Jay McCarthy became the first local rider to win the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race yesterday, battling through extreme heat to finish in a sprint ahead of Italian Elia Viviani.
McCarthy (Bora-Hansgrohe) took the fourth edition of the 164-kilometre (102-mile) race in Victoria in four hours and four minutes.
Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) and South Africa’s Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-SCOTT), who won the UCI season-opening Tour Down Under in South Australia last week, were in second and third place respectively with the same time.
McCarthy, 25, who was second in the Australian Road Race Championship earlier this month, said he was speechless at finishing his last race in Australia with a win before heading back to Europe.
He had talked up his chances of a win before the race — named after Australian cycling great Cadel Evans — as teammate and three-time world cycling champion Peter Sagan had left Australia after the Tour Down Under. Viviani said he was disappointed to have finished second but pleased with the start to his season.
“If the finish line was one metre later I would have won,” the 28-year-old said.
“Not easy for me this course. I’m happy about my shape. Sometimes during the season I never finish in front of race like that one. So in January my shape is good.”
The peloton caught the leaders with 15 kilometres to go, and a breakout of nine riders went clear in the final city circuit including Gerrans (BMC Racing Team), Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-SCOTT), Impey and McCarthy.
McCarthy eventually proved too strong in the sprint to the finish. Danish rider Lasse Norman Hansen (Aqua Blue Sport) claimed the King of the Mountain jersey, while 20-year-old Belgian Bjorg Lambrecht (Lotto Soudal) won the inaugural Gerry Ryan Award for best young rider.
Australian rider Jay McCarthy of Bora-Hansgrohe (R) celebrates as he wins the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road cycling race in Geelong yesterday.
