Victorian bid to host UCI WorldCycling race in honour of Cadel Evans

VICTORIA is preparing a bid to host a one-day UCI WorldTour cycling race named in honour of Tour de France champion Cadel Evans next year.

Tour de France champion Cadel Evans. Picture: Sarah Reed.

VICTORIA is preparing a bid to host a one-day UCI WorldTour cycling race named in honour of Australian Tour de France champion Cadel Evans next year.

The one-day event would immediately follow January’s Tour Down Under in Adelaide in a plan to lure the world’s best cyclists and teams across the border before they return to Europe.

It is understood the Victorian Major Events Company is in talks with the UCI - world cycling’s governing body - about securing a spot on the 2015 calendar and the proposal has Cycling Australia’s backing.

The race is likely to be held in the Geelong region near Barwon Heads where Evans lives when he is in Australia and could also incorporate a women’s race.

In what would be a major boom for Australian cycling, it means the likes of one-day superstars Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen may decide to come Down Under to race in both Adelaide and Victoria.

News Limited understands the race could be called the Cadel Evans Classic and organisers are gunning for WorldTour status – which would demand every WorldTour team must attend – or at least UCI 1.HC classification which allows for a maximum of 70 per cent WorldTour teams.

It would be held as soon as possible after next year’s Tour Down Under which is scheduled from January 17-25, and attracts hundreds of thousands of international and interstate visitors.

The event may also be Cadel Evans’ swansong and farewell to his Australian fans with uncertainty over how much longer the 37-year-old will continue racing at the top level.

“It would be great for the sport and would add to the Tour Down Under which is a fantastic event,” Cycling Australia president Gerry Ryan told News Limited.

“The more people see of that level (WorldTour) in Australia, the better.

“But I’d like to see a women’s event as well and I’ve spoken to the Tour Down Under and Victoria to say ‘don’t forget the women’ and I’d like to see a (women’s) event.”

The race would likely be held over 100 to 200km and compliment both the Tour Down Under and Herald Sun Tour which was held in February this year and attracted three WorldTour teams - Orica-GreenEDGE, Garmin-Sharp and Cannondale.

“We give our tick of approval for a one-day classic, it was never going to be a tour,” Ryan said.

“And I’ve met with Victoria and the TDU to say ‘let’s get a women’s race as well’.”

An estimated 23,000 people packed into the tiny Victorian town of Buninyong outside of Ballarat in January to watch Evans contest the national championships road race for the first time in nine years. Cycling Australia estimates that Evans’ presence and the sport’s growing popularity led to a 15 per cent increase in crowd figures on last year’s event.

The sport in Australia continues to boom three years after Evans became the nation’s first Tour de France winner and on the heels of the success of its own international team Orica-GreenEDGE.

GreenEDGE star and fellow Victorian Simon Gerrans on Sunday became the first Australian to win one-day Belgian classic Liege-Bastogne-Liege which was the second “monument” of his career after he won Milan-San Remo in 2012.

Gerrans would also be a major drawing card if Victoria is awarded the one-day WorldTour licence and the Cadel Evans Classic goes ahead.

Evans is preparing to start the Giro d’Italia in Belfast on May 9 after last week becoming the first Australian to win the Giro del Trentino in Italy.