Tour de France great goes full circle with race sponsor

Nearly a decade before Cadel Evans became the only Australian to win the Tour de France, there was Mapei and Aldo Sassi.

The Italian chemical company and the revered coach are pivotal in the career of the Australian cycling great.

Without them, who knows whether Evans would have made sporting history with his 2011 Tour triumph.

So on Tuesday, there was plenty of history and added meaning when Mapei became the first naming rights sponsor of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.

"It's an honour to have a name like Mapei associated with the race - of course it's a name I've always been associated with, on a sporting and personal level," Evans told AAP.

By 2001, Evans had made the transition from a successful mountain biking career - he rode at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics - to professional road racing.

But mountain bikers were a rarity in the pro peloton and Evans was very much an outsider.

Sassi, also from Italy and one of the sport's most respected coaches, invited him to join the Mapei-Quickstep team.

In 2002, Evans first announced he was the real deal as a Grand Tour prospect, famously taking the lead for a day at the Giro d'Italia.

"That's where my real Grand Tour work and ambitions really started - it was thanks to Mapei. Personally, I feel indebted to them, the opportunities they gave me," Evans said.

"For a neo-pro, an ex-mountain biker, to take the pink jersey in the third week of the Giro was probably not just an announcement of myself, but of mountain bikers in general."

Evans switched teams after 2002, but remains associated with the Mapei Sports Centre in Milan. Sassi stayed one of his biggest supporters until he died of a brain tumour in 2010, aged just 51.

The following year, Evans dedicated his Tour de France win to him.

There had been plenty of setbacks before that landmark moment, but Sassi never lost faith.

"I was having a couple of years where things weren't coming together and Aldo - I think he had more confidence in my abilities than I did at some moments," Evans said.

"Of course, I'm very grateful for his vision - not just with the team, but my own abilities and helping shape my career."

Mapei have been associated with Evans' race since its inception in 2015 and this is the first time the event has had a naming rights sponsor.

"It made sound a little simple, but I just want the race to continue to grow - better-quality fields, better-quality racing and, of course, hopefully overall a better event," Evans said.

"I won't say any names, but the better-quality names we have, the better quality the field."

The event will next run at Geelong and on the nearby Surf Coast from January 28 to February 1.