CyclingSA Triumphantly Awarded UCI World Cycling Tour Leg

[Matt]

CyclingSA Triumphantly Awarded UCI World Cycling Tour Leg

 

Press Release: Cycling South Africa, 29 June 2011

29 June 2011 – The city of Pietermaritzburg will be placed in the world cyclingspotlight once again after being awarded a Qualifying event forming part of the UCIWorld Cycling Tour.

 

Cycling South Africa has been triumphant in their campaign to bid against variouscompeting countries for one of the Qualifying events of the new series of massparticipation road races specifically targeting amateur riders. The Msunduzi RoadChallenge, as the event will be known, will take place in KwaZulu-Natal’s capital cityfrom 29th to 30th October 2011.

 

 

Collectively, ten events are staged in various countries around the world, contributingtoward the UCI World Cycling Tour (UWCT) Final, previously known as the UCIMasters Road World Championships.

 

The aim of the UWCT presents cycling enthusiasts the opportunity to be crownedWorld Champions, whilst contributing to the international promotion of the UCI's“Cycling for All” events. This perfectly parallels CyclingSA’s “2020 Vision” strategy,to cater for both the elite cyclist as well as the everyday two-wheel lover.

 

The Msunduzi Road Challenge will be run in the same way as any mass participationroad event, and will consist of a Time Trial and a Road Race however, Masterswanting to qualify for the UWCT Final need to finish their required distance within thetop 25% of their field. In doing so they will automatically have the right to compete inthe UWCT Final and race for the coveted UCI Rainbow Jersey. However, thegeneral public can also enter and ride any of the race distances as they would in anyother mass participation event.

 

As a mass participation UCI-ranked road race, the Msunduzi Road Challenge isadded to the already impressive repertoire of CyclingSA-hosted events, including theUCI BMX Supercross and World Championships and the UCI MTB World Cups,which were all held in the city of Pietermaritzburg. The city will also be the venue forthe 2013 UCI MTB & Trials World Championships. Beautiful weather, good andchallenging routes and an easily accessible location has made Pietermaritzburg afavourable environment conducive to hosting world-class athletes, and a massparticipationevent of this calibre is certain to boost the tourism in the area. This hasbeen acknowledged by KZN Tourism and the KZN Government, who is once againputting their financial support behind cycling and is the hosting sponsor of theMsunduzi Road Challenge, as well as SA Tourism, who is a support sponsor. Othersponsors will be announced soon.

 

CyclingSA has submitted a bid document to the UCI to host the 2012 UWCT Final,which will be awarded at the UCI Management Board meeting in September 2011.

 

Further information about the Msunduzi Road Challenge including where and how toenter, routes, website details, etc will be forthcoming soon so watch this space andstart training to be part of another great CyclingSA event.