The end of Cadel Evans' unparalleled cycling career also may prove another stage for Caleb Ewan to showcase his vast potential.
The only Australian man to win the Tour de France will compete for the last time on Sunday in the inaugural Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road race.
Much of the focus at the 174km race in and around Geelong will deservedly be on Evans, who also won the 2009 world road title among his many honours.
But as the racing career of the 37-year-old ends, 20-year-old Ewan is leading Australian cycling's Generation Next.
There is massive excitement in the sport about Ewan, who is in his first full season with top Australian team Orica-GreenEDGE.
Already this year Ewan has dominated the Bay Classic series and raced superbly to finish runner-up to Heinrich Haussler at the national road championships.
Ewan will be one of the favourites at the Cadel Evans race.
It also helps enormously that Ewan has Evans and fellow star Simon Gerrans as mentors.
Ewan and Evans are managed by Jason Bakker, while Gerrans is Orica-GreenEDGE's leader and was mentoring him even before the youngster signed with the team.
"Hopefully 20 years' experience of racing around the world, I can sometimes give some insights to put in the right direction," Evans told AAP.
"It's nice to see someone seek good advice and put that to good use.
"It's personally satisfying and I had the same thing when I was young - it helped me a lot.
"The good advice you get at a young age is sometimes the most valuable thing you gain."
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