Tour of South Africa - make it Gravel Road Racing

[Chris NewbyFraser]

We'll never have a Tour of SA on paved roads; the taxi's, general motorists and indifferent municipalities make it too difficult and challenging

 

So CSA, go gravel road. We have a superb assortment of routes throughout the country and can easily pop over to Swaziland to add some international flavour.

 

With EF Drapac and Trek now racing officially on gravel, I am hoping the UCI creates an official platform and we could attract some big names if this comes about. 

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

[JanJan]

Sounds nice, but does SA need another 'Race'?

 

I would rather like the idea of a Camino using our vast gravel road system, with some official backing from the tourism industry.

[Dubber]

It would be great if UCI went all in and SA could put on a world class event.

 

All that said, I'm loving the gravel I'm doing (events and social) mainly for the fact that it is so relaxed.  Throwing pro's into the mix and big prize money might ruin this vibe.  I'm sure it will go that way eventually, but I'm enjoying the chill while it lasts... 

[DJR]

We already have one - it's called the Tour of Ara! Do it!

 

https://www.tourofara.co.za

 

https://www.tourofara.co.za/about

[Simon Kolin]

We already have one - it's called the Tour of Ara! Do it!

 

https://www.tourofara.co.za

 

https://www.tourofara.co.za/about

Didn't that ride end in 2017? It looked beyond gorgeous and serious fun.... unfortunately it was limited to bicycle brands of South African manufacture only. I've emailed Stan for an update. No reply as of yet.

 

Cycling Tips did a good article with Stan here

 

https://cyclingtips.com/2019/07/vintage-steel-african-desert-inside-the-weird-and-wonderful-tour-of-ara/

[Longbarn Killer]

We'll never have a Tour of SA on paved roads; the taxi's, general motorists and indifferent municipalities make it too difficult and challenging

 

So CSA, go gravel road. We have a superb assortment of routes throughout the country and can easily pop over to Swaziland to add some international flavour.

 

With EF Drapac and Trek now racing officially on gravel, I am hoping the UCI creates an official platform and we could attract some big names if this comes about. 

 

Any thoughts?

I disagree.......there's lots of good spots for road races and lots of eager municipalities. just look at events like 94.7, Cape Cycle Tour, The Herald, Ironman etc...etc.

 

In my opinion, the problem lies with the CSA. I don't think they are capable of organising and securing sponsorship for such an event.  

[Shebeen]

Didn't that ride end in 2017? It looked beyond gorgeous and serious fun.... unfortunately it was limited to bicycle brands of South African manufacture only. I've emailed Stan for an update. No reply as of yet.

 

Cycling Tips did a good article with Stan here

 

https://cyclingtips.com/2019/07/vintage-steel-african-desert-inside-the-weird-and-wonderful-tour-of-ara/

looks like last year was the last.

 

speaks of 2018 in the past tense as the final.

no word on why, but i'm guessing the idea was brilliant but the pool of people to do it had all mostly done it.

only so many madokes with pre 99 steel bikes keen to klap 200kms a day on corrugations

 

 

there's a gap for a gravel stage race for sure. someone will try it

[Nick]

there's a gap for a gravel stage race for sure. someone will try it

 

https://www.bikehub.co.za/events/event/3615-hotchillee-rainmaker-rollercoaster-gravel-raceride/

[Chris NewbyFraser]

Yup, I hear you. But the Ara is a local, not even national rated race. It needs to become the official nominated, UCI approved and rated National Tour of South Africa. It also needs to be longer. 7 Days is insufficient for an international event that should be the country's premier event

We already have one - it's called the Tour of Ara! Do it!

 

https://www.tourofara.co.za

 

https://www.tourofara.co.za/about

[Chris NewbyFraser]

You are right, SA has numerous good places for excellent one day events with oartial or complete road closures, However, try run a rolling shut down on the public main roads in these municipalities for a race and see what happens. Gauteng tried it, with big sponsorship support and with Pretoria and Jhb backing and policing the routes. The result was continual conflict with the motoring public, aggressive disobedience by taxi drivers and a large number of private road users who refused to accept that 'their' main road was closed for an international race and they had to wait for the race to pass. Sadly the event did not happen again. A tour must travel through and stay over in many towns and must have guaranteed, effective rolling road closure. An International, UCI standard and approved Tour of any country should also be representative of that country, so it needs to cover larger expanses of territory, which equals many towns to be traversed and lots of reasonable standard accommodation, which does not exist outside of our cities and tourist areas. The logistical headaches are too large to overcome without a change in the national mentality. Perhaps the W Cape could pull it off, but that cannot be the Tour of SA as it would be a W Cape based event.

