The Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race opens the WorldTour season along one of the most scenic stretches of coast in the sport. First held in 2015, it is named for Cadel Evans, the 2011 Tour de France champion, and runs a circuit around Geelong that climbs the short, sharp Challambra Crescent. The climb is just hard enough to drop the pure sprinters, which is why a puncheur or a fast climber usually wins from a reduced group. No rider has yet managed to win it twice. In 2026 Tobias Lund Andresen took the victory. It is a bright, fast start to the racing year under the Australian summer sun.