Australia's first Tour de France champion Cadel Evans has said he would be honoured to race in a new international cycling event named after him in Victoria.

The one-day Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, to be held for the first time next year, will see elite male and female cyclists race around Geelong, the Bellarine Peninsula and the Great Ocean Road.

There will also be a race for amateur cyclists.

The event has received provisional 1.1 classification from cycling's global body, the UCI, for the next three years.

Evans said he was initially hesitant about having the race named after him until he realised how the public could benefit from the event.

"I'm big for young people coming in starting cycling, being interested in cycling and participating in cycling, whether they go on to win the Tour de France or whether they just enjoy life and have a fitter and healthier lifestyle, because of the enjoyment of being in cycling," he said.

"That to me means a lot and that to me is maybe on a personal level the most appealing aspect of the whole weekend."

The elite men's race will take place on January 31, 2015, and the elite women's and general participation race will take place on February 1.

The race will start and end in Geelong, and take in iconic surfing hotspot Bells Beach, Thirteenth Beach, near Barwon Heads, and the inland town of Moriac.

The course was designed by the former professional cyclist Scott Sunderland with input from Evans, who is from Barwon Heads.

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Victorian Premier Denis Napthine said the race would build on the state's reputation as a major sporting destination.

Dr Napthine would not say how much money the state would contribute to the event but said it would give a "modest" amount towards promotion.

He said the event was expected to draw thousands of spectators to Geelong, the Great Ocean Road and the Bellarine Peninsula.

"To have Cadel Evans' name associated with this event gives us enormous prestige and opens doors across the world and this will be a terrific two days," Dr Napthine said.

"It's an elite event, it's a mass participation event, I think there'll be many, many people who'll want to participate in that."

Evans picks Nibali to win tour

Evans flew back to Victoria last night to launch the event and said it was the first time in 10 years he had not competed in the Tour de France.

He said it felt a little bit strange to miss the race, and he managed to watch some of it in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Italy's Vincenzo Nibali is currently leading this year's Tour de France. ( AFP: Lionel Bonaventure )

"Before I rode the Tour, the Tour wasn't shown live on TV in Australia and it was quite bizarre to watch it and see it being competed," he said.

"I'm sort of glad I'm not there because there's been a lot of crashes."

He said Australian cyclist Richie Porte has the physical capabilities to take out the Tour.

"My only thing with Richie is his history of three-week races shows that he has one day that can cost him a lot of time, that'd be his first thing," Evans said.

"But he's in a different position now, he's a year older, he's more experienced, more mature and maybe if he can avoid that day, he's going to be really well positioned, at least for the podium.

"I reckon all the best for him, he's a great guy."

Evans said Italian cyclist Vincenzo Nibali was looking impressive in the race.

"In my mind Nibali is going to be hard man to beat... [but] there's still a lot of racing to be done yet," he said.