ORGANISERS are confident the FKG Tour of Toowoomba can return with added momentum in 2017 despite this year's event being cancelled because of a budget shortfall.

This year's tour was to run from April 28 to May 1, but the prestigious National Road Series event will not be seen on Toowoomba region roads again until the second quarter of next year.

Toowoomba Cycling Development (TCD) Ltd president Mac Stirling said the the decision to postpone this year's event was made after consultation with sponsors and key stakeholders.

Stirling said the loss of sponsors ahead of this year's race left the TCD committee with little option but to cancel the event.

"The reason we are putting it on ice is because of a budget shortfall. We cannot go into debt," Stirling said yesterday.

Stirling added the tour's rapid growth since its inception in 2010 had brought with it a significant rise in operating costs.

Stirling said crowd control, public safety measures and police supervision are amongst the biggest drain on the tour's budget.

"As the event grows, costs grow and crowds are expected to continue getting bigger each year," Stirling said.

"The tour up until now has been run by a small team of volunteers but it has now gone to a new level.

"We're a victim of our own success.

"I know many in the cycling community will be disappointed with the deferral of the event.

"But this is a common-sense approach to allow the tour to grow and engage more closely with our local community and our domestic and international tourism market.

"We don't want to do things by half measure and jeopardise future events."

Stirling said plans for next year's revamped tour includes employing an event co-ordinator.

TCD is also hopeful the Tour of Toowoomba founder, John Osborne, will remain as race director in 2017.

"John is the tour to date, and his skills in race directing are recognised at international level," Stirling said.

"We want to put a structure in place to take some of the workload off John and let him concentrate on his role as race director."

The tour is supported by Tourism Events Queensland, the Department of State Development and Toowoomba Regional Council which chips in $10,000 to the tour annually.

"I'm confident we take gain more momentum going into the 2017 tour," Stirling said.

"As a community I'm sure everyone wants the Tour of Toowoomba. We owe that to the tour and to John.

"But there has to be a step up if we want to reap the rewards."