The Warrnambool masseur is preparing to travel to Melbourne for The Herald-Sun Tour, where he will spend a week working for the Australian National Cycling Team.

"I just got a text from the coach yesterday asking if I could go," he said. "I was with the national team in 1997 and then went in 2002 when Baden Cooke won it and 2006 when Simon Gerrans won it."

Allen, a former triathlete who moved to Warrnambool two years ago, has worked with the Australian Cycling team since 2001.

Stuart O'Grady, Robbie McEwen and Warrnambool cyclist Jamie Drew are just a few of the big names he has helped.

The masseur was yesterday busy switching appointments so he was ready to depart on Friday.

Rub-downs are not his only requirement on the tour.

"You do a bit of everything," he said. "They might need feeding so you give them food like jam sandwiches or fruitcake or bananas.

"Anything that's easy to swallow."

Forty minutes is the average time Allen spends massaging the cyclists.

"What you want to do is flush the lactic acid out of their legs," he said. "You also do their back, head and shoulders.

"And then, sometimes, before the race they'll ask for a slap and tickle, which is quick and stimulates them."

The tour, which starts in Traralgon on Saturday and ends in Melbourne the following Saturday, has six stages.

"It's the last professional race of the season before the Tour Down Under," Allen said. "It's a great tour.

"Everyone dines together and mixes."

Allen will be involved with something closer to home a fortnight after the tour when he travels in one of the medical cars during the Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Classic.