While it won’t be fully locked in for around six weeks, mark November 27-28 in your diary so you can factor any L’Etape disruption into your plans.

The organisers are proposing the event, and accompanying road closures, be held on a Sunday this time, after feedback from residents and the business community.

This preferred date is being discussed further with stakeholders and then needs to be submitted to the relevant authorities before it is finally confirmed.

The small group that attended L’Etape’s first face-to-face community consultation were largely won over by evidence of the organisers owning up to previous failings and intention to do better this time.

Apart from moving the event to a Sunday, they are also proposing to start half an hour earlier, and increase the slowest speed allowed for to 20km/hour from 18km/hour.

“Over 136km this will make a big difference and allow us to open the roads earlier,” says the race director, Florent Malézieux, the Head of Sport for the the organiser, Lateral Event Management.

Being passed by a time car will mean participants will have to drop out and be transported back.

“The Traffic Management Plan won’t go away, but these three changes will limit its impact,” says Mr Malézieux.

To ensure the local community is brought on board this time, the General Manager of Lateral Events, Megan Peters, has personally taken on responsibility for liaising with the community.

“I will be making sure the community is engaged and we are doing the best job we can possibly do to minimise negative impacts,” she said at the meeting at The Pavilion.

“I want to better understand what is important to the community.

“Any questions from community will come directly to me through a dedicated email address [[email protected]] so I can facilitate the answers.”

Megan Peters will be the face of L'Etape Australia's engagement with the community

Anyone emailing with a question will be added to a database to receive further updates on the event.

Ms Peters is looking for people to make her aware of organisations she should be talking to, or other events that might be happening on the proposed weekend so a workaround can be found.

A second face-to-face round of community engagement will be held four months prior to the event, and a final one two months later.

The session stressed the ongoing tourism benefit of the event, as it is designed to showcase the region and bring repeat visitation.

“We really put the Snowys on the cycling map and that is what we want to do in Kiama,” says Mr Malézieux.

Their deal with SBS has provided $1 million in TV advertising (135 hours in total) for the region.

While the original deal with Destination NSW was for two events, 2020 and 2021, Lateral Events is discussing whether the cancelled event can be rescheduled in 2022, and whether the arrangement can be extended into the future.

The November scheduling not only on the suggestion of Destination NSW, to increase visitation in a quiet period in the lead up to Christmas, but to also to take advantage of the availability of riders and commentators when the Tour de France is over for the year.

Both Ms Peters and Mr Malézieux encouraged local businesses to get in touch to see how they can work together to maximise the opportunity of the event.