The time-honoured Creswick-based road race, organised by the Ballarat Sebastopol Cycling Club, has attracted about 210 entries for Saturday – twice the size of last year.

Co-ordinator Gerard White said handicap races were struggling to attract healthy-sized fields.

He said the club’s hand had been forced into making a change to ensure the long-term viability of the event. White said the response had been highly encouraging.

Instead of the traditional one multi-graded event run under handicap conditions, there will be nine separate scratch events spread across the day. Marquee events, the men’s and women’s elite categories, will headline a second wave of races to be contested after the morning events.

Wave one: women’s C grade, 9am; women's B grade, 9.05;  masters C grade, 9.10; men’s C grade, 9.15; masters B grade, 9.20  Wave two: men’s elite, 12.30pm; masters A grade, 12.35; women’s elite, 12.40pm; men's B grade, 12.45

As well as going to a scratch event, the race has undergone a course change.

White said in the interest of safety the race would now spend only a short time on the Midland Highway – taking riders to Blampied to via Kingston rather than Newlyn before looping back through Smeaton and Broomfield to Creswick. Each anti-clockwise circuit is over 46km.

The men’s elite and masters A grade will complete three laps, with all other categories two laps, with the finish at the Mt Prospect Tennis Club.

MEANWHILE, Ballarat’s Liam White will go into the Fred Icke in winning form, having taken out the 135km Preston Mountain Classic on Sunday.

He broke away from the main bunch inside the last 10km to ride down the lead group and go onto a four-second win on a hilltop finish after 3:11.44 in the saddle.

Fellow Ballarat riders Angus Lyon and Nick White were fourth and 14^th.