South Africa to host elite cycle race

[lowracer]

appologies if it is old news, this is from the Go Multi List <gomultimag@topica.com>

 

The most beautiful sport has a special place in its heart for South
Africa it seems. A new elite cycle race, the Tour of South Africa,
will be held for the first time later this year. The seven-day event
will start on November 18, with 20 teams of six riders each
participating.

http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/161084/south-africa-to-host-elite-cycle-race

 

<details pasted in>

SOUTH AFRICA TO HOST ELITE CYCLE RACE

Fri, 19/01/2007 - 09:19

A new elite cycle race, the Tour of South Africa will be held for the first time later this year. The seven-day event will start on 18 November 2007 with 20 teams of 6 riders taking part.

 

The race will form part of the elite professional calendar in 2007 and is expected to attract leading cycling teams from across the world. There is no qualification with teams invited to take part. Those participating will include teams from the UK, Germany, Japan, USA and South Africa.

The route is yet to be finalised, but proposed options include stages in the Cape Province, Gauteng and Kwazulu-Natal.

The Tour of South Africa organisers, Sweetspot, are working with a number of partners including, Cycling South Africa, South Africa Tourism, and the South African International Marketing Council to finalise the route and to maximise the impact of the race on the country?s economy. A foundation will be established to ensure surplus income is re-invested into community projects across the country.

Hugh Roberts, Chief Executive of Sweetspot said, ?The Tour of South Africa will become a landmark event in the professional cycling calendar. Its uniqueness comes from the fact that it is Africa's premier cycle race encouraging the best teams and riders to take part on the African continent. With its sports orientated culture we believe it is an obvious location for an elite cycling race.?

The race will follow a similar model to other leading cycle races, such as the Tour of Britain and Le Tour de France. There is no single event sponsor, instead funding comes from a combination of both the public and private sectors, with a host of commercial opportunities available.

[butafly]

there is also a cycle tour taking place directly after the Giro which will take place over two weeks.

[Token]

Think the elites are really smiling,  now we all got to train f--king hard 

[Witrot]

The Tour after the Giro is cool. The international teams can stay behind from the Giro and take part in it.

 

On the otherhand this tour is in the wrong time and the pro's is not interested. It is at the end off the season, so why would teams from overseas come here to participate for one tour!

It was planned for last year as well but everyone said they don't wanne participate.

[Bateleur1]

Now is a good time to start fixing some of our roads

[mallo]

Has this tour organizers and CSA noted that it will clash with the 94.7 event as well I hope this has been dealt with already.

[scotty]

The Elites complained about longer route for the 94.7 in the past. Now they have a tour to contend with.

[Evan Andreou]

The Tour de Maloti starting on 18 March, looks like a serious contender with three stages in excess of 200kms and a 70km TTT.

Hope they can continue with these type of tours and put SA on the cycling map

[Velouria]

The pro teams come out here to train. For them, racing against our local pro's is like a training ride... sounds like a nice holiday opportunity for some foreigners to catch some sun.