Cadel Evans race: Mark Cavendish joins Great Ocean Road line-up

BRITISH superstar sprinter Mark Cavendish has joined the talent lining up for next month’s Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.

Sarah's pictures of the week - No. 2 - Tour de France. Tour de France - Stage 7 - Livarot to Fougeres. Ettix-Quick Step rider Mark Cavendish wins the stage. Photo Sarah Reed.

BRITISH superstar Mark Cavendish has joined the growing list of talent riding in next January’s

Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.

The Olympian, former world champion, and winner of 26 Tour de France stages will race for the first time with his new team Dimension Data, which has just been awarded a UCI WorldTour licence.

“Mark Cavendish is one of the true greats of world cycling and in my mind one of the most watchable,” Evans said.

“The addition of Cav adds so much to the race. I thinks the fans are in for something really special.”

The event will be the only Australian appearance for Cavendish who hasn’t raced here since the 2010 world championships in Geelong.

“I’ve heard great things about the challenging Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race course,” Cavendish said.

“I’m especially excited to visit Geelong again — last time I was there was for the 2010 UCI road world championships.”

Victorian Sports Minister John Eren said the 30-year-old’s appearance was a massive boost for the race, which has nine world tour teams already locked in.

“Mark Cavendish is without peer. He’s one of world cycling’s all-time greats,“ he said.

“We wanted cycling’s biggest names in Victoria and that’s exactly what we’ve got.”

Cavendish will line up with Evans and a host of other Aussie stars including Rohan Dennis riding for BMC Racing, and Simon Gerrans riding for Orica-GreenEDGE.

Nine WorldTour teams have confirmed their attendance for the January 31 event: Team Sky, Katusha, Lotto-Soudal, Trek Factory Racing, LottoNL-Jumbo, IAM Cycling, Dimension Data, BMC and Orica-GreenEDGE.

Cavendish is widely regarded as the best sprinter of his era and in 2012 was named the Tour de France’s best sprinter of all time by French sports newspaper L’Equipe.