The Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race was launched to much fanfare by Premier Denis Napthine and 2011 Tour de France champion and race namesake, Cadel Evans, on Thursday.

The race will have a 1.1 classification from global cycling body UCI, meaning it will attract some top international cyclists to the Geelong and Surf Coast region.

The pulling power of Evans' name guarantees it will inject millions into the local economy.

But the question needs to be asked: was it necessary to create a new event, at who knows what cost, when there is already an iconic one-day cycling event that is screaming for a revival?

The Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Classic has more than 100 years of history and is the race that all domestic cyclists want to win. But like everything that's 100 years old, it's in need of a boost. Questions are constantly being asked about the race's future and its viability.

This year's sudden exit of the Shipwreck Coast Cycling Classic, which had followed the Melbourne to Warrnambool on the Sunday for the past five years, because of financial constraints only intensified speculation the Melbourne to Warrnambool could be next on the chopping block.

Imagine the exposure the world's second-oldest one-day cycling race would get with the likes of Evans, Richie Porte, Jens Voigt, Marcel Kittle and Simon Gerrans, who won the race in 2003, tackling the 260-kilometre trek down the Princes Highway.

The Melbourne to Warrnambool's traditional October date might be problematic, clashing with the European calendar, but the timing has been changed before. For the amount of global exposure gaining UCI 1.1 classification would bring, moving it would be more than worth it.

It's fantastic to see world-class cycling in Victoria, but as a south-west resident and fan of the Melbourne to Warrnambool, it seems like the state government has missed the perfect opportunity to give a grand old race the shine it so desperately deserves.