Sprinters reign supreme in seventh Cadel race

THE seventh edition of the Elite Men’s Race in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race (CEGORR) was fought out at the end by the sprinters, with German rider Marius Mayrhofer prevailing in a pack finish on the Geelong Waterfront.

After a dramatic crash inside the last 500m took out three riders, Mayrhofer was the unexpected winner of the 174km race.

The 22-year-old Team DSM rider was in tears after his first win on the UCI WorldTour, and also picked up CEGORR’s Gerry Ryan Award for Best Young Rider.

Hugo Page (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) of France finished second and Australian Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) was third.

The top Australian sprinters were unable to overtake Mayhofer at the finish, with Michael Matthews fourth and Caleb Ewan sixth.

Speaking after the race, Mayrhofer – who also came off his bike after the first King of the Mountain climb earlier in the day – said he attacked with about 400 metres to go.

“In (the Tour) Down Under I was always a bit blocked and couldn’treally focus on my sprints, so today, there was this little downhill before 300 metres to go so I thought I’d just build up as much momentum as I can.

“I focused on being as small as possible and producing as much power as possible, and went full gas to the line and was hoping that no-one could overtake me.

“Straight after the finish I was completely done emotionally, I really couldn’t believe it… now I’m fine again, and happy to take this win.”

Dutch rider Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) made a solo break that lasted until just after the second of the four climbs up Challambra Crescent, with just less than 40km left.

Despite a series of attacks, there was a group of more than 20 riders in contention for the last climb up Challambra with 10km to go.

Van der Hoorn’s Norwegian ICW team-mate Sven Erik Bystrom broke away and was joined by Swiss rider Mauro Schmid (Soudal Quck-Step).

They opened up a gap of 10 seconds with 5km left and were not caught until inside the last kilometre, with a group of about 20 riders contesting the finish.

– WITH AAP