GREAT TO BE BACK IN THE SADDLE!

By Wynand de Villiers (Tour du Cap Race Director)

I’m delighted to be back in the saddle, so to speak, presenting the Tour du Cap 4-stage road race on the blissful cycling roads of the Boland from 2-5 December this year.

My tenure as cycling race organiser over the past 20 years has been incredibly rewarding, but the past seventeen months have represented the most challenging, strangest and quite simply the most absurd circumstances that I’ve ever encountered.

With the third Covid-19 wave abating, it’s such a relief to finally present events again in the coming spring and summer months. Drakenstein Municipality in Paarl is very accommodating in facilitating events, which was illustrated by the Winelands Cycle Tour which was staged very professionally last weekend in Paarl with over 600 riders.

We have had an excellent working relationship with Drakenstein Municipality for more than 10 years. The municipality is also facilitating our other events this year, which include Val de Vie Expedition at the end of the month, the Boland 100 Miler next month and the Paarl Boxing Day Track Challenge in December.

Our Covid-19 and safety compliance are managed by Rob Nel, who also fulfils this function for number of other events, including the Double Century and all the Stillwater Sports events.

So, we’re back!

Among the road events which I pioneered, the Tour of Good Hope was certainly very close to my heart, and the Tour du Cap is broadly based on the Tour of Good Hope blueprint. I am very excited to finally provide our road riders with a special multi-stage racing platform again - this side of the year still.

I really have tried to condense and pack all the elements of a great road tour into four days of racing. The reasoning behind the 4-day format and running the last two stages over a weekend, is to allow working cyclists the opportunity of taking part in the tour while still being able to work from Monday to Wednesday before starting the first stage.

Having to take five days off work during the week was an inhibitor for many cyclists to take part in the Tour of Good Hope. This is now further accentuated by the economic pressures that many of our riders face due to Covid-19, which has had a devastating impact on most households.

Among the road events which I pioneered and managed, the Emperors Palace Classic, was my favourite single day road race (look out for some good news in this regard soon!), the Jock Tour, my favourite multi-stage 1-day ride and the Tour of Good Hope my favourite Tour.

Logistically, the Emperors Palace Classic was by far the most difficult event I’ve had to put together, with more than 350 traffic officials and a further 250 marshals doing duty on race day. But it was perhaps also the most rewarding. We started with 400 riders and ten years down the line the event had 8000 entrants.

For the Tour of Good Hope, we attracted more than 700 riders, including a strong international contingent, for the first edition for the tour in 2014. It was clear that cyclists from all over were infatuated by the riding terrain that the Boland offers.

Cycling tours have over the years produced many heroes in our sport. The Rapport Tour, which became a well-known brand in cycling globally, was presented by the well-loved and formidable Raoul de Villiers between 1973-2000.

The tour gave us sporting heroes such as Ertjies Bezuidenhout, Alan van Heerden, Willie Engelbrecht, Mark Beneke, Robbie McIntosh and Malcolm Lange.

McIntosh, with the nickname of “Rambo”, won the Tour a record five times. His legendary tussles with the visiting Portuguese had fans on the edge of their seats for two weeks.

These riders became household names in South Africa and enjoyed an almost mythical hero status among South African sport fans.

I was a sportswriter in those days and followed the last two editions of the Tour. I count myself as very fortunate to have spent time with Raoul de Villiers during those years. This is where the seed was planted for my career in race organisation.

Raoul was an extraordinary race organiser. It was no small feat to take a traveling cycling circus from Johannesburg to Cape Town over a two-week period.

Following the heroes of the Rapport Tour, Robert Hunter led the charge of a new generation of South African professional riders, and Douglas Ryder provided the springboard for these riders to excel in Europe.

What a great joy it’s been to see Doug’s Qhubeka initiative enable a South African team to flex its muscles on the world stage.

It all seemed so unlikely and even impossible for a team like IBM/Lotus – back then only taking part in South African races - to launch into something very special a few years later. Doug, who has been a good friend for many years, was steadfast in his commitment to make it happen and I lift my hat very high to him.

The Rapport Tour, sadly, died along with its creator, because only Raoul held the keys to the many doors that needed to be unlocked for the tour to take place every year.

Since then, and with my involvement in cycling races over the past 20 years, the positioning of a proper multi-day road tour which could one day emulate the Rapport Tour has always been a dream.

I’d like to thank our road racing fraternity for the amazing response and for their continued support.

With basing the Tour du Cap in Paarl for all four days, we’ve tried to ease rider logistics and accommodation requirements. Cyclists who book their accommodation anywhere in Paarl can ride to the start and from the finish every day.

Apart from the 2nd stage Time Trial, all the Tour du Cap stages start at the Faure Street Stadium in Paarl. The Faure Street Stadium also plays host to another iconic event which I organise, the annual Paarl Boxing Day Track Challenge which takes place for the 123rd time this year.

In my view there is no better geographical area in South Africa to present a road stage race. The roads in the Cape Winelands are exceptionally well maintained, road surfaces are smooth, motorists are patient and municipalities very supportive.

The Tour du Cap encompasses a total distance of 428km and 5090m vertical ascent over 4 stages. The tour comprises of an undulating 1st stage over 116km, a 26km individual time trial 2nd stage, followed by two challenging mountain stages over 159km and 127km respectively.

Stage 3 includes Helshoogte and finishes on Du Toits Kloof Pass. We do the Du Toits Kloof climb from Paarl’s side, which is the most scenic and the purist’s version of the climb.

The final stage summits the Bothmanskloof Pass halfway through on the outskirts of Riebeeck Kasteel before finishing on Paarl Mountain at the Taal Monument.

At this stage the Tour is limited to 450 riders, split into designated age category racing bunches, and it also caters for Open/Seeded riders who have a normal CSA affiliation who will follow the racing bunches daily.

All entrants receive a custom Tour du Cap riding jacket.

I look forward to seeing everyone back on the roads of the Boland!