Former SBS presenter Mike Tomalaris joins 2022 Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Festival

Sydney-based Mike Tomalaris, who finished with SBS in October after a 34-year career, will MC the event's legends dinner and be on the mic at the Raglan Parade finish line for both the men's and women's races.

Tomalaris said he was rapt to have an official involvement at a race meeting he believes has "a lot of prestige".

"I know Port Fairy, I know Warrnambool, I know the Great Ocean Road, I know Camperdown," he told The Standard. "I am very familiar with the culture there and very familiar with the cycling history.

"This is the second-oldest one-day race in the world so it's got a lot of prestige and I would like to think through my role in cycling we can lift the profile of the event even more.

"It has so much tradition and history and I think very few Australians, not just sporting followers but cycling aficionados, don't realise how significant this event has been in shaping cycling in terms of racing in Australia."

Tomalaris said adding more international riders in coming years would help boost the Melbourne to Warrnambool's profile.

But he also see the races - the men's 267-kilometre trek and new women's 160km journey from Colac - helping lift Australian competitors' chances of racing overseas.

"It gives our domestic riders an opportunity to enjoy some time in the sun, enjoy some time in the media and perhaps be noticed by international teams on the World Tour or if not the World Tour, then the second-tier competition," Tomalaris said.

Tomalaris said he wanted to share his knowledge for road cycling and was eager to immerse himself in the festival.

"I have an incredible love for it (cycling), having worked in the sport for the best part of 30 years," he said.

"I know people like to hear some of my stories regarding my coverage of the Tour de France for SBS and I just want to be part of the community.

"The Tour de France, when I first started covering it, had next to no viewers.

"No one in Australia really understood what this thing called the Tour de France was all about on the other side of the world.

"It gained popularity it gained momentum. Now we're getting up to half a million people watching every stage every night. I leave the organisation with pride and hopefully I leave a legacy."

Event director Karin Jones, who hopes to lift the race "back to a UCI-sanctioned race in future years", said Tomalaris' commitment was "an exciting coup for us".

"He's been the anchor-man and driver of making cycling so accessible to people here in Australia," she said.

"We would love a real vibe in that finish line precinct. We'll have the big screen and have the last three hours of the Melbourne to Warrnambool and the last two hours of the women's 'Warrnie' live streamed through SBS again."

"We had 110,000 viewers for the Melbourne to Warrnambool in May and that's unheard of. Even the executive were blown away by those numbers.

"We've had confirmed it will not just be on their Facebook live stream, it will also be on their on demand section on their website, so you can go back and watch it for months to come."