Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race 2025, Schmid wins

Rome, 2 February 2025 – The traditional Australian cycling trip at the start of the year ends with the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race 2025, a race that saw the solo success of Mauro Schmid.

The race report and Schmid's statements

In addition to the Swiss national champion, the home team is also celebrating, Team Jayco AlUla, who rejoices thanks to an attack by his runner 7 km from the finish line of Geelong, also the starting point. Bravo Schmid to dare to act at the right time but the pursuers are decidedly less good, struggling to mount a counterattack worthy of the name to the point that it only remains to share the other steps of the podium: on the second step Aaron Gate (XDS Astana Team), the other Australian on third Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), the reigning winner of the race dedicated to the man who won the Tour de France 2011. The first traces of Italy they see themselves in fifth place thanks to Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek), who already appeared to be in top form in the sprint: with regrets for the successful escape of Schmid.

Among the disappointed of the day there are Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech), only sixth, but above all Finn Fisher Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Stephen Chaves (EF Education-EasyPost), who can't even keep up with the leading group. Alone, right up front, he arrives Schmid, a runner who has been constantly improving lately and who did not hide his satisfaction at the end of the race. "This is my first victory in a race World Tour of a day and so for me it's very special. I'm also happy because it's a very important race for my team".

The Swiss then thanks --Chris Harper, the teammate who actually launched his victorious move. "He ran a great race, contributing significantly to this success because he allowed me to stay calm on the climb: when we caught up with him I understood that the right moment had come to go. I saw that everyone was at the limit, while I still had good legs for the last climb". For the '99 class, the joy is double also for chasing away the bad precedent of a few years ago. "I had already made a similar attack in this race and I was caught a few meters from the finish line. All this served me as experience for today, because I knew that I had to give it my all until the end. The team was also motivated and showed it at the Surf Coast Classic, where we ran very well but were unable to obtain the result. Even more so - he concludes Schmid - Today it was important to win and I'm happy I did it."