Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race - Women 2025

Taking place on Saturday February 1, 2025, the Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race will once again be the first one-day race of the Women’s WorldTour, following on from the Santos Tour Down Under in South Australia.

The Victorian race was first held in 2015 and the Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race was added to the Women’s WorldTour calendar in 2020.

Rosita Reijnhout (Visma-Lease a Bike) was a surprise winner in 2024 with the then 19-year-old Dutch rider holding off the pursuing Dominka Wlodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ) and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez) to claim her first professional win.

In 2024 the mid-week criterium of the Geelong Classic made a return as the precursor event and it was won by Sofia Bertizzolo. In 2025 this looks set to step up to a road race, with the UCI calendar listing a 1.1 ranked elite women's Surf Coast Classic on Wednesday January 29, with the mid-week race introduced for the men's event last year.

In the third year back after a two year COVID-19 pandemic hiatus the course, which revered direction the last two editions, is going back to the original format – running clockwise from the start/finish line on the waterfront in Geelong. 

That direction sends riders along the coast first before looping back inland to the Geelong circuit, which includes the Challambra climb, for two laps that usually splits the field to pieces before the finish line arrives.

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