[Event] Giro Del Mar

[HubArch]

Event Name: Giro Del Mar
When: 24/09/2025 - 28/09/2025
Where: Signal Hill, Western Cape
Category: Road

The team that brings you the popular Ronde Series is proud to introduce Giro del Mar, South Africa’s brand-new 5-day road cycling stage race! Starting in beautiful Cape Town, the race winds its way up the stunning West Coast before culminating in a thrilling summit finish atop the mighty Piketberg mountains.

Designed for serious competitors and weekend warriors alike, the race combines challenging routes with breathtaking scenery and top-tier organization along safe, quiet roads. The race will also be a CSA sanctioned event.

With proper media coverage ensuring that the action reaches a wider audience, the Giro del Mar promises an exhilarating showcase of endurance, strategy, and pure cycling passion.

Go to Event Page.

[Dri]

See this was cancelled due to teams pulling out 🥲? Wonder what the reason for that was. Bit of a mess for anyone that had already booked accommodation.

Edited August 26, 2025 by Dri

[Sid the Sloth]

14 minutes ago, Dri said:

See this was cancelled due to teams pulling out 🥲? Wonder what the reason for that was. Bit of a mess for anyone that had already booked accommodation.

Yeah super unfortunate! Looked like a great initiative. 

[bleedToWin]

With this being cancelled and the seemingly imminent demise of De Villiers Cycling it's a sad week for domestic road cycling in SA... 

[Kylie]

Super bleak! Really hope to see it back on the calendar next year 🥲 

[Skubarra]

Extremely disappointed 🙁 But not really surprised, road events in SA slowly but steadily on its way to dying out. Probably in this case event organisers should have done more to market the event, but between rising costs to host events & general apathy of the road cycling community its not worthwhile starting new road events nowadays.

[bleedToWin]

I think some of the teething with the time trial format, folks being unsure of the Signal Hill prologue, and added logistics of baggage transfers and own accommodation in a few different towns put off a good few recreational riders. Why the teams withdrew I have no idea... 

[Shebeen]

7 hours ago, bleedToWin said:

With this being cancelled and the seemingly imminent demise of De Villiers Cycling it's a sad week for domestic road cycling in SA... 

no comments on it until being cancelled, maybe the demand just wasn't there.

[Dri]

2 hours ago, Shebeen said:

no comments on it until being cancelled, maybe the demand just wasn't there.

I was thinking about it.

- Quite pricey if you didn't buy the early bird. ~R6000 is hard to stomach for most unless you're In a privileged position.

- You then still need to pay for your own accomodation at each town. Could be another few thousand depending on standards.

- You need to take leave for the Thursday and Friday.

 For the average person who enjoys racing and perhaps only earns a middle class income. The above would be hard to justify imo.

Though the multi day gravel events seem to be better attended and have the same barriers of entry? Maybe the event seemed a bit intimidating if you weren't part of a team (hypothetical)

[Skubarra]

1 hour ago, Dri said:

I was thinking about it.

- Quite pricey if you didn't buy the early bird. ~R6000 is hard to stomach for most unless you're In a privileged position.

- You then still need to pay for your own accomodation at each town. Could be another few thousand depending on standards.

- You need to take leave for the Thursday and Friday.

 For the average person who enjoys racing and perhaps only earns a middle class income. The above would be hard to justify imo.

Though the multi day gravel events seem to be better attended and have the same barriers of entry? Maybe the event seemed a bit intimidating if you weren't part of a team (hypothetical)

My take on it, the early bird discount was substantial, R2K off made a huge difference if this race was in your plans.

I only booked accommodation for Lamberts Bay, the rest I would have driven from the Northern Suburbs & organised lifts - not ideal but doable. 

Yes logistics, leave, costs not great, I get that. But if one wants to race anywhere but around Paardeberg and up Bothmaskloof for the bazillionth time (+ CTCT once a year )then unfortunately you would have to get into your car and drive a few kilometers to the next town.

Something about the CPT roadie mentality I would never quite understand, for gravel & mtb we are happy to travel and spend money to do interesting events & stage races, for road it has to be based within 30km of CPT otherwise most are not interested. 

[betaboy]

Yeah road is disappearing every year. CSA membership are down at Least 70%. No wonder you have to buy your own national jersey. Ever sport is suffering in some shape or form with these clowns running this circus. Can’t have a race if two teams enter. 

[Dri]

10 hours ago, Skubarra said:

My take on it, the early bird discount was substantial, R2K off made a huge difference if this race was in your plans.

I only booked accommodation for Lamberts Bay, the rest I would have driven from the Northern Suburbs & organised lifts - not ideal but doable. 

