Marius Mayrhofer sprints to victory at Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race

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Marius Mayrhofer (Team DSM) has won the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, taking his first pro victory by outsprinting Hugo Page (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) in the sprint of a reduced peloton that caught late attackers Sven-Erik Bystrøm (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Mauro Schmid (Soudal Quick Step) on the final kilometre.

The four ascents of Challambra Crescent broke up the race several times, but none of the attacks could gain a large gap, and things came back together on the finishing circuit. On the final lap, a peloton of about 75 riders entered the climb together, but Bystrøm got a gap on the steepest part and was chased by Schmid on the descent. 

The two joined forces on Melville Avenue, but the peloton reeled them in 350 metres from the line. Luke Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers) led out the sprint, and Mayrhofer sped past with 100 metres to go to win.

“I have been dreaming of this victory for so long, I still can’t believe what happened. This means everything to me. The last race I won was in the juniors, and I became a cyclist because I wanted to win races. In the whole U23 I wasn’t able to win, and now I finally take my first win, it means everything to me, everything,” said Mayrhofer seemingly with disbelief.

“My team did an awesome job the whole day, they protected me, I was in the front every time on Challambra, so I saved a lot of energy. They covered the moves so I could stay in the bunch and just save energy the whole day. There’s this little downhill before the finish where I just built up speed, and with 400 metres to go, I thought 'now it’s victory or nothing' and just went,” said the 22-year-old German who went on to thank his teammates.

“This is such a great victory for us, we were riding so hard in the Tour Down Under but didn’t get the result we wanted. This whole Australia trip was such a great experience for me, such a nice country, to finish it off with a win today is unbelievable. Thanks to my whole team, the staff and everyone did a great job, they really deserved to have a win now,” Mayrhofer concluded.

How it unfolded

For a long time, the 176-kilometre race was dominated by a solo breakaway as Taco Van Der Hoorn (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) had gone on the attack only two kilometres into the race. His advantage maxed out at just over four minutes, but the peloton picked up the pace as the race made its way back to Geelong after racing around the Bellarine Peninsula.

After the first climb of Challambra Crescent, Van der Hoorn was still 2:10 minutes ahead, but his gap was coming down quickly, and after the second time up Challambra, he was caught by a group of 11 riders after a solo ride of 130 km. For his efforts, Van Der Hoorn was rewarded with the Intermediate Sprint and King of the Mountains prizes.

“The most important goal was to try to survive the first shift on the climbs and then do something for my teammates," said Van Der Hoorn.“The plan was actually to go in the breakaway with maybe five guys and then nobody really followed so I did a hard day alone.”

The attacks kept flying on the Geelong circuit as Van Tricht and Elliot Schultz (Australia) broke away with just over two laps to go. They were caught by a chase group including Chris Hamilton (Team DSM), George Bennett (UAE Team Emirates), Marco Haller (BORA-hansgrohe), Jonas Rutsch (EF Education-Easypost), and Damien Touzé (AG2R Citroën Team) after a few kilometres, and the peloton made contact again before the penultimate Challambra ascent.

Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) led the race over the top at a steady pace, and Jai Hindley (BORA-hansgrohe) made his move on the Melville Avenue climb, initiating a front group of five with Finn Fisher-Black (UAE Team Emirates), Jannik Steimle (Soudal Quick Step), Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën Team), and Chris Hamilton. Tour Down Under winner Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) counterattacked when that move was brought back, but he didn’t stay off the front for long. A front group of 25 riders formed, with the big peloton 20 seconds behind with one lap to go.

The groups merged on the run-in to Challambra Crescent, and Van Tricht was the first to attack about halfway up the climb. About 150 metres from the top, he was closed down by Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) who had Bystrøm and Chris Hamilton on his wheel. The Norwegian pedalled away on the steepest part just before the top and opened a gap, Schmid went after him on the descent, but they couldn’t hold off the closing chase.

A group of over 30 came charging toward the line. There was a crash on the run-in, with those involved including Dorian Godon (AG2R Citroën) and 2020 winner Dries Devenyns (Soudal-QuickStep), plus Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) also came down further over in the field.

It was on the margins of the group, however, so the dash to the line continued, with Mayrhofer – who had also been involved in a crash earlier in the race–winning after jumping from the group early and holding out through till the line.

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