Women's Cadel Evans race joins WorldTour

Australia will host a top-level women's road race in cycling for the first time since the 2010 world championships.

Arlenis Sierra, the 2018 winner of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race with Cadel Evans. Source: Getty

The women's Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race will join the cycling WorldTour in a significant boost for the event.

The Geelong event will be the first time Australia has held a top-level women's road race since the town also hosted the 2010 world championships.

Previously, Geelong hosted a round of the old women's World Cup series from 2003 to 2008.

Organisers also announced on Thursday that the sixth edition of the Cadel Evans race will feature equal prize money for the men and women.

The event had previously announced that the circuit race held a few days before the two main races would move from Albert Park to Torquay.

The women's road race will start and finish in Geelong on February 1 and the men's race will be held the following day.

The men's road race is already on the World Tour, although it is not quite at the same level of Adelaide's Tour Down Under in January.

The Santos Women's Tour in Adelaide also had equal prize money with the Tour Down Under this year for the first time.