 

This is why I suggest that a gravel road Tour would work, especially if a hardcore, innovative organiser like Kevin Vermaak took control. Because such a race would be unique, he could create the standard (as he did with the Epic and which is now copied globally) and overcome the negatives which a road tour faces. A gravel tour could use tented accommodation. A road race could do likewise - but most European road teams will never agree to go rough unless the discipline became so big they could not afford to ignore the race. Gravel bikers, like mountain bikers, have a more relaxed approach to their life and can fit into an Epic style event.

I disagree.......there's lots of good spots for road races and lots of eager municipalities. just look at events like 94.7, Cape Cycle Tour, The Herald, Ironman etc...etc.

 

In my opinion, the problem lies with the CSA. I don't think they are capable of organising and securing sponsorship for such an event.  

[Fat Boab]

We'll never have a Tour of SA on paved roads; the taxi's, general motorists and indifferent municipalities make it too difficult and challenging

 

So CSA, go gravel road. We have a superb assortment of routes throughout the country and can easily pop over to Swaziland to add some international flavour.

 

With EF Drapac and Trek now racing officially on gravel, I am hoping the UCI creates an official platform and we could attract some big names if this comes about. 

 

Any thoughts?

 

I get where you're going but we had a road tour in SA a couple of years ago. Sadly, from memory, tainted with some organisational issues...

[Spinnekop]

My guess would be why this won't work at this stage is that there is no "bigger" arena to move up onto once you have done the SA version.  Not saying there are not any races/events world wide.....it is just not recognized by the UCI.

 

Trying to explain this might be difficult...........

 

Gravel is not an Olympic or a "world" sport.  XCO and Marathon and Road yes.

 

So the youngsters train for your local event.....enters.....race it....win it......whoopidi doodah.

The only "winner" will be the event organiser cashing in (or not)

Gravel world wide is judged (just like MTBing once was) as a relaxed "fool around" discipline and winners of races are not put in the same league as say road and MTB winners.

 

Will an event like this work?  Sure.  But the beauty of Gravel is you can do it on your own pretty much and save a bag full of money on entry fees.

 

Will participation grow?  Sure.  Why not.  Its fun.

 

Will the "sport" grow (on professional level)

Not so sure at this stage.

[Danger Dassie]

Sounds nice, but does SA need another 'Race'?

 

I would rather like the idea of a Camino using our vast gravel road system, with some official backing from the tourism industry.

Theres this - https://www.bikamino.com 

 

I did the pre-ride/route recce over three days last year. One of the best ride experiences I've had.

[Simon Kolin]

looks like last year was the last.

 

speaks of 2018 in the past tense as the final.

no word on why, but i'm guessing the idea was brilliant but the pool of people to do it had all mostly done it.

only so many madokes with pre 99 steel bikes keen to klap 200kms a day on corrugations

 

 

there's a gap for a gravel stage race for sure. someone will try it

Ah, yes. Last year it ended.

 

I really have a feeling that limiting the entry criteria to strictly ZA brand bicycles excluded many people. It certainly excluded me. I have a wonderful Bridgestone RB-1 (1989 model), that I can use for Eroica, but not for Ara. I'd have to register on my Belgian passport to use any non ZA brand bike, but then I suspect the entry fee would be in Euros.

 

The cost for the event must have been substantial without a serious sponsor and so few local guys. As you said, very few true hard men available to keep it going.

 

Come on Stan. Give us your thoughts!!!

[Simon Kolin]

Yup, I hear you. But the Ara is a local, not even national rated race. It needs to become the official nominated, UCI approved and rated National Tour of South Africa. It also needs to be longer. 7 Days is insufficient for an international event that should be the country's premier event

How do you come to the opinion that it would need to be more than 7 days?

 

I also think that having the race UCI approved could be a negative point. Often when an event goes UCI official, it excludes the "average non-pro" rider. The average rider is exactly the kind of customer/personality to tour a country (local or foreign national).

Look at what happened with DK. It became UCI recognised and is limited to professionals only. That's a load of bull (IMHO). :-)