Yes logistics, leave, costs not great, I get that. But if one wants to race anywhere but around Paardeberg and up Bothmaskloof for the bazillionth time (+ CTCT once a year )then unfortunately you would have to get into your car and drive a few kilometers to the next town.

Something about the CPT roadie mentality I would never quite understand, for gravel & mtb we are happy to travel and spend money to do interesting events & stage races, for road it has to be based within 30km of CPT otherwise most are not interested. 

I hear you. What do you think the event could have done differently to get more entries? Or do you think their target audience is just too small here

[Spinnekop]

51 minutes ago, Dri said:

I hear you. What do you think the event could have done differently to get more entries? Or do you think their target audience is just too small here

I would suggest a 3 day road event instead. 

• Leave:  More people will be able to take on day off work to do an event over 3 days and not 5 or 7 days.  
• Budget:  For teams to cover cost for food and accommodation, 3 days make more sense than 5 
• Budget:  No road closure like the 947 and CTCT so you dont have to charge R1k per day.  Try to get in around R500 per day.  Thus R1500 over the 3 days for the tour entry.  For that you will need a main sponsor.  But at a low entry cost, riders would consider doing the event. 
• Logistics:  Try do to a butterfly route where you have 3 different rides over the 3 days but start and finish in the same place every time.  

Races like the Panorama and the Tropical Tour was pretty cool and based on the above and was very successful and popular.  

Maybe potential organsers might consider starting small like the above and maybe then work their way up to 5 days or more.  

My 2c

[Spinnekop]

Just now, Spinnekop said:

I would suggest a 3 day road event instead. 

• Leave:  More people will be able to take on day off work to do an event over 3 days and not 5 or 7 days.  
• Budget:  For teams to cover cost for food and accommodation, 3 days make more sense than 5 
• Budget:  No road closure like the 947 and CTCT so you dont have to charge R1k per day.  Try to get in around R500 per day.  Thus R1500 over the 3 days for the tour entry.  For that you will need a main sponsor.  But at a low entry cost, riders would consider doing the event. 
• Logistics:  Try do to a butterfly route where you have 3 different rides over the 3 days but start and finish in the same place every time.  

Races like the Panorama and the Tropical Tour was pretty cool and based on the above and was very successful and popular.  

Maybe potential organsers might consider starting small like the above and maybe then work their way up to 5 days or more.  

My 2c

Point in case where an organiser is missing the pot and the event does not draw big numbers:
Blue Diamond Tour to be held in September.
Friday = Rooiwal
Saturday = Blue Diamond race
Sunday = Swartkopz raceway laps

Leave.  No problem
Accommodation for most Gautengers will be no problem.  Just drive.
That leaves budget.
They are asking R2500 entry fee.

Why would I NOT pay this?
Well......the very next is Rooiwal race.  They charge me R380 for an entry.  
The Diamond Classic 1-day I can do for R480
Swatkopz raceway is open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and some Sundays.  They charge me R30.
Total R890

So why do I want to spend almost 3 times that just to get my timing done over three days?  
Organizers think people will spend 3 times more in these tough times just to be part of a Tour setup?
Nope.

Just an example where the idea is correct but the budget is not well thought out

[bleedToWin]

5 hours ago, Spinnekop said:

Maybe potential organsers might consider starting small like the above and maybe then work their way up to 5 days or more.  

This is probably key.
I spoke to a few riders that considered it but would only do it if it's a proper jol and decided to skip the first edition in order to see how it goes and then enter the next year. Kind of chicken vs egg because you need numbers to have gees at your race village!

[Skubarra]

On 8/27/2025 at 7:02 AM, Dri said:

I hear you. What do you think the event could have done differently to get more entries? Or do you think their target audience is just too small here

I genuinely don't know what they should have done different. Maybe one should just be cynical and accept that road stage races are a thing of the past.

I hear @Spinnekop's point about cost, My perspective - I help a bit on a funride that attract 1000+ riders, we can charge about R500 for the ride and make profit because we have headline sponsors & volunteers who don't charge for their time. Without headline sponsors we maybe break even. (So despite being a big established event, if we lose the sponsors or have to pay the volunteers the race is guaranteed to drop off the calendar) So from my crude assumptions R1K a day for a smallish event out of town without sponsors might be expensive from a rider perspective but also will be only slightly more than break-even for an organiser.

But I don't think its about the entry fee, people will pay if they think the ride will be good.

Possibly nowadays the only way to establish an event like this is to have deep enough pockets to run the event at a loss until the numbers pick-up and sponsors come on board. Also I think clever marketing goes a long way (lets not mention names but I can name a few races with mediocre cycling offerings that pull big numbers with slick marketing & bells/whistles), posts on social media are not going to create the buzz for you that you need to fill up the event.