Matt Posted September 13, 2012 Share At an impressive media launch held at 54 on Bath, Tsogo Sun’s newly opened hotel in Rosebank, Johannesburg, the press and invited guests including top professional road cyclists were treated to an exclusive preview of the latest and most certainly one of the largest sponsor partnerships recently concluded, between Cycling South Africa and Richelieu. The official announcement of the Tour de Richelieu has been hailed as one of the most exciting developments within road cycling in South Africa since the grand old Rapport Tour. The primary objective of the Tour de Richelieu is to pave the way to full qualification for South African Road Cycling at the Rio Olympics in 2016. Tour de Richelieu will encompass carefully selected existing high profile road cycling events, which are currently well supported races situated across the major centres of South Africa. It is through this initiative that Cycling SA wish to form partnerships and add value to these events as opposed to competing with them. The following events have already been included: Amashova – October 2012 – KwaZulu-NatalThe Fast One – January 2013 – GautengThe VW Herald – February 2013 – Port ElizabethRide for Sight – February 2013 – GautengMedallion – February 2013 – Western CapeSA Elite Road Championships – February/March 2013 – MpumalangaMaluti Challenge – March 2013 – Free State (pending)SA Masters Road Championships – April 2013 – OudtshoornPositive endorsement from Cycling SA president William Newman confirms. “This is a huge development for cycling in South Africa and we embrace Richelieu as a partner in assisting Cycling South Africa to develop and grow the sport. “This sponsorship gives us an opportunity to lift the standard of our events and provide added exposure via the generous television coverage. With the plan to upgrade some of these events to UCI category status, it gives our local riders an opportunity for international exposure and at the same time accumulate valuable UCI points, which will improve our chances of World Champs qualification and ultimately Olympic Games qualification in 2016. “We thank Richelieu for their support and look forward to working with them and the event organisers as we embark on this journey to Rio 2016 in pursuit of Olympic success. I encourage you all to be part of this magnificent journey with us.” Richelieu views the sponsorship as an opportunity to create greater enthusiasm in South Africa toward the sport of cycling to the same level that is enjoyed by the world’s greatest cycle event, the Tour de France. Richelieu also believe that the sponsorship will allow for a wider audience of South Africans to enjoy the sport not only as spectators but with the ability to participate as well, which will in turn attract fresh participants. Richelieu look forward to growing the sport together with Cycling South Africa. As an addition to the presenting rights, which are included in the sponsorship by Richelieu, the sponsor has also committed to a wonderful social concept known as Café de Richelieu. Café de Richelieu is a first in terms of transforming events into a social gathering for athletes and supporting spectators alike, providing a unique hospitality area with a French look and feel offering freshly brewed coffee, baguettes and croissants whilst serving drinks by means of their bar facility later in the day. Tour de Richelieu will provide athletes and media with continuous coverage of events results and new developments through a dedicated media communications platform including www.tourderichelieu.com and the ever-popular Facebook (Tour de Richelieu) and Twitter (@tourderichelieu) social media platforms. Click here to view the article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fandacious Posted September 13, 2012 Share yoh! this is awesome! I wonder if theres any chance of getting the giro del capo back, with a big name sponsor like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamMTBer Posted September 13, 2012 Share Great sponsor, met eish (not klippies eish) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christie Posted September 13, 2012 Share Positive news.I still wonder how we are going to develop and encourage grand tour contenders, none of the races have got mountain finishes. Also, a GC contender must be able to time trial....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metzet Posted September 13, 2012 Share Richelieu at the water points ?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkie 2 Posted September 13, 2012 Share This is awesome for road cycling, so in a way it will become like the MTN MTB series? Winners collect points etc. for each race and at the end of the season the series champ is crowned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shebeen Posted September 13, 2012 Share Qualification at Rio Olympics... Surely they realise that the olympic road race is quite a sideshow in the whole calender, or is this just the best way to gain some support from the top brass? Otherwise nothing wrong with throwing money at the sport. funny enough a google search of richelieu only brings up klippies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimW Posted September 19, 2012 Share This is awesome for road cycling, so in a way it will become like the MTN MTB series? Winners collect points etc. for each race and at the end of the season the series champ is crowned It is not a series. They are sponsors -- not quite sure I understand the concept too well, but it seems they are basically a sponsor signed up by CSA to contribute to all the races in return for certain branding rights at all these events via their hospitality areas at each event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Zone Posted September 19, 2012 Share Not sure how good a fit the Richelieu brand is with cycling, I am personally quite put off by a booze sponsor. Secondly with a ban of booze advertising in the near future, this partnership probably doesn't have very long legs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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