Denmark’s Tobias Andresen won the 2026 Mapei Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race today in a brilliant bunch sprint on a crowd lined Geelong waterfront.

Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) beat Great Britain’s Matthew Brennan (Visma – Lease a Bike) and Australian Brady Gilmore (NSN Cycling Team) and 16 other riders in the final lead group of 17 to claim his second win of the 2026 season.

Andresen, winner of last year’s Surf Coast Classic from Lorne to Torquay, came into the Mapei Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in strong form after the Tour Down Under in which he won stage one and podiumed in three other stages.

Today, he booked himself in for winning contention by making the decisive selection in the 186.1km race after the fourth ascents of the iconic Challambra climb that highlights the 21km finishing circuit. But he was not alone among the sprinters.

Also in the group was 2025 winner Mauro Schmid (Jayco – Alula) and Australia champion Patrick Eddy (Team Australia), and several seconds behind after his own surges form the leaders in the last kilometres, Schmid’s teammate Luke Plapp.

As expected, it was when the race hit the finishing circuits that it came alive.

The race did produce one early surprise before it began with news that Australian Sam Welsford (INEOS Grenadiers), the winner of Thursday Cadel’s Criterium in Geelong, withdrew after signing on to start due to reported stomach issues.

When it did start at 11.10am, it did so with Australian stalwart Simon Clarke (NSN Cycling Team), 39 and for whom the race was the last of his career, being invited by the peloton to lead in recognition of his 20 years in elite/professional cycling.

But as the race steered south on open roads, attacks and chases began immediately.

Norwegian Vegard Laengen (UAE Team Emirates) attacked and set off alone. He was then joined by Great Britain’s Olivier Peace (Team Picnic PostNL), to make it two. Then Australian Julian Badry (Team Australia) got across to make it three.

The trio’s lead reached 2 minutes 41 seconds as the race passed through Barwon Heads, the home of Cadel Evans, but the peloton did not grant them free reign.

Their margin was controlled by the peloton, mostly by the Team Visma-Lease a Bike with help from Jayco-Alula. With 104km to go the gap was 1min 56secs.

Inevitably, the break was reeled in to within eyesight of the peloton with 71km to on the early slopes of the first of four ascents of Challambra. Peace led over the top, with Baudry close on his wheel; but Laengen was swept up by the peloton. But within five more kilometres Baudry followed by Peace were also reeled in.

With the break caught, the race was back to square one with three more 21km circuits to go – including three ascents of Challambra before the finish line.

The Bahrain Victorious team made a push on the second ascent of Challambra, and the effort split the peloton, with 15 riders getting away. But the peloton regrouped before the second passage through the start/finish at Geelong with 40km to go.

On the third ascent of Challambra Australian Ben O’Connor (Jayco – Alula) made a huge push on the front that saw Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski (INEOS – Grenadiers) and Australian Oscar Chamberlain (Decathlon CMS CGM Team).  But by the top, Colombian Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) led the charge.

The peloton was strung out on the descent, after which two riders jumped away – Australian Chris Harper (Team Australia) and Norwegian Anders Skaarseth (Uno-X Mobility) who led the race through the finish/start line for the penultimate time.

Harper and Skaarseth bravely charged on, but the chase led by the Visa – Lease a Bike team was bound to drop the curtain on their ambitious move. And it did.

As the leaders were reeled in a crash of about 10 riders in the middle of the peloton split the group in two, ending the hopes of any riders caught at the back. Up front, the pace ramped up under the impulse of O’Connor, Plapp and Great Britain’s Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), and it continued on the descent at 102kmh.

From there, and over the last six kilometres, the race turned into a serious of attacks and chases that with four kilometres to go saw seven riders in front, 15 others within eyesight of the leaders and another group chasing close behind.

The race was destined to be settled in a bunch sprint, unless someone could produce something extra special – which after almost 180km no rider could.

 

What Tobias Andresen said:

(Listen to audio for the full interview)

 

“I really feel this team is unified this year. That’s difficult to do when we have so many new riders. All the guys here, putting their trust in someone [that] they don’t even know. I’ve been feeling really good. It’s always a 50-50 in this race. If they’re going all out every time, probably it’s a bit hard for me. But with the support of the guys … I just managed to squeeze over [the climb] the last time. From there, I told the guys with one lap to go, if they put me in perfect position, the last time in, I would win the race. I was feeling good. I put myself out there, it worked out.”

 

What Matthew Brennan said:

“When that break went [on the final lap], it was more thinking just let the boys pull it back. I felt like we had a little bit of control. They really organised themselves well, which was good and gave me a lot of confidence, especially running into the final time at the climb, where I knew it would explode. And then it [the race] did explode. It was such a fast finish, and there were a lot of guys who were lucky to really keep the pace on. We tried. Just missed out.”

 

What Brady Gilmore said:

“I can’t believe it, actually. I always want to win, but it’s my first one day WorldTour race, so I can’t complain with third. I think it’s pretty good, it’s a good start to the year. [Retiring teammate] Simon Clarke has taught me mostly everything I know. How to save energy and whatnot, and I’ve been rooming with him now since the November camp, so I’m going to miss him. It was a bit of an emotional morning actually. Just knowing that he’s not going to be racing anymore. I’m happy to pay off all the hard teamwork today with this result.”

 

Results – Top 5

 

1. Tobias Lund Andresen [Denmark] (DCT) 04:15:25

2. Matthew Brennan [Great Britain] (TVL) +0

3. Brady Gilmore [Australia] (NSN) +0

4. Mauro Schmid [Switzerland] (JAY) +0

5. Natnael Tesfazion [Eritrea] (MOV) +0

 

King of the Mountain: Santiago Buitrago [Colombia] (TBV)

Mapei Most Combative: Chris Harper [Australia] (AUS)

Gerry Ryan Young Rider Award: Tobias Lund Andresen [Denmark] (DCT)

 

For full results of the race, click: HERE