuit in Geelong, Australia, on Saturday.

Lippert was part of a group of favourites that dropped everyone else on the steep climb of Challambra Crescent, nine kilometres from the line of what was a rain-sodden race.

The former German champion then made another attack on the short climb of Melville Avenue with just under six kilometres to go and held off a chase trio to the line. Last year’s winner Arlenis Sierra (Astana Women’s Team) won the sprint for second place against Australian road race champion Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott) and Tayler Wiles (Trek-Segafredo), crossing the line 15 seconds behind 22-year-old Lippert.

“I still can’t believe it – I’ve won my first WorldTour race ever,” said an overjoyed Lippert in the TV interview after the finish. “Without my team, I couldn’t have won. They did a great job, protecting me the whole day and playing an important role in the final. I felt really good, so I attacked on the final uphill and never looked back.”

Asked about the race conditions, with the riders having faced heavy rain and wind for most of the 121km race, Lippert said: “We are all used to it, and it was a good factor for us. We made the race hard in the wind, and it was an amazing race by the whole team.”

How it unfolded

The first break formed after seven kilometres when Madeline Wright (Roxsolt Attaquer) and Marieke van Witzenburg (Doltcini-Van Eyck) got away. They were caught before the first bonus sprint after 24km, at which point Wright and Silvia Valsecchi (BePink) made another move that was soon joined by Maaike Boogaard (Alé BTC Ljubljana), Minke Bakker (Doltcini-Van Eyck) and French champion Jade Wiel (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope).

Those five riders built an advantage of more than four minutes with 43km to go, when Rally Cycling and Team Sunweb started to chase in earnest in the peloton. As the weather conditions worsened, to the point that the broadcast helicopter was grounded, the two teams worked together to gradually reduce the gap to the break, and brought it down to 1:45 minutes at the 25km-to-go mark.

A big crash with around 20km to go brought down dozens of riders and split the peloton, leaving only some 30 riders to chase. After catching the break, sprinter Chloe Hosking (Rally Cycling) led a brief counter-attack, but at the start of the climb of Challambra Crescent, things were back together. Lippert, Wiles and Brodie Chapman (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) led the group up the climb, with Chapman taking the ‘QOM’ points at the top, having reduced the front group to around a dozen riders, which included all the pre-race favourites.

On the final climb of Melville Avenue, Lippert made a strong move, opening a big gap and defending it to the finish. By winning the first Women’s WorldTour race of the year, Lippert also takes the season-long competition’s purple leader’s jersey.

Results :
1 Liane Lippert (Ger) Team Sunweb Women 3:17:46
2 Arlenis Sierra (Cub) Astana Women’s Team 0:00:15
3 Amanda Spratt (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott Women
4 Tayler Wiles (USA) Trek-Segafredo Women
5 Leah Kirchmann (Can) Team Sunweb Women 0:00:21
6 Chloe Hosking (Aus) Rally Cycling
7 Lauren Stephens (USA) Tibco-SVB
8 Ruth Winder (USA) Trek-Segafredo Women
9 Ella Harris (NZl) Canyon-Sram
10 Brodie Chapman (Aus) FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope
11 Juliette Labous (Fra) Team Sunweb Women 0:00:24
12 Ruby Roseman Gannon (Aus) Australian National Team 0:01:00
13 Anna Louise Henderson (GBr) Team Sunweb Women
14 Lotta Henttala (Fin) Trek-Segafredo Women 0:01:24
15 Lauren Kitchen (Aus) FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope
16 Katia Ragusa (Ita) Astana Women’s Team
17 Pfeiffer Georgi (GBr) Team Sunweb Women
18 Shara Gillow (Aus) FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope
19 Lucy Kennedy (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott Women 0:01:30
20 Peta Mullens (Aus) Roxsolt Attaquer 0:02:12
21 Julia Soek (Ned) Team Sunweb Women
22 Alexis Ryan (USA) Canyon-Sram
23 Emily Herfoss (Aus) Roxsolt Attaquer
24 Sarah Gigante (Aus) Tibco-SVB
25 Maaike Boogaard (Ned) Ale BTC Ljubljana 0:02:47
26 Nicole Hanselmann SWZ Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport 0:02:50
27 Justine Barrow (Aus) Roxsolt Attaquer
28 Maëlle Grossetete (Fra) FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope
29 Simona Frapporti (Ita) Bepink 0:02:51
30 Sophie Edwards (Aus) Australian National Team 0:03:21
31 Mieke Docx (Bel) Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport 0:03:35
32 Hannah Ludwig (Ger) Canyon-Sram 0:03:38
33 Nina Kessler (Ned) Tibco-SVB
34 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Trek-Segafredo Women 0:03:40
35 Marieke van Witzenburg (Ned) Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport 0:04:00
36 Rachel Neylan (Aus) Australian National Team
37 Tanja Erath (Ger) Canyon-Sram 0:04:21
38 Madeline Wright (Aus) Roxsolt Attaquer 0:04:46
39 Jade Wiel (Fra) FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope
40 Silvia Valsecchi (Ita) Bepink
41 Melissa van Neck (Cze) Bepink 0:05:40
42 Minke Bakker (Ned) Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport 0:06:01
43 Anet Barrera (Mex) Agolico 0:06:14
44 Justine Vromanne (Bel) Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport 0:07:34
45 Maryna Ivaniuk (Ukr) Astana Women’s Team
46 Jeniffer Morales (CRc) Agolico 0:08:32
47 Ariadna Gutierrez (Mex) Agolico
48 Denisse Ahumada (Chi) Agolico
49 Marcela Prieto (Mex) Agolico
50 Jutatip Maneephan (Tha) Ale BTC Ljubljana 0:08:34
51 Anna Plichta (Pol) Trek-Segafredo Women 0:09:34
52 Francesca Pattaro (Ita) Astana Women’s Team 0:10:01
53 Silvia Zanardi (Ita) Bepink
54 Erica Clevenger (USA) Tibco-SVB
55 Jessica Pratt (Aus) Canyon-Sram 0:13:04
56 Anya Louw (Aus) Australian National Team
57 Alexandra Martin Wallace (Aus) Australian National Team
58 Anastasiia Chursina (Rus) Ale BTC Ljubljana 0:22:07
DNF Yeima Torres Beltran (Cub) Astana Women’s Team
DNF Georgia Williams (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott Women
DNF Jessica Allen (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott Women
DNF Grace Brown (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott Women
DNF Jessica Roberts (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott Women
DNF Abi van Twisk (GBr) Trek-Segafredo Women
DNF Tiffany Cromwell (Aus) Canyon-Sram
DNF Urska Bravec (Slo) Ale BTC Ljubljana
DNF Urska Pintar (Slo) Ale BTC Ljubljana
DNF Anna Trevisi (Ita) Ale BTC Ljubljana
DNF Jenelle Crooks (NZl) Tibco-SVB
DNF Sharlotte Lucas (NZl) Tibco-SVB
DNF Andrea Ramirez (Mex) Agolico
DNF Victorie Guilman (Fra) FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope
DNF Krista Doebel-hickok (USA) Rally Cycling
DNF Heidi Franz (USA) Rally Cycling
DNF Liegh ann Ganzar (USA) Rally Cycling
DNF Sara Poidevan (Can) Rally Cycling
DNF Jenna Merrick (NZl) Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport
DNF Marketa Hajkova (Cze) Bepink
DNF Grace Anderson (NZl) Bepink
DNF Bree Wilson (Aus) Roxsolt Attaquer
DNF Veronica Lebedev (Aus) Roxsolt Attaquer
DNF Nicole Frain (Aus) Australian National Team