Great Ocean Road Race guide
Sunday 31 January 2016 05:25, UK
We take a closer look at the spectacular Australian one-day event as Team Sky return for a second time.
Sat between the Tour Down Under and the Herald Sun Tour, Team Sky are returning to the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race (31 January) this year after the success of the inaugural event in 2015.
The race received 1.HC classification late in 2015, just one category below WorldTour status, and Team Sky will again be sending a competitive team to the event after coming close to the win last year.
Pete Kennaugh and Luke Rowe made it into the nine-man breakaway group that formed towards the end of the race but, after the Manxman tried to lead Rowe out for the win, the Welshman was out-sprinted by winner Gianni Meersman (Etixx - Quick-Step) and finished fourth.
Both Brits will be back this year, and are joined in a strong squad by Ian Boswell, Sebastian Henao, Salvatore Puccio and Ben Swift.
Course
The 174km route is unchanged from last year's race, retaining the climatic three laps around Geelong that are reminiscent of the finishing loop used in the 2010 UCI Road World Championship course.
Designed in consultation with Cadel Evans the course is ripe for attacks and last year's closing stages were characterised by continual breakaways forming at the front of the race.
The first 107km of the course sees the riders head south out of Geelong to the coast, riding through the Bellarine Peninsula, before heading back inland and north to Geelong, where the three laps of the finishing circuit start with 60.6km to go.
The loop contains three short, sharp climbs, all of which have the potential to split the race, leaving the sprinters in a vulnerable position.
But if they can make it over the climbs in touch with the front group the final 6km of the race are all broadly downhill, before the circuit flattens out ready for an exciting sprint finish along Geelong's waterfront.
