The only thing that bothers Cadel Evans about retirement is crying.
Australia's greatest cyclist is ready to stop competing on February 1 next year and knows he might bow out without one last triumph.
But he is wary of how he will handle the occasion.
The sport is honouring Evans' career by naming the new Great Ocean Rd race in and around Geelong after him.
The 174km event at the start of February will also be his last.
"I'm just hoping it doesn't bring about tears," he admitted at Wednesday's launch of the race course.
"It's going to be hard to pin on a number for the last time.
"It could be difficult, that's for sure."
Evans famously cried on the podium after winning the 2009 world road title and he also struggled to keep his public emotions in check two years later when he became the first Australian to win the Tour de France.
The 37-year-old confirmed last month that he will close out his career with the January 11 Australian road title in Buninyong, near Ballarat, followed by Adelaide's January 17-25 Tour Down Under and then the inaugural Great Ocean Rd event.
Evans effectively made up his mind about retirement in June, a month after his eighth placing at the Giro d'Italia showed he was no longer a Grand Tour title contender.
"I'm a little bit relieved, a little bit sad, but most of all probably looking forward to starting a new chapter of my life," he said.
"Maybe I could have done a little bit more, but I'm satisfied with what I've done.
"A couple more Grand Tour wins would have gone down well, a couple more classics wins.
"On a lot of levels, I went a lot further than I'd even hoped."
Evans said he was already enjoying the benefits of impending retirement.
In the last few weeks he went to the launches of the routes for next year's Tour de France and Giro.
"To go there and look at it as a spectator is really quite enjoyable, as opposed to being asked `can you win it'," he said.
"It puts me into a whole different mindset."
Evans continues to play down his chances of bowing out next year with a win, saying the Great Ocean Rd race course is not hard enough for his climbing abilities.
He suspects his best chance of one final big result will come at the Tour Down Under.
This year, Evans won a stage at the race and finished just one second behind overall winner, compatriot Simon Gerrans.
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