As riders were filtering into Victoria, after the flight from South Australia's Tour Down Under, the news was released that the expected course for the 1.Pro women's and men's Surf Coast Classic one-day races on Wednesday and Thursday would not be what was originally anticipated given a number of areas in the original course are now under warnings due to a bushfire burning in the Otways.
The original start line of the one-day race, Lorne, is – at the time of writing – faced with a Watch and Act warning while parts of the men's course, which includes Barwon Heads and Forrest, were on Monday afternoon being warned to evacuate immediately.
"I would like to thank the CFA, Police, local authorities and our event partners for their close cooperation and timely advice in making this decision. These changes allow us to continue delivering high-quality racing while managing the conditions in a safe and controlled way.”
The forecast for Geelong, near Torquay and also where the weekend Women's WorldTour and WorldTour races are starting and finishing on the weekend, is on Tuesday forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology to reach 45°C, stretching beyond the normal summer peaks in the region. The fire danger, too, is at an Extreme level on Tuesday, one below the top rating of catastrophic.
The temperature, however is expected to drop dramatically on Wednesday, with the maximum forecast at 20°C lower as it falls to 25°C. The maximum temperatures are then expected to remain in the 20's through the rest of the week, even dropping as low as 24°C on Saturday and 22°C on Sunday.
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