Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race 2024: Zimmermann narrowly beaten by Pithie and Tesfatsion
Sebastian Lindner
· 28.01.2024
A larger group had made it together over the fourth and final crossing of the Challambra Cresent on the final lap of the race in Geelong, South Australia, and apart from Zimmermann's team-mate Biniam Girmay, who was the top favourite at the start, all the contenders for victory were there.
Despite several strong performances in the Australian races beforehand, Pithie was not one of the biggest favourites, but once again proved his strong form and proved all those who did not believe in him wrong. The 21-year-old New Zealander was able to parry all the attacks on the final climb and the subsequent descent and then call up the best sprint.
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In order for this to happen, many gaps had to be plugged in the hectic last five kilometres. Firstly, Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) had a go, Winner of the Tour Down UnderLuke Plapp (Team Jayco-AlUla) and Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) also tried to break away from the group. Simmons made it under the 1000 metre mark and was then replaced by his team-mate Bauke Mollema, who was able to open up another small gap. When he was positioned 300 metres from the finish line, the sprint began, in which the third Lidl Trek ace Testfatsion almost caught him. But Pithie caught the Eritrean and also kept Zimmermann at bay.
"I got stuck about a kilometre before the finish, a bit further back. Corbin [Strong] wanted me to ride in front of him to chase Stevie [Williams]," Pithie described the final kilometres. "But I knew I had to be patient. We said in the briefing this morning that patience would be the key." However, the young pro was at a loss for words when it came to his victory: "Unbelievable," was all he said on Australian television about his first victory in a World Tour race.
Zimmermann, on the other hand, said in a statement from his team that he was "very proud of my first podium in a one-day race on the World Tour. I was less than a bike length away from victory, but I'm not upset," said the 26-year-old. "I'm happy with this fantastic performance and am now looking forward to the European classics with confidence. "
Results - The top 10 of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race 2024
- Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) 4:17:40
- Natnael Tesfatsion (Lidl-Trek) 0:00
- Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Wanty) 0:00
- Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) 0:00
- Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) 0:00
- Axel Mariault (Cofidis) 0:00
- Chris Hamilton (dsm-firmenich PostNL) 0:00
- Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan Team) 0:00
- Jonas Rutsch (EF Education EasyPost) 0:00
- Louis Barre (Arkea-B&B Hotels) 0:00
How the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race 2024 went
From the start, the Australians dominated the race around Geelong. A group led by Jackson Medway and Zac Marriage (both Team Bridgelane) as well as Joshua Cranaga and Dylan Proctor-Parker (both Ara | Skip Capital) dominated the race until the final circuit. The quartet, from which Medway was able to break away in the meantime, had a lead of up to five minutes on the peloton.
First Jaco-AlUla, then Astana Qazaqstan and Ineos Grenadiers set the pace. While the two Bridgelane riders just about managed to get over the third Challambra climb, the other two had already finished earlier. However, the race became even faster on the final lap after the breakaway. Lidl-Trek took command and launched attacks with Mollema and Juan Pedro Lopez, to which EF Education Easy Post initially responded.
But this meant that all order in the field was gone. As the race went over the Challambra Crest for the last time, a twelve-man group broke away from the peloton to decide the victory among themselves. On the descent and in the counter-climb, Stephens and Simmons made their move, but were also caught again, so that the sprint brought the happier end for Pithie.
