Cadel Evans finishes 5th in final race

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) Tour de France winner Cadel Evans has finished fifth in his farewell race, the 174-kilometer (108-mile) Great Ocean Road Race.

Belgium's Gianni Meersman won the race in a nine-man sprint while Evans, the 2011 Tour de France champion, came from well back but couldn't match the sprinters.

Evans said ''in the finish I came from a reasonably good position but I didn't have the legs. Even if I had the legs, those guys are just quicker than me in that kind of finish.''

Meersman, riding for the Etixx-Quick Step team, won from Australians Simon Clarke and Nathan Haas.

The Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race will become an annual event in the area around his hometown of Barwon Heads on the picturesque coast of Australia's Victoria state.