McCarthy wins 2018 Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race

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In a thrilling finale of the 2018 Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, Jay McCarthy (Bora-Hansgrohe) came up trumps in a reduced bunch sprint to take the biggest win of his career.

Late dives to the line by Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors), and Tour Down Under champion Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) proved too little too late as McCarthy became the fourth different winner in four editions and the first Australian to triumph.

Having fallen short of a repeat Tour Down Under podium this summer, victory in Geelong was instant redemption for the 25-year-old.

"I was a little a bit disappointed at Tour Down Under but I know I gave it everything there and I felt like I deserved more out of it. Coming into today as the last race in the Australian summer, I felt like I have had a pretty consistent time here and, to finish with a win, I couldn't ask for much more," said McCarthy, who also claimed silver in the Australian nationals at the start of January.

Ensconced in the lead group coming into the final kilometres, McCarthy - along with Impey and BMC's Simon Gerrans - packed the fastest finish but the task was made immeasurably harder when the second group on the road joined up under the flamme rouge. Viviani and defending champion Nikias Ardnt (Sunweb) were the chief the danger men from behind.

However, McCarthy kept a cool head in the hot conditions for the best win yet of his young career.

"As you see, Viviani was coming in hot onto my heels in the final there," he added. "It all worked out today. Some days it goes your way and today was my day."

The opening stanza

From the gun, the day's major breakaway was established with representation from Lasse Norman Hansen (Aqua Blue Sport), Pavel Kochetkov (Katusha-Alpecin), Robbert De Greef (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij), and the Kordamentha-Australia duo of Alex Porter and Sam Welsford.

The quintet was given the all-clear from the peloton and quickly built their advantage. At the first intermediate sprint, the gap was over six minutes as Welsford took maximum points in Torquay. In the peloton, Mitchelton-Scott, Trek-Segafredo and QuickStep-Floors were the teams taking up responsibility.

After the non-contest of the sprint point, Hansen and Porter challenged each other for the mountains point with the Aqua Blue Sports rider claiming the prize. Entering the first of the Geelong circuits, the breakaway's advantage continued to hover above four minutes as the mercury tipped over 40 degrees.

Following the first of four ascents of Challambra, Welsford and De Greef lost contact. Second time up the climb, Hansen again took the KOM points to seal the classification while the peloton cut the breakaway's advantage to a touch over three minutes. Third time up, it was only Hansen and Kochetkov left at the head of the race as the Dane again crested first.

The breakaway was caught on the final lap with Challambra to prove decisive in the outcome of the result. Bora's Peter Kennaugh lit the fuse to force the selection and the front group came to include the likes of McCarthy, Kennaugh and Daniel Oss of Bora, LottoNL-Jumbo's George Bennett and Robert Gesink, Mitchelton-Scott's Daryl Impey and Esteban Chaves, plus Gerrans, Pierre Latour (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Dries Devenyns (QuickStep-Floors).

A cat and mouse final five kilometres played into the hands of the chase group, who kept up the pressure and made the junction inside the final kilometre just as a late move from Chaves was foiled.

In the sprint for the line, Maurits Lammertink led off before McCarthy came around and then held off the fast kick of Viviani, Impey and Gerrans for his victory.

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