Up to three-quarters of the field for next year's second edition of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race could come from teams currently competing in the Tour De France, with the event poised for a lift in status.
Cycling's world governing body (UCI) has given in-principle approval for the 2016 event to be upgraded to 1.HC classification, just one stage below the elite WorldTour.
It increases the capacity of the January 30-31 race to attract leading riders who will already be in Australia for the Tour Down Under, which concludes on Adelaide in the preceding weekend.
"In the first year you want to make a good impression with the teams, you want to make a good impression on the world of cycling," Evans said on Monday of the race that bears his name.
"The riders were really happy.
"Team Sky had a training camp here, some of the team stayed down in Lorne and had a training camp before they headed back to the other races and they were all really happy to stay here and be here.
"That's really important, for attracting the top riders and the elite teams, to make sure it fits in with their schedules.
"It depends on the individual riders, how early they want to start their season, but cycling is changing a lot, all of the Tour de France riders are racing in January and February.
"It's also becoming more and more important to get out of Europe in that part of the year so you don't lose time training because of the bad weather."
Australia's only Tour de France champion made his competitive swansong in the 2015 edition of the 174km Great Ocean Road race.
The race will follow exactly the same route in 2016, starting and ending in Geelong and passing through Evans' hometown of Barwon Heads, Torquay, Bells Beach and the Barrabool Hills.
Belgium's Etixx-Quick-Step rider Gianni Meersman edged out Australians Simon Clarke and Nathan Haas in a sprint finish to win the men's race this year.
I.HC races can have up to 75 per cent of the field made up of UCI WorldTeams.
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