Chris Froome to contest 2023 Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Classic

Four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome will contest the world's second oldest one-day cycling event which begins in Avalon and finishes 269.7-kilometres later on Warrnambool's Raglan Parade.

Warrnambool Citizens Road Race Committee chair Shane Wilson was overjoyed to have the superstar cyclist onboard.

"They don't get any bigger," he said.

"These discussions have been taking place for a couple of days. Once he became aware that he was in Victoria at the time of the Melbourne to Warrnambool he's been as keen as mustard to do it."

A delighted Froome - in a video posted to Facebook announcing the decision - said "it's going to be an epic day out on the bike".

Froome, 37, has been preparing for the European season in Australia, riding for team Israel Premier Tech in the Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. He will ride for the same team in Saturday's race.

Wilson praised Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Festival director Karin Jones for getting Froome over the line.

"This is off the back of our event director Karin Jones making contact with a number of cyclists at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road event," he said.

"There's been a lot of hard work by Karin and her team in the background to make this happen," he said.

As for whether the cycling legend starts favourite in the "Warrny", Wilson said it would be interesting to see how the race played out.

"From Froome's point of view he's been racing and he's in a training block but he is a racer, he's a born competitor, we've seen that now for over a decade," he said.

"He's the most highly credentialled bike rider in Australia at the moment.

"You can't discount the fact that he'd be a chance and it would be something pretty special to have Chris Froome on the podium."