Maleny Accommodation

The Tour de France might still be a month away, but the five-day Tour de Sunshine Coast is on this weekend, and it’s a spectacled in itself.

The Sunshine Coast hinterland is the perfect location for this cycling race with all the colour and competitive spirit you could expect from any professional race.

The race starts with a prologue at Maroochydore, but it doesn’t take long before the race moves from the coast to the beautiful Sunshine Coast hinterland.  The second stage is a road race in Kenilworth and the Mary River valley.

The third stage is a seven-kilometer kicker from Palmwoods to Montville.  The first kilometer is flat but competitors are then pushed through six kilometers of steep uphill to Montville.

It is a show of contrast watching a cycling race in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. The riders are intense and each is going through untold levels of pain trying to breach the top of the Blackall Range in quick time.

Yet before the cyclists arrive, Montville and the Blackall Range is a place of tranquility where time seems to slow and people give over to their more peaceful natures. 

Spectators are given a treat, by going through the full range of emotions in only a few short minutes.  It is one reason why the tour is something that shouldn’t be missed when visiting the region.

After the climb riders leave the Blackall Ranges to compete in the fourth stage, which is another circuit road race north of Yandina.

The race finishes with circuit ride near Eumundi but it is always the Montville dash that is remembered by riders.