Swiss national champion Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla) conquered the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race 2025 in a solo breakaway, outfoxing a group of about ten athletes sprint-won by Aaron Gate (XDS Astana Team), who finished second ahead of the previous year's winner Laurence Pithie (Red Bull - BORA – hansgrohe). Spanish rider Javier Romo (Movistar) finished fourth, while Andrea Bagioli (Lidl Trek), the best Italian, crossed the finish line in fifth place. The Swiss athlete secured his seventh career victory after attacking and breaking away from the lead group with five kilometers to go, skillfully maintaining the necessary advantage to cross the final straight with arms raised.

THE RACE REPORT - The first part of the race was dominated by 21-year-old Ligurian Andrea Raccagni Noviero, who attacked alone on the second of the 183 kilometers scheduled, gaining a maximum advantage of over 6 minutes on the peloton. The Soudal Quick-Step rider's move, who has had several top-15 placements in Tour Down Under stages, concluded in the final circuit shortly after the first climb at Challambra: with seventy kilometers to go.

Others seeking glory were Pieter Serry (Soudal Quick-Step) and Oliver Bleddyn (Australian National Team), however they were caught just a few kilometers later, at the end of the second Challambra ascent. The subsequent move by some riders set the stage for a new breakaway proposed by Connor Swift (INEOS Grenadiers), Chris Harper (Team Jayco AlUla), Rudy Porter (Australian National Team) and Max Walker (EF Education – EasyPost).

Just before the last categorized mountain point, actually the penultimate Challambra passage, the British EF Education – EasyPost rider lost ground and the group quickly recovered him. Porter, Harper and Swift passed in order at the top of the climb and moments later the 30-year-old from Team Jayco AlUla decided to go solo. At the bell, Harper was reported with a 30" advantage over the group targeting his former breakaway companions.

Ten kilometers from the finish, however, thanks to the forcing by INEOS Grenadiers, Harper's breakaway was nullified and about ten men remained to lead the race, tackling the Challambra climb for the last time. On the descent towards the finish line, Mauro Schmid began his triumphant march, delivering the third seasonal victory to Gerry Ryan's Team Jayco AlUla.

WINNER'S WORDS - "Having Harper in the breakaway was crucial to my victory. Chris had an excellent race and allowed me to stay well-covered without spending energy. On the last climb, I saw everyone was a bit on the limit, I was still feeling quite good, so I told myself 'this is the moment to attack', I gained some margin and understood things were going well".

FINAL STANDINGS

1 SCHMID Mauro Team Jayco AlUla 04:26:07

2 GATE Aaron XDS Astana Team 00:03

3 PITHIE Laurence Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe ,,

4 ROMO Javier Movistar Team ,,

5 BAGIOLI Andrea Lidl - Trek ,,

6 STRONG Corbin Israel - Premier Tech ,,

7 SHEFFIELD Magnus INEOS Grenadiers ,,

8 ROCHAS Rémy Groupama - FDJ ,,

9 ONLEY Oscar Team Picnic PostNL ,,

10 FISHER-BLACK Finn Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe 00:08

updated