In an interview with The Courier on Friday, Cycling Australia chief executive Nick Green said the new suitor for the championships for 2018 onwards – whether it’s Ballarat or otherwise – will need the capacity to deal with a massive influx of riders and spectators and have a number of suitable race courses available.

Mr Green confirmed CA is currently in negotiations with several interstate organisations to determine its future. City of Ballarat has confirmed it is also part of discussions.

However, he did not disclose how many other states have put in bids for the event, citing commercial confidentiality restrictions as the reason.

“We want to grow the site and scale of the championships into a cycling festival and increase community engagement and athlete participation,” he said.

“Any location needs to have the capacity to host it and it needs to have major events in its DNA.

“We've enjoyed a very, very productive relationship with the City of Ballarat. Clearly, Ballarat has all those capacities.”

“As we build our model we’re looking for it to be a five or six day event with more races and more spectators.”

The addition of under-19 and junior categories would see thousands more attend the championships in  athletes, family and support staff, alongside spectators.

“We want to grow the community and recreational participation and therefore drive more people in,” he said.

“That's the way we want to build our event.”

Mr Green said the level of state government support would also play a part in determining where the championships are held next.

The event is currently run over four days, leading off with the opening criterium races, followed by the time trial event, while a rest day precedes the road races run across the weekend.

Ballarat and Buninyong have hosted the nationals since 2002, with the exception of 2005-06 when it was moved to the Adelaide Hills before the Tour Down Under.

Mr Green said CA would “open up discussions” on the formation of Mount Buninyong’s famed road race course, if hypothetically, the championships remained in Ballarat.

Local ex-rider Pat Shaw and expert commentator Matt Keenan also said changes should be considered for current courses.

“It's pretty well known that Ballarat has done a lot for the event,” Mr Shaw said.

“It’s got to a point now where Ballarat has got to build on it and now maybe is the time for potentially finding a secondary course.

“I think the current course is a fantastic championship circuit, but there's nothing to say we shouldn’t design a secondary circuit.”

“It's probably the perfect time. We’ve learnt the requirements for what it takes to organise the event, as opposed to moving it to a town that hasn't got that experience.”

Mr Keenan said any offer to draw the event away from Ballarat would have to be “stronger” than the proposal council has put forward.

“The City of Ballarat has done a lot to grow this event,” he said.

“If you look at what it was in 2002 to what it is now (it's massive).

“The City of Ballarat has made it what it is now and it deserves the right of reply (to make its case).

“But, Cycling Australia do need to look at other options. Wherever it goes it needs to be easy for people to get to and needs to be near an airport.”

Ballarat Regional Tourism chief executive Noel Dempsey also said an emphasis should be made to help grow the event to “improve” the overall experience and grow the brand of Mount Buninyong – pointing to the well-known link between Mount Panorama and the Bathurst 1000 car race.

“The idea of building that brand and equity is there and in my humble view we can do more in that space,” he said.

“Our point of view that what drives the economic return is in getting more people to town.

“Whether that’s more participation events, or a bigger festival profile (that’s where improvements can be made).”

Mr Dempsey said an independent report on last year’s edition, which drew more than 30,000 spectators to Ballarat and Buninyong, delivered an economic return between $4 and $5 million for the city.