WHAT: The Jayco Herald Sun Tour is Australia’s oldest stage race, now in its 58th year. It is one of Australia’s heritage sporting events, supported and revered by generations of Victorians and created by Australia’s largest daily newspaper, the Herald Sun.

The Tour is a rolling festival of community events reaching across Victoria and is a superb showcase for our beautiful State, creating a travelogue highlighting the historical towns, vineyards, forests, fields and mountains.

For more than 50 years, the ‘Sun Tour’ has captured the attention of sports fans throughout Victoria. The Tour is ranked on the world calendar, and is sanctioned by the world governing body for cycling, the Union Cycliste International (UCI). Riders from around the world compete in the Tour, with past winners including Tour de France sprint champion Baden Cooke, Tour de France stage winner Neil Stephens and many international riders who dominated the event in the 1990’s.

In 2005 the Tour took a significant step forward with a new Race Director and significant support from the Victorian State Government elevating the event to Hallmark status under Victoria’s major events program. With the involvement of the Victorian Major Events Company, the financial support of the State Government and tour major sponsors the Herald Sun and Jayco, the Tour is now recognised as the most significant international event for regional Victoria.

The 2007 and 2008 editions of the Tour not only provided a platform for Australia’s domestic teams to impress European selectors, but also attracted the attention of the world’s elite with the inclusion of two Pro tour teams; Unibet.com and Astana in 2007, and CSC Saxo Bank and Barloworld in 2008.

2008 champion Stuart O’Grady said it felt “bloody fantastic” to have won the event for the first time. “The Jayco Herald Sun Tour is probably the most prestigious in Australian cycling and I’m just very honoured and very proud to have won.

“To have my name on that awesome trophy is very good,” O’Grady said.

“It’s got a lot of history and a lot of great names, probably all the best Australian riders in our history and I’m just extremely proud to have my name etched alongside those guys.”

THE BEGINNING: The first ‘Sun Tour’ was held in October 1952 and was the first professional stage race held in Victoria since the 1934 Centenary Thousand Classic. An estimated 500,000 people throughout Victoria witnessed the event. Of the 56 starters only 18 finished the six-day event.

The winner was Keith Rowley, a Maffra sheep farmer, in a time of 42hr 57min 55sec. He beat his brother Max by 49sec to win. At the back of the peloton, 19-year-old Roy Underwood, the youngest rider in the fi eld, spent five of the six days arriving at the finishing towns in the dark. His father made a £50 bet with him that he would not finish. After finishing the last day’s stage his father handed him 10 crisp £5 notes.

The total prize money in 1952 was £1500.

WHEN: The 58th Jayco Herald Sun Tour is scheduled for October 11 - 17, 2009.

WHERE: The 58th Jayco Herald Sun Tour course will be announced on 17 April.

WHO: Fifteen international and domestic professional cycling teams, each composed of seven riders, will be invited to compete in the 2009 Tour. 

For full course details click here