Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race has decided to create the Women's Surf Coast Classic Race as a prelude to the Women's World Tour event.

The Surf Coast Classic and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race are the last races of the summer for Australian cycling as international racing opens for the new season in early 2025.

Australian riders will first break a sweat at the National Championships, January 8-12, before the Women's World Tour and WorldTour kick off in South Australia, January 17-26. The teams will then travel east to race in Victoria before leaving the heat of the Australian summer behind and heading to Europe.

1.1 ranked races were reintroduced to the men's elite field in 2024; prior to the COVID-19 hiatus in 2021 and 2022, UCI ranking competitions were held for both men and women.

In 2024, the men took on UCI-ranked point-to-point races from Lorne to Torquay, while the women competed in a criterium in the center of Geelong. Sofia Bertizolo (UAE Team ADQ) took home €14,520 in prize money, due to the event's long-standing practice of equal prize money for women and men at different race levels.

The race levels will remain the same this year, with the 1.1 rank road races a prelude to the Women's WorldTour and Men's WorldTour, which will be held on the weekend of February 1 and 2.

The 118-km women's Surf Coast Classic will be held on Wednesday, January 29, while the 157-km men's lead race will be held on Thursday, January 30.

“It's great for the region and great for the elite riders,” said race director Scott Sunderland, officially announcing the race, which was listed earlier on the UCI calendar.

“The Surf Coast Classic was well received by the international elite men's teams in 2024, and we are pleased to be able to offer the same experience to the international elite women's teams.

The course starts along the coast and continues directly inland to Dean's Marsh, a 10km uphill stretch. Shortly thereafter, the men's and women's courses diverge, with the men's race taking a further loop on a route that includes Barwon Downs and Forest before returning to a shared course that runs through the rolling hills of the Victorian countryside. The point-to-point race then heads back to the coast for a final spurt along the Torquay Esplanade.

The Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race has been held since 2015 and will be in its 10th edition in 2025.

When it returned to the calendar in 2023, the traditional course direction was reversed, but it will again run clockwise. First along the coast to Bell's Beach, known as a surfing hotspot, then back inland to the local circuit, including the Charambra climb that splits the race.

The men's race was raised to the World Tour level in 2017 and the women's in 2020, both running the same course but with variations in the number of final laps.

In 2025, the men will tackle the final loop four times, including the Botanical Gardens, for a total distance of 184 km and an elevation gain of approximately 2,000 meters. The women will run 142 km twice, with an elevation gain of just over 1,400 m.