CYCLISTS from across the country are counting down the days until the 2024 Tour of Bright commences a little under a week away, with organisers hyping it up as the biggest edition of the tour to date.

While there will be events on in town this Friday, November 29, the tour proper runs across Saturday and Sunday, with riders covering hundreds of kilometres in pursuit of glory.

The two-day road race takes participants all over the Bright and Alpine areas, with some of the best road racers in the country set to try their hand at the challenging but beautiful course.

Run solely by the Alpine Cycling Club, the Tour of Bright is considered to be Australia’s biggest club race, attracting hundreds of quality riders.

“The course is more favourable and it’s always a great weekend of racing, and if it doesn’t go your way it’s a great weekend of training as well,” Alpine Cycling Club vice president Chris Stack said.

“This year, with the National Road Race being relocated to Western Australia, a lot of people in the eastern states have shifted their focus to the Tour of Bright.

“Last year we sold out the entries, about 430, and we’re on track to sell out again this year.

“People are starting to get excited, talk a lot about what the conditions are going to be like and if it’s going to be a fast day and if records can tumble again.”

An addition to the program this year, there will be a criterium race through the Bright town centre on Friday night, a 1km loop down Railway Avenue, up Ireland Street, around the clock tower and down Wood Street.

The criterium will be an exhibition event to keep spectators and riders entertained while they register, sign in, and prepare for Saturday’s race.

“It’s probably the most exciting format of cycling to watch, whether you understand cycling or not - it’s a great spectator discipline,” Stack said.

“That will run while registration is open as well, so anybody who’s not racing can be there racing while they sign on, get their numbers and their information for the weekend as well.

“Like other events do, we want to get the town more involved – it’s a huge event that’s been running for over 30 years that brings lots of tourist dollars to the town and also lots of residents.

“At the Friday night criterium there will be an event village in Bright Velo, which will be running during the race.

“That hosts registration and the event village, so that will be running basically from lunchtime on Friday, there’ll be a little buzz there with everybody rocking up from all over the country, signing on, check out the event village then if you’re not racing, check out the criterium which comes right through the roundabout at the top of Ireland Street there past Bright Velo.”

The race begins the first of its three stages on Saturday morning from Pioneer Park, with the Gaps Loop stage seeing racers head down the Great Alpine Road to Ovens, hanging a right down Happy Valley Road, then heading up the Kiewa Valley highway to Mount Beauty to finish at Tawonga Gap, a journey of 93.7km, or 129.9km for the men’s A grade group.

Stage two, the time trial, takes riders through the Buckland Valley, a 17.4km there-and-back again from Egglestones Lane in Porepunkah with the turnaround point at Buckland River Bridge.

Sunday sees the conclusion of the tour with the Mount Buffalo Mountain climb from Bright to the summit – with the elite riders having to head down to Buckland River bridge and back - with King and Queen of the Mountain titles up for grabs.

With excitement building, Stack said a successful event could see the Tour of Bright grow in the future, bringing more people to the area and growing the profile of the town and the tour.

“Hopefully we do sell it out, because what we would like to do is extend the format next year to a three-day race,” he said.

“While it’s a two-day race we have to cap the participant number because of the two stages on the Saturday.

The Tour of Bright runs across this weekend, November 30 – December 1.