Melbourne to Warrnambool
Riders in the 2007 race, near Werribee on the outskirts of Melbourne
General
Established	1895
Held	October
Country	Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
Region	South West Victoria Victoria (Australia) Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
Type	One day classic
Data
Editions	90
First Winner	A. Calder, AUS Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
Most Recent	Rhys Pollock, AUS Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
Most Wins	P.Besanko, 3 times
Record Time	5 hours and 12 minutes by Dean Woods Dean Woods Dean Anthony Woods, OAM is an Australian racing cyclist from Wangaratta in Victoria known for his track cycling at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games...  in 1990 (267 km)

The Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic cycling race is a one day road bicycle race

Road bicycle racing

Road bicycle racing is a bicycle racing sport held on roads, using racing bicycles. The term "road racing" is usually applied to events where competing riders start simultaneously with the winner being the first to the line at the end of the course .Historically, the most...

 . The race started in 1895 and is Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

's oldest one day race and the world's second oldest one day race, after the Liège–Bastogne–Liège Classic. Historically, the route started in central Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 and followed the Princes Highway

Princes Highway

The Princes Highway extends from Sydney to Port Augusta via the coast through the states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, a distance of 1941 km or 1898 km via the former alignments of the highway ....

 to Warrnambool

Warrnambool, Victoria

-Cityscape:The original City of Warrnambool was a 4x8 grid, with boundaries of Lava Street , Japan Street , Merri Street and Henna Street . In the nineteenth century, it was intended that Fairy Street – with its proximity to the Warrnambool Railway Station – would be the main street of...

 on Victoria's western coast. This traditional route was the longest race on the Union Cycliste Internationale

Union Cycliste Internationale

Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland....

 (UCI) calendar, the exact distance varying slightly over time.

The race was a handicap event from 1895 to 1995, with riders leaving Melbourne at different intervals. From 1996 the race has been conducted as a Scratch Race

Scratch Race (cycling)

A scratch race is a cycling race in which all contestants start from scratch . Finishing order is based on the final order across the line at the completion of the race; there are no intermediate points or sprints....

 with a mass start with up to 250 entrants, categorized into A, B, C, and D grades over a distance of 267 km. In 2004 it was changed to 299.1 km. In the towns on route there are now sprint points to be earned for a sprint champion competition. With six climbs during the day, a King of the Mountains championship is also at stake.

While the race usually attracts Australia's best locally-based road cyclists (the increasing number of Australians racing for European-based professional teams have rarely entered in recent years), the race is also open to amateur club cyclists who race for the prizes in the secondary grades, or just to finish before the designated cutoff time.

In 2009 the race start was shifted to Werribee, on Melbourne's outer south-western outskirts, and the race distance shortened to 258 km. Several additional hills were added to the route near Camperdown. The primary difficulty of the race remains its length and the strong crosswinds which affect the course.

History

In 1895 Don Charlston conceived the first race after riding from Warrnambool to Melbourne in a personal time trial. The first race was held on 5 October 1895 and won by A. Calder in 11 hours 44 minutes, with a 2 hours handicap start for the 165 mile trip. He suffered a puncture near Geelong which lost him 20 minutes, but crossed the line with a lead of 31 minutes. The fastest time during this first race was recorded by Jim Carpenter from scratch who took 10 hours 52 minutes and finished in 4th place. Of the 50 riders that entered, 24 started and only 7 finished the race. A second race occurred ten weeks later over the same distance.

Olympic medal winning cyclist, Dean Woods

Dean Woods

Dean Anthony Woods, OAM is an Australian racing cyclist from Wangaratta in Victoria known for his track cycling at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games...

, set the race record time of 5 hours and 12 minutes in 1990 over the shorter distance than the race is presently (267 km in 1990).

In 1995 a monument commemorating the race winners was unveiled near the finish line on Raglan Parade, Warrnambool by two times Blue Riband Winner, Sir Hubert Opperman

Hubert Opperman

Sir Hubert Ferdinand Opperman, OBE , referred to as Oppy by Australian and French crowds, was an Australian cyclist and politician, whose endurance cycling feats in the 1920s and 1930s earned him international acclaim....

. An honour board was added in 2001 in acknowledgement of the many volunteers involved in the race.

Winners by year