In 2003 the Herald Sun Tour held three stages throughout the Wimmera and the Grampians

The Herald Sun Tour as it is known, is a gruelling multi-stage trek that pushes riders from all over the world to their limits, as they pedal amongst some of Victoria's most picturesque landmarks and backdrops, for five days.

The race has a history of attracting elite international cycling talent and it's honour role includes Tour De France winners Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome who each won the event in 2009 and 2016 respectively.

The tour's course varies year-to-year and in 2003, areas of the Wimmera were lucky enough to be included across three stages; Stage eight Dunkeld to Horsham, Stage nine Horsham to Mt William and Stage 10 Hall's Gap to Ararat.

Wimmera locals were abuzz at the chance to see their cycling heroes up close. One rider in particular drew the attention of the crowd - former Horsham resident and current Australian Olympic cycling coach Tim Decker, who was competing in the race.

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A Horsham teen who was thrilled to see the race and his cycling coach (Decker), was 16-year-old cyclist Mark O'Brien who had just won the 2003 under 17 Australian Road Race.

O'Brien, now a very accomplished cyclist in his own right, spoke to the Mail-Times about seeing the Tour in his hometown.

"Just seeing roads that I trained on quite a lot getting used in a big race like that was pretty special," O'Brien said.

"I got to go in the follow car with the race director John Craven, so (I) got to follow behind the winning move and watch it race across to Mt William where I was starting to train a lot."

Seeing someone from Horsham (Decker) race in a professional tour had a significant impact on O'Brien.

"It was pretty cool because Tim being a Horsham boy as well. Seeing someone come from Horsham and being able to race in the Sun Tour, I think it gave the young guys a belief that it's something you can aspire to," he said.

Decker received quite the fanfare from his hometown, especially in Laharum where primary school students gathered by the roadside to cheer him on with custom made signs saying "Go Tim".

Although Decker struggled during the Wimmera stages, he told the Mail-Times in 2003 that the sight of the school children holding banners emblazoned with his name was inspiring.

"I was sitting about fifth wheel in the bunch and it sent chills down my spine," Decker said.

"It was also a big thrill riding into Horsham and seeing my family there."

In the end, Englishman Paul Manning took out stage eight, American and eventual overall winner Tim Johnson won stage nine, while Dominique Perras of Canada was the first rider to reach Ararat during stage 10.

Despite it being the last time the Tour visited the Wimmera region O'Brien was full of praise for the route.

"What was nice about the Horsham one was you had such a balanced course," he said.

"It's a bit of a balance of all kinds of riders, you have to be pretty versatile.

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"The guy that ended up winning the tour that year actually won up Mt William so it was a pretty good sign of who was in form and obviously a pretty beautiful area to be riding a bike."

The 33-year-old who this year finished eighth in the Elite Men's Road Race National Championships in Ballarat, is hopeful that the Herald Sun Tour will make a return to the region.

"I dare say it'll get back to the Grampians soon, hopefully," he said.

"The way it usually works with the Sun Tour is they share it around the region a little bit. So hopefully we get another race to go up through Horsham.

"I'd love to come back and race there, it would be great. At least I'd know every single crack in the road still."

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