Riders gear up for Cadel’s race

YOU may have spotted some of the world’s best cyclists on local roads this week as teams warm up for the major events in this year’s edition of the Mapei Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race (CEGORR).

As of late Wednesday, the UCI Women’s WorldTour and UCI WorldTour races were still scheduled to go ahead.

The 145km women’s race between 14 teams will take place tomorrow (Saturday, January 31) across Geelong, the Bellarine and the Surf Coast after the TAC Peoples’ Ride, followed by the 186.1km men’s race with a field of 19 teams this Sunday, February 1.

Riders and team members were welcomed to Geelong as they arrived at the just-opened Crowne Plaza Geelong hotel on Monday, having flown in from Adelaide after racing in the Tour Down Under the day before.

The official welcome function for this year’s race took place in the same venue that night, featuring speeches by Geelong MP Christine Couzens, Geelong mayor Stretch Kontelj, Mapei head of marketing and strategy Jess Fitzsimon, and race founder and Tour de France winner Cadel Evans.

CEGORR race director Scott Sunderland then ran a Q&A session with three of the sports directors – Daryl Impey from Ineos, Ina Yoko-Teutenberg from Lidl-Trek and Beth Dureya from Canyon-SRAM – as well as former Australian pro cyclist and now Hendry’s owner Simon Gerrans, discussing the cyclists’ form early in the season and strategies for the coming races.

Severe weather and bushfire risk forced the cancellation of the women’s and men’s Surf Coast Classic races yesterday (Wednesday, January 28) and today (Thursday, January 29) respectively.

For more information on all the events over the weekend, head to cadelevansgreatoceanroadrace.com.au