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The only retirement present Cadel Evans expects from his cycling rivals is plenty of hard racing.
The inaugural Cadel Evans Great Ocean Rd Race on Sunday marks the end of his unparalleled career, highlighted by the 2011 Tour de France and 2009 world road titles.
The 37-year-old has been involved heavily in the creation of his namesake race, which will give fans one last chance to watch Evans compete.
But there have been no fairytale wins for him so far this month and Evans has no doubt that any success he has on Sunday will be earned.
“They’re all going to be out to get all the (world ranking) points they can,” Evans said on Friday.
“Gentleman’s agreement? That won’t be happening – this is a real race.”
The line-up for the 174km race, which starts and finishes in Geelong, will include top compatriots such as Richie Porte (Sky), Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEDGE) and newly crowned Australian road champion Heinrich Haussler (IAM Cycling).
Evans has shown strong form in his Australian cycling farewell tour.
He and Porte were marked out of the national road championships and Evans was third overall last week at the Tour Down Under.
BMC teammate and fellow Australian Rohan Dennis upstaged Evans and other big names to win the Tour for the first time.
Dennis is now in Switzerland to prepare for his world hour record attempt on February 8.
BMC have sent out Spanish ace Sammy Sanchez, the 2008 Olympic road race gold medallist, to help support Evans in his last event.
Evans’ race will be the climax of a massive cycling weekend in Geelong and Melbourne.
The Great Ocean Rd Race will also feature a women’s elite event on Saturday.
The start list for the 113km race includes Italian world champion Georgia Bronzini (Wiggle Down Under) and Australians Gracie Elvin (Orica-AIS) and Rachel Neylan (Building Champion Squad).
Also on Saturday night, the last session of the Australian track cycling championships at DISC velodrome in Melbourne will feature Jack Bobridge’s world hour record bid.
Bobridge will try to beat the 51.852km ridden by Austrian Matthias Brundle on October 30.
The South Australian was outstanding at the Tour Down Under, winning the first stage and holding onto the leader’s jersey for two days.
He also took out the King Of The Mountain category.
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