In 1952 the first general classification winner was Keith Rowley, a
Maffra sheep farmer, in a time of 42 h 57 min 55 s. The first King of the Mountain and Sprint champion was Jack (John) McDonough from
Coburg. Australian cyclists dominated the first 30 editions of the race, before its status rose and began attracting overseas stars. By the year 2000, the race had shifted to October and Australia's cyclists racing in Europe began to compete in the race. The resulting rise in the event's standard saw the race become rated by the
UCI for the first time in 2005. Several notable Australian cyclists have won the General classification including
Stuart O'Grady in 2008,
Baden Cooke in 2002,
Neil Stephens in 1986, and
Russell Mockridge in 1957. The 2004 race was conducted from 14 to 24 October 2004 and involved 85 cyclists in seventeen teams of five. Thirteen stages were completed with a total distance of 1110.7 km, 119 intermediate sprints and 37 hill climbs, including the two category one climbs of
Mount Baw Baw and in the
Otway Ranges. Swedish rider Jonas Ljungblad won the General classification in the time of 26 h 39 min 55 s. Karl Menzies won the sprint classification and Phillip Thuaux won the Mountains classification. After the 2009 race, the organisers of the Herald Sun Tour proposed moving the race from its traditional October date to February, with no edition in 2010.
Cycling Australia approved the move, but in the face of opposition from the UCI, the plans never came to fruition. In the end, the 2010 race was "held over" due to the
2010 UCI Road World Championships being held in
Geelong and
Melbourne, and the race returned to the calendar in October 2011. The UCI accepted a change of date the following year, with a January 2013 date instead of October 2012, but downgraded the race from 2.1 to a National Event, preventing most professional teams from across the world from taking part.
2014 The next edition of the Tour was held from 5–9 February 2014, and regained a UCI 2.1 ranking, permitting top level trade teams to again compete. Due to numerous bushfires across Victoria the last stage of the race was cancelled, with rider
Simon Clarke declared the winner.
2016 The 63rd edition of the Tour got a huge profile boost when reigning
Tour de France champion
Chris Froome of confirmed he would be starting his 2016 season at the event, having previously participated in 2008 with the Barloworld team where he finished 4th overall. Froome won the overall title on the final stage on Arthurs Seat, making him the first defending Tour de France champion to win the race, with teammate
Peter Kennaugh finishing second and Damien Howson of Orica-GreenEdge placing third. He also took the mountains classification.
2017 The 64th edition of the race was won by
Damien Howson of .
2018 The 65th edition of the Herald Sun Tour was won by
Esteban Chaves of the
World Tour ranked team. Michelton Scott dominated the general classification of the 2018 edition with teammates
Cameron Meyer (2nd) and previous winner
Damien Howson (3rd) rounding out the final podium.
2019 The 66th edition of the race was won by
Dylan van Baarle of . Rounding out the podium were
Nick Schultz of and
Michael Woods of .
2021 - 2025 In August 2020, the 2021 edition was cancelled due to the uncertainty and unpredictability caused by the impact of
COVID-19. The event was rescheduled to February 2022, but was cancelled due to continuing uncertainty around the pandemic. In October 2022, the 2023 race was cancelled due to "ongoing logistical, planning, timing, and workforce challenges" but the race planned to return for 2024. However it failed to return for the 2024 season.
2026 In April 2025, plans were announced to revive the Australian stage race in February 2026 with a men's and women's race. Former Olympic gold medallists
Scott McGrory and
Grace Brown becoming the respective race directors. With the upgrade of
Surf Coast Classic to
UCI ProSeries, Herald Sun Tour would be the sole race of 2026 Oceania tour, as per confirmed by UCI when it published the race in its 2026 calendar on October 2025. However, only 2 weeks later, the organizers announced the race cancellation, citing 'challenged environment in sponsorship and business' as the reason. ==Winners==