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South Africa needs its own TDF


Cyclejourno

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Guest Big H

My dear Bloubul friends. I never said the race should be held entirely in the Western Cape. What i meant was for instance a start on the garden route, ride up the east coast, work your way over Lesotho. Spend some time in Northern part of the country, then Freestate, road transfer through karoo or northern cape and then finish in Cape Town. I think a finish under Table mountain would be very marketable.

 

If you take 12 stages at 200km a stage you are looking at about 2400 km that we will have at our disposal. If you a a few road transfers in there we should be able to fit almost all the provinces in.

 

Your "Bloubul" comment is not neccesary..... rather change your name to "Big Tit"

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Your "Bloubul" comment is not neccesary..... rather change your name to "Big Tit"

 

OMG... It's gonna snow today. I agree wif Oom...

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How about 15 stages - 2 rest days - opening TT - 4 X hilltop finishes(Where?) - Team TT - 1 Criteruim style day - TT.

 

Run most stages in DBL loop to increase spectator/sponsor value.

 

Use the whole country - Cape/Gauteng/Mpumalanga/KZN ect.

 

Get this tour going out to every province - 2 stages per province

 

I agree that it might needs to be run privately.

 

Could really be great

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And there's your problem... Apparently a lot of local "pro's" need to dope to ride 90km funrides once or twice a week... Until the local standard improves, shelve the national tour idea...

 

David George won the Giro and beat all the international teams that came out for it. They weren't the strongest internationals but local guys like him, Burry, Kevin Evans did well all the same. I think creating an event harder than the rest to train for must surely be step no.1 to raise the level of local riding. Look at the Tour of Qatar and the Tour de Langkawi - if you apply the same logic, are their local riders strong enough to justify hosting these events?

 

The key is to get international media coverage and make the event long enough to justify coming all this way. I think the idea about skipping local administrators and looking for private backing like the Epic has done - surely that is the way to go?

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Just like the TdF, the SA towns must bid to have a stage finish/start. They get the exposure and all the visitors.

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Find a sponsor and the Tour can happen! For an event like the TDF in RSA you need at least R2 million from the main sponsor with some smaller sponsors also. All accommodation and airfares needs to be paid for all the rider and R2 million would be the bear minimum!

 

By the way next year is not looking G8 as even the Giro del Capo may not happen!

 

Paul has been to RSA and Phil comes often but they have to try and say that France is a better place but they actually do know better!

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I just tagged on to it as I know the mentality that takes posts "south"...... or should it be "west" in this case!!!!!!

Oom don't tag, read the entire thread man :lol:

I will say this, I have had a pretty tough life (I am sure all of us have)

One thing I don't do is laugh at other peoples misfortune, but you are 100 % korrek H.

Things do have a tendency to go south or east for that matter, which could warrant a Delmas finish then.

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I just tagged on to it as I know the mentality that takes posts "south"...... or should it be "west" in this case!!!!!!

Oom don't tag, read the entire thread man :lol:

I will say this, I have had a pretty tough life (I am sure all of us have)

One thing I don't do is laugh at other peoples misfortune, but you are 100 % korrek H.

Things do have a tendency to go south or east for that matter, which could warrant a Delmas finish then.

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Oom don't tag, read the entire thread man :lol:

I will say this, I have had a pretty tough life (I am sure all of us have)

One thing I don't do is laugh at other peoples misfortune, but you are 100 % korrek H.

Things do have a tendency to go south or east for that matter, which could warrant a Delmas finish then.

 

Well, now that Delmas is on the map courtesy of Panjo, it may not be a bad idea.

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Keep the administrators out of it. Do it Cape Epic style with privateers running the show and when it grows in szie, let the administrators have a sniff on your terms.

Dirtbreath I think this is definitely one of the options. The Cape Epic certainly provides a beautiful template for a successful event. Perhaps I should chat to the organiser of the Epic and get their suggestions and possible involvement.

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Dirtbreath I think this is definitely one of the options. The Cape Epic certainly provides a beautiful template for a successful event. Perhaps I should chat to the organiser of the Epic and get their suggestions and possible involvement.

 

Uhm the Epic is a profitable event. No professional road bike team will pay 12k/rider to enter a stage event.

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Find a sponsor and the Tour can happen! For an event like the TDF in RSA you need at least R2 million from the main sponsor with some smaller sponsors also. All accommodation and airfares needs to be paid for all the rider and R2 million would be the bear minimum!

 

By the way next year is not looking G8 as even the Giro del Capo may not happen!

 

Paul has been to RSA and Phil comes often but they have to try and say that France is a better place but they actually do know better!

 

Standard Bank, MTN and SASOL seem like the logical sponsors to start with, especially since SASOL aren't renewing their sponsorship with the Boks, and MTN's very prominent sponsorship of cycling thus far.

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No professional road bike team will pay 12k/rider to enter a stage event.

 

I dissagree. If okes will pay R20 000 to enter a two man team in something like the epic, why would they not do the same for s big road event. I think roadies are pasionate enough... I think make the event and people will come.. I also feel the local "pros" will rise to the occasion fairly quickly. Look what the epic did for MTB in the country, now think what a event like this can do for Road cycling

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If LA thinks a tour in SA is ideal for the off season, then why doesn't someone ask him to endorse it...

 

Unfortunately with so many sporting codes competing for limited sponsorship money, you need to get it right the first time by starting with a bang. That means getting recognised international riders out here to use it as a conditioning excercise leading into the European season.

 

If we go this route I believe we'll need to limit the number of days creating a 5 to 7 day tour as the internationals will not be wanting to ride a 