The Women’s Cadel Evans Road Race returned to the calendar in 2023 after a hiatus caused by the Covid pandemic. The race had last been held in early 2020, just before global lockdowns began. That 2020 edition saw Liane Lippert claim a stunning solo victory, marking her first individual Women’s WorldTour win. In its 2023 comeback, the women’s peloton returned to Geelong, where Loes Adegeest took her first WWT win too. Adegeest broke away with Amanda Spratt on the final climb, before she outpaced her rival to take a huge win. Looking further back, Arlenis Sierra, who finished second in 2020, had already won the Women’s Cadel Evans Road Race title in 2019 with a decisive late attack, mirroring Lippert’s and Adegeest’s tactics in subsequent editions.
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ToggleThe inaugural UCI-sanctioned race in 2016 was won by Amanda Spratt, who has remained a consistent performer in the event, with podium finishes in 2019, 2020, and 2023. This race has never seen a repeat winner, and its history favours aggressive climbers over sprinters. The course, with its sharp climbs and gradients peaking at nearly 10%, provides ample opportunities for decisive moves. The final climbs, roughly 2km long, often set up the winning attack with just 7km remaining. A short descent into the finish leaves little chance for sprinters to close gaps, making this a race of strategy, form, and timing.
The 2024 edition added yet another great chapter to the race’s history. On the steep final climb, 19-year-old Rosita Reijnhout launched a bold attack, gaining a decisive gap. She was eventually joined by Dominika Włodarczyk and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig in the closing kilometres, but Reijnhout proved unshakable, sprinting to her maiden pro and Women’s WorldTour victory. Ruth Edwards led the chasing group across the line just five seconds later.
Previous Winners
2024
Rosita Reijnhout
2023
Loes Adegeest
2022
Not held
Women’s Cadel Evans Road Race Profile
Live TV Coverage
Saturday 1st February 2025
Live on Discovery+/Eurosport/Max
7plus in Australia (VPN required)
Coverage: 4:00-6:00am
All times in GMT
Twitter: #CadelRoadRace
Startlist: FirstCycling
Women’s Cadel Evans Road Race 2025 Contenders
In the absence of last year’s winner, the runner-up Dominika Wlodarczyk will be ready to step up and try to go one better in 2025. The Polish rider has been in some good form already this year with 4th in GC at the Tour Down Under after a strong week with a pair of top-10s too. Her teammate Karlijn Swinkels is just knocking on the door too, she supported Wlodarczyk 2 weeks ago but was consistently around 20th herself and was 14th in the flat Schwalbe One Day Classic whilst taking another teammate to the line. It was Sofia Bertizzolo who got the nod that day with 5th place in Adelaide. The Italian is looking to rebound from a tough 2024 season and it’s not yet fully clear yet if she’s able to contest for the win on the sort of punchy efforts found at the Women’s Cadel Evans Road Race. She did go on a late attack at the end of the Surf Coast Classic though. Erica Magnaldi will be worth keeping an eye on too but the flat finish hampers what she could do here a little bit aside from a top-20 result.
EF Education-Oatly will want to continue yet another strong January campaign and in Noemi Rüegg, they’ve got a strong contender here. The Swiss rider has that ideal combination of a bit of punch for the climb and a fast finish to take the win at the end of the day. She looked super strong at the Tour Down Under, finishing no lower than 6th across the 3 stages, winning one and then the GC battle too. It almost feels like a surprise if she doesn’t make the podium. Someone like Kim Cadzow will have no problems on the climb but it’s arguably too short to be one for her to be a real contender and the sprint finish won’t help. Plus it looks clear she’s targeting other races this year.
Chloe Dygert is looking super strong already this year, we’ve seen her blow the peloton off her wheel trying to reel in the break, then a stage win at the Tour Down Under before only just missing out on the podium at the Schwalbe One Day Classic. The American is in that sort of form where if she is able to get a gap then she can power away and even when caught, can still outsprint rivals too. Neve Bradbury is going to be worth a shout too, she’s got more punch than someone like Cadzow but if she’s not solo it’s going to be tough to win. It’ll be interesting to see who leads out who for Canyon SRAM zondacrypto. I also like Alice Towers as an attacking option. She had a solid Tour Down Under and if she’s able to go on the attack here she will be tough to bring back.
After winning the Schwalbe One Day Classic this week, it’s tempting to pick Clara Copponi to do well here. She climbs reasonably well but is going to be dependent on the front of the race coming back together to repeat with another win here. If it does, then she’ll be up against someone like Ally Wollaston who will be in the same boat. Teammates Niamh Fisher-Black and Amanda Spratt can be relied upon to take up the fight on the climb with both great punchers. Fisher-Black had her moments in the Tour Down Under, 9th on the 2nd stage on Willunga was her best result there as she clearly has a bit of form already even if she’s looking ahead. Spratt has been marshalling her whole team during the Aussie period and took 7th in GC at the Tour Down Under along the way. She has a history here with a win back in 2016 and another 3 visits to the podium since, including 2nd in 2023.
Similar to Lidl-Trek above them here, FDJ-Suez will have a sprinter who can win this and has taken a win in the last week. Ally Wollaston finally took a win in the Surf Coast Classic after coming close in the Tour Down Under and some horrible luck in the Schwalbe One Day Classic too. Her play will be like Copponi here in that the front of the race will need to come back together to give her a fighting chance. For attacking options, FDJ-Suez can call on Elise Chabbey and Amber Kraak. The latter is less strong as a climber but is a huge engine. We might see her go earlier rather than the final climb and see what she can do against the chasers. Elise Chabbey would be the one to watch from the team on the final climb as the Queen of the Queen of the Mountains can hang with riders trying to get clear. She’s shown she’s in good form already with 6th and 7th places on her way to 5th in GC at the Tour Down Under.
Human Powered Health can look at Ruth Edwards, who finished 2nd here back in 2017 behind Van Vleuten to be their option. She was 4th on the final day of the Tour Down Under as an indicator of some form. She’s also got a reasonably fast finish in the right small group too. The team also has some good options if it comes down to a sprint too with Kathrin Schweinberger getting some good results this January. The Austrian has finished 6th and 9th in the flatter races this week. Silvia Zanardi is also another option with the Italian a good punchy climber at her best with a fast finish. So far though, her best result of 8th came in the flat crit Schwalbe One Day Classic.
Home team Liv AlUla Jayco possibly gets behind Ruby Roseman-Gannon here. She’s been fairly quiet so far this Aussie season though with a best finish of 12th outside of the national championships. She’s the ideal type of rider to negotiate the climb and then sprint well at the finish if all goes well. Alternatively, Silke Smulders is in some strong form after finishing 2nd in the Tour Down Under. The Dutch rider was 2nd on both of the final two stages and is someone we might see have the form to really put a big dig in on the final climb and go clear like Reijnhout did last year.
Mie Bjørndal Ottestad showed that she has some legs at the moment by finishing 3rd on the Willunga Hill stage of the Tour Down Under and propelling herself to 3rd overall too. That should mean she has the best chance of a strong result here after getting some ok results in the flatter races this week bouncing either side of 20th place. Teammate Simone Boilard should be in a supporting role for Ottestad but at her best, the Canadian can be a threat on a course like this too.
AG Insurance-Soudal will have 2 main cards to play. Justine Ghekiere can certainly attack the climb and hang on to win in a way we’ve seen before at the Tour de France Femmes and Setmana Ciclista Valenciana in the past. She was 6th in the Tour Down Under GC standings and 6th on Willunga Hill there, she can put herself in the mix. There’s also a way where Ghekiere ends up pacing Alex Manly up the climb. The Aussie won’t need too much assistance to be near the front and she’s more than fast enough at the end too. If we do see a decent-sized group coming to the line, then Manly has a podium shot. Especially after finishing 5th in the flatter Surf Coast Classic this week.
It’s tough to pick a single leader for Team Picnic PostNL this year. Josie Nelson did take 4th at the 2023 edition of the Cadel Evans Road Race whilst at Coop-Hitec Products but didn’t come out to Australia last year. The parcours suits and she took 10th on the final stage of the Tour Down Under, so it could be a possible top-10 once more for the Brit. Eleonora Ciabocco is also worth watching after finishing 14th in last year’s edition but might be on supporting duty again. She’s been very solid this January, with a GC and stage finish in the teens at the Tour Down Under. She could get the nod and be a top-10 finisher or help get Nelson to the line and be just outside again. The sprinter option is Rachele Barbieri who podiumed the Schwalbe One Day Classic this week. However, the climbing here feels like it will be too much, with only a best finish of 44th in 3 editions of this race.
Women’s Cadel Evans Road Race 2025 Outsiders
Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset and India Grangier both had solid results at the Tour Down Under for Team Coop-Repsol. Haugset was just outside of the top-10 in 2 of the stages and the GC, with the short sharp climbs ideal for her. There’s a chance that she can sneak into the top-10 at the Cadel Evans Road Race. Teammate India Grangier hasn’t finished lower than 17th so far in Australia this year, with a best of 9th on the flat opening stage of the Tour Down Under won by Daniek Hengeveld. Her all-round qualities saw her finish 15th as well amongst a bunch of punchy climbers. Both riders can get themselves to the very front of this race on a good day.
I almost included Greta Marturano with the other UAE Team ADQ riders in this preview but I think the Italian rider will be in more of a helping role or one where she does the early attack rather than necessarily going for the winning move. If she does get some freedom for a move, she will be tough to bring back.
Dilyxine Miermont was 15th here in 2023 for St Michel but is now on a Women’s WorldTour team in Ceratizit-WNT. She’s been largely in service of teammates so far on this trip, with 24th in the Tour Down Under a sign of quality that’s not necessarily had a chance yet. With Sarah Van Dam having to go home early, there may be an opportunity here for the French rider on her new team.
Another rider I could’ve included with teammates further up is Mara Roldan. The Picnic PostNL rider had to leave the Tour Down Under early and missed out on the stages that would’ve given her a chance to shine. The flat races since then really aren’t her forte either, so the Cadel Evans Road Race is her first real occasion to impress if her top-10s in last year’s Tour de l’Ardeche are anything to go by.
Top 3 Prediction
⦿ Noemi Rüegg
⦿ Chloe Dygert
⦿ Dominika Wlodarczyk