Impey, Meintjes named in initial squad for Rio Olympics

Cycling South Africa has great pleasure in announcing that Daryl Impey and Louis Meintjes have been selected for Team South Africa to compete in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August. South Africa’s Olympic governing body, SASCOC (South African Sport Confederation and Olympic Committee) announced the first names of the initial squad of 24 athletes on Wednesday.

Daryl Impey (front) and Louis Meintjes have been selected for Team South Africa to compete in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August. Photo Credit: Darren Goddard

Impey and Meintjes will represent South Africa in the 256.4-kilometre Men’s Road Race in Fort Copacabana on Saturday 6 August. The route is as follows:

• Start and finish in Flamengo Park;
• Pass through Copacabana, Ipanema, Barra and Reserva Beach;
• Include laps of the Grumari Circuit (four laps for men); the circuit includes two climbs: Grumari, a narrow climb and descent in a forested area which averages 7% over 1.2km with a maximum gradient of 13% and the Grota Funda climb which averages 4.5% over 2.1km with a maximum gradient of 6%; the circuit also includes a cobble stone section of 2km;
• Include a long coastal section at Reserva Beach and Barra;
• Include laps of the Canoas/Vista Chinesa Circuit (three for men); the circuit starts with Canoas climb continuing with Vista Chinesa climb over 8.9km uphill followed by a technical descent of 6km. Vista Chinesa is a monument located in Tijuca National Park;
• Include a flat section of 20 kilometers through Ipanema and Copacabana.

Cycling South Africa’s Road Commission Director, Bosseau Boshoff, said: “Daryl and Louis are a good combination and the course in Rio will suit their abilities – it’s a climber’s course and that is where Louis’ strength will come in.

“The recent form that Daryl has been showing in some of the tours, chasing down riders like Contador, has shown that he can support someone on a hilly circuit.

Louis Meintjes (front) and Daryl Impey have been selected to represent South Africa in the 256.4-kilometre Men’s Road Race in Fort Copacabana on Saturday 6 August, part of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo Credit: Darren Goddard.

“On behalf of the Road Commission, congratulations to Daryl and Louis and we wish them the best of luck. There is an air of confidence and belief in both riders trusting that better than expected results may be achieved.”

Cycling SA will only know how many women have qualified for the Road Race by the UCI (International Cycling Union) on 1 June. The Federation will then wait for SASCOC to make the final South African Team announcement on 14 July.

Cycling SA President, William Newman, said: “On behalf of the Executive and Management Committees, we congratulate Daryl Impey and Louis Meintjes and wish them well with their preparations as we lead in to the final stretch ahead of the Rio Olympic Games. We look forward to the next team announcement from SASCOC.”