Ride the beautiful Roads of the Boland!

TOUR DU CAP ROUTE DESCRIPTION | 2-6 MARCH 2026 | 5 STAGES | 464KM | 5245m ELEVATION

The Tour du Cap, South Africa’s signature road cycling tour, takes place from 2-6 March 2026 in the same week as the Cape Town Cycle Tour.

The tour is based at Café la Vita on the outskirts of Wellington for all 5 days, and all stages start at Café la Vita. All the stages also conclude at Café la Vita, with the exception of the queen stage 4, which finishes at the top of Du Toitskloof Pass in Paarl.

The tour features two mountain top finishes, two flat finishes and an individual hill climb time trial.

The hill climb time trail (stage 2) takes place on Bainskloof Pass and Bainskloof also plays host to the finish of the opening stage.

The 2nd and 5th stages will dish up something for the sprinters while the 4th stage will likely be the decider over 132km and 1983m of vertical ascent, finishing at the top of Du Toitskloof Pass.

The total distance is 464km while the elevation measures at 5245m.

With the tour based Café la Vita in Wellington, it eases rider logistics by vesting at the same venue every day.

Riders can ideally book accommodation in Wellington for all five days. Once accommodation in Wellington is full, Paarl is also a nice option, only 13km from the venue.

TOUR DU CAP STAGE SYNOPSYS: 5 STAGES | 464KM | 5245m ELEVATION

Monday 2 March 2026

Stage 1:

Start: Cafe la Vita (Wellington)

Finish: Top of Bainskloof Pass (Wellington)

Distance: 102km

Elevation: 1338m

Route inclusions: Wellington | Tulbagh | Bainskloof Pass

Tuesday 3 March 2026

Stage 2:

Start: Cafe la Vita (Wellington)

Finish: Top of Bainskloof Pass (Wellington)

Distance: 11km Individual Time Trail

Elevation: 574m

Route inclusions: Bainskloof Pass

Wednesday 4 March 2026

Stage 3:

Start and Finish: Cafe la Vita (Wellington)

Distance: 90km

Elevation: 949m

Route inclusions: Wellington | Hermon | Riebeeck Kasteel | Bothmaskloof Pass

Thursday 5 March 2026

Stage 4:

Start: Cafe la Vita (Wellington)

Finish: Top of Du Toitskloof Pass (Paarl)

Distance: 132km

Elevation: 1983m

Route inclusions: Paarl | Wellington | Paardeberg | Stellenbosch | Helshoogte | Pniel| Simondium | Du Toits Kloof Pass

Friday 6 March 2024

Stage 5

Start: Cafe la Vita (Wellington)

Finish: Cafe la Vita(Wellington)

Distance: 129km

Elevation: 1250m

Route inclusions: Wellington | Paarl | Windmeul

TOUR DU CAP STAGE DESCRIPTIONS

The 102km Stage 1 starts at Cafe la Vita in the direction of Wellington and routes out towards Hermon, Gouda and Tulbagh before returning on the R43 towards Worcester. It then tackles the final obstacle, Bainskloof Pass to finish on top of the Pass.

Stage 2 is a 10.9km individual hill climb Time Trial on Bainskloof Pass. Riders climb the pass from the opposite side on stage 2, starting at Café la Vita.

The 90km Stage 3 is fast and flat, routing towards Hermon and Riebeeck-kasteel before turning back before Malmesbury via the R45

Stage 4 is the queen stage, featuring 132km and just over 1900m ascent. It routes through Wellington to link up with the Paardeberg loop. It routes around the Paarl Mountain via Suid-Agter Paarlberg Road and then heads out to Stellenbosch via Klapmuts and the stunning R44.

The route touches on the outskirts of Stellenbosch before taking a left turn to the first big obstacle – the old Helshoogte Pass. On the other side of the pass the route takes a right at the Alle Bleue T-junction, and left on the beautiful Wemmershoek Road (R301) which runs between Franschhoek and Paarl.

And then Du Toits Kloof Pass awaits after a right turn at Boschenmeer Golf Estate onto Drakenstein Road. After the finish, riders freewheel back down the pass to the Faure Street Stadium without having to turn the pedals.

The 129km Stage 5 provides a showcase for the sprinters. The Tour heads out to Malmesbury and passes through the town. It exits on the R302 and does a long loop before returning to the Paardeberg loop and routing back to Café la Vita.

The finish is different from Stage 3 with riders finishing on the main road exiting Wellington towards Bainskloof.

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