Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race: Jay McCarthy to carry wrist injury race
He crashed at more than 70km/h at Tour Down Under, but Jay McCarthy has vowed to fight on at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race – even if a wrist injury has him unsure if he can reprise his 2018 heroics.
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Jay McCarthy admits he’s taking a “wait and see” approach into Sunday’s Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race as he battles to overcome a lingering wrist injury.
McCarthy, who sprinted to victory on the Geelong waterfront in 2018, is still counting the cost of a nasty high-speed crash at last week’s Tour Down Under.
The Queensland-born rider for Bora-Hansgrohe escaped a Stage 2 bingle in South Australia unscathed, but wasn’t so lucky on Stage 3 the following day.
“Coming into Paracombe, the last 10-15km gets pretty tricky towards Gorge Road. I was moving up and I just clipped the edge of the road and over I went at 70-80km/h,” McCarthy said.
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“Besides hurting my wrist and taking a lot of skin off my back it could have been a lot worse. I was able to get back on my bike and continue.
“Obviously my GC (General Classification) hopes were done and I was basically just a number for the rest of the race. But we decided that if I could ride I should because after a crash like that your body gets pretty twisted and riding was the best option for me.”
McCarthy has taken a real liking to Australia’s 171km one-day classic, finishing eighth (2019), first (2018) and ninth (2017) in his three appearances on the surf coast.
A teammate of triple world champion Peter Sagan and a domestique for much of the year, he is determined to not let the crash derail his Australian summer.
“We share in the successes within the team and this is a really good chance for me over summer, as I’ve done in the past, to be a leader for the team,” he said.
“This is how the sport goes, it can change like that, but I’m trying to keep positive and on Sunday I’ll do my best and I hope it all lines up for me.
“I don’t give up. It’s a bit disappointing at times, but you’ve got to pick yourself up and go again.
“Changing the bandages, the wounds have started to heal well. The wrist is better each day and I just have to strap it well for Sunday and hope for the best.
“At Towards Zero (Race Torquay on Thursday) the legs felt quite good. Hopefully I can yank on the bars a little bit more on Sunday because I’ll probably need to.”
McCarthy will also be hoping for an aggressive race, particularly on the three-lap finishing circuit, if he is to repeat his 2018 heroics and surge clear from a small bunch that doesn’t include the pure sprinters..
“There should be a few other contenders who will want that too, to get rid of Caleb (Ewan) and (Elia) Viviani and (Sam) Bennett,” he said.
“But at the end of the day I still have to be there to follow those moves or make those moves.
It’s making sure that my wrist can handle a few big yanks on the bars that I’ll need in a sprint situation.
“We’ll be aiming for that and I’ll just bite my tongue and go full (power).”
‘I CAN’T BELIEVE IT, I’M GOING TO CRY’ - women’s race
German Liane Lippert has won a volcanic survival of the fittest at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, with wild weather causing havoc for riders and officials.
A horror high-speed crash inside the final 15km took out 15 riders, with nine taken to hospitals in Geelong and Melbourne.
Only a third of the peloton escaped the carnage, with Lippert’s late attack 6km out setting up her solo victory ahead of a chasing Cuban defending champion Arlenis Sierra and Aussie Amanda Spratt 15 seconds back.
“I can’t believe it, I’m going to cry,” Lippert said moments after crossing the line.
Rain, strong winds and fog combined to turn the 121km race upside down.
Helicopters were grounded in the second half of the race, making TV coverage impossible.
In crazy scenes, viewers relied on phone footage from cycling legend Robbie McEwen, who was filming on Skype from the back of a motorbike.
By the time the riders came into view on the Geelong waterfront, Team Sunweb’s Lippert, 22, was getting ready for her victory salute as one of the few relishing the conditions.
“I think our team went in with big motivation because we knew it would be rainy and windy and we tried to open some echelons,” said Lippert, who finished second at Tour Down Under a fortnight ago.
“I think everyone was ready. It’s way better than 40C, so I think it worked in our favour.
“I was really confident going into this race and my whole team had a lot of trust in me. I did a really risky attack because it was still a long way out, especially when you’re alone but I felt strong and I made it.”
Spratt, who won the title in 2016 and has now finished third two years in a row, was left to rue her misfortune after the late crash wiped out four of her five teammates.
“We turned at kilometre 97 into a crosswind section and the pace was going up and up,” Spratt said.
“We were going towards the two rollers there before Challambra (Crescent) and we knew that was where it was going to be really hectic and on the really fast downhill there was a crash that basically only 25 people in the peloton missed.
“I didn’t hear it, but we came around the corner and went up the next climb and I looked around and there were only 25 riders left and daylight behind.
“We came up to a fast left hander and it’s possible someone slid out. It was so fast and there was no avoiding it if it happened in front of you.
“From that point on … just realising I was the only one left I had to play it smart. Sunweb had basically their whole team and Trek Segafredo had three or four so I had to bide my time.
“I knew if I did one attack and it didn’t work there would be a counter-attack and I’d lose any chance of a podium, so I’m happy with third.”
Safer conditions are expected to greet the men’s race on Sunday, with dry weather and a top of 24C in store for the 171km race from 11.10am.