Tour de France champion Chris Froome to race in Jayco Herald Sun Tour

CHRIS Froome will swap Monaco for Moe as the cycling superstar gets set to open his 2016 season at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour.

BAGNERES-DE-BIGORRE, FRANCE - JULY 07: Race leader Chris Froome of Great Britain and Sky Procycling is followed by Alberto Contador of Spain and Team Saxo-Tinko on the decent of the Col De Mente during stage nine of the 2013 Tour de France, a 168.5KM road stage from Saint-Girons to Bagneres-de-Bigorre, on July 7, 2013 in Bagneres-de-Bigorre, France. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

CHRIS Froome will swap Monaco for Moe as the cycling superstar gets set to open his 2016 season at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour.

Froome will become the first Tour de France champion to compete in Australia’s oldest stage race, which starts with a CBD prologue on February 3 and covers 540km before its finish atop Arthurs Seat on February 7.

In an enormous coup, Froome will lead crack British unit Team Sky in a race which will also include Australian outfit Orica-GreenEDGE. Several rival WorldTour teams and some of the biggest names in cycling have also been linked to next year’s Herald Sun Tour.

The 63rd edition of the race will take riders to Gippsland and towns such as Moe, Traralgon and Inverloch. The course overview and Froome’s blockbuster attendance will be confirmed at a launch event today.

Froome’s last and only appearance at the Herald Sun Tour was in 2008 — his second year as a professional — when he rode for Barloworld in support of South African Daryl Impey and now-retired Australian Baden Cooke.

“It’s huge news. Massive,” Cooke said.

“When you think about it, it’s really not that surprising that he’s coming. He’s ridden the race before and had a good experience with how well-run it is and even the big guys, they’ve got to start their season somewhere.

Chris Froome celebrates winning this year’s Tour.

“I know (Alberto) Contador and (Vincenzo) Nibali are going to the Tour de San Luis in Argentina so you’ve got to do a few smaller races as a build-up. I’m pretty happy Chris has chosen to come here.”

Froome, a relative unknown here seven years ago, stunned onlookers when he finished second in a summit finish atop Mount Buller.

“I remember he ran second up Mt Buller and I had no idea he could climb that well,” Cooke said.

“He was just another dude on the team who hadn’t really done anything amazing. You’ve got to remember he was about 10kg heavier then and I was like ‘Holy s. t, you go all right’.

“Then he went and lost about 10kg and as it turns out, he can climb exceedingly well.”

Froome will next year aim to become the first rider since Spaniard Miguel Indurain in 1994-95 to win back-to-back Tours de France.

In the last two years Froome has elected to start his season a week later at the Tour of Oman, but recently spoke of the need to mix things up to stay ahead of the chasing pack.

His arrival puts the exclamation mark on another huge summer of cycling in Australia.

The Bay Classic four-day criterium series kicks things off in Geelong on January 1st, followed by the national championships in Ballarat from January 6-10, the Tour Down Under in Adelaide from January 16-24 and the one-day classic Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road race on January 31.

CYCLING’S BIGGEST NAME SIGNS ON FOR VICTORIA’S TIME-HONOURED TOUR

THE MAN

CHRIS FROOME

Age: 30

Lives: Monaco

Team: Team Sky

Major wins: Tour de France general classification 2013, 2015; Criterium du Dauphine 2013, 2015; Tour de Romandie 2013, 2014; Criterium International 2013.

— Kenyan-raised and South African-educated, Froome was born in Nairobi to British parents where his childhood pets included a pair of pythons who had to be fed live rabbits

— Now a python in the world of cycling, a ruthless Froome will next year aim to become the first (clean) rider in 20 years to win back-to-back Tour de France titles

THE RACE

2016 JAYCO HERALD SUN TOUR

February 3-7

Five stages, 540km

Prologue

2.1km time trial from Federation Square to Southbank

Stage 1

126km loop from Healesville taking in Yarra Glen, Coldstream, Gruyere, Woori Yallock, Launching Place and Warburton.

Stage 2

144km from Yarra Glen to Moe

Stage 3

146km from Traralgon to Inverloch

Stage 4

122km loop from Arthurs Seat taking in Boneo, Cape Schanck, Red Hill, Merricks and Balnarring