THE tour of the Great South Coast cycling event is fast approaching, with riders set to hit the Limestone Coast for an August 15 start.
The event has become one of the must-do tours for the National Road Series riders, now in its seventh year, with a change in format to better include spectators in the region.
It is the sixth year the event has started in Mount Gambier and tour founder John Craven said it was now billed as the best race on the National Road Series calendar.
Stage 1 is the usual Wednesday morning criterium, with 30 laps of a 1.2km circuit around the streets of Vansittart Park.
It covers an overall distance of 36km and includes 11 intermediate sprints.
Stage 2 then takes in the streets around Reidy Park primary school and the Blue Lake, with 10 gruelling laps of a 6.5km course.
The tougher afternoon road race course includes four intermediate sprints and four hill climbs.
But Thursday sees a change to the usual road race that heads off from Port MacDonnell.
Stage 3 is still a road race, but takes on a different route this year, with five laps of a 25.7km town and rural circuit, starting and finishing in front of the Periwinkles Cafe on Sea Parade.
It includes nine intermediate sprints and three hill climbs and covers a distance of 128.5km.
Craven said the idea was to enable the town to get more out of the event.
“Rather than do one big 140km circuit, this time it will be in and out of town five times,” he said.
“There will be sprints out the front of the Allendale East school, which will give the kids a chance to see more of the race.
“It also gives the residents of Port MacDonnell something to look at, coming in to town five times.”
Craven said it was a “fabulous start/finish area on the waterfront at the “Bay” and considered the new course would be no easier for riders.
“At that time of the year some of the weather down there can be tough,” he said.
“The cross winds across the open plains behind Port MacDonnell could string the race out.
“If we get a nice sunny day it could be a huge event for the town.”
From there the tour heads across the border, with the Stage 3 road race to run from Heywood to Casterton over a distance of 92.9km, with four sprints and five hill climbs.
Stage 5 sees another road race, with four laps of a 29km bushland-lakes circuit at Cape Bridgewater, with the start/finish line at the Portland Surf Lifesaving Club.
The 121.4km course is expected to take around three hours to complete, including seven sprints and eight hill climbs.
The final stage is a return to the criterium format on Sunday, August 19, with 30 laps of a 1.6km town and waterfront circuit, with 11 sprints and no hill climbs.
Overall competitors will cover 491.8km, tackle 46 intermediate sprints and 20 hill climbs.
Craven said the five days of the tour had everything, with some of the scenery on the Heywood to Casterton stage “straight out of the Tour de France”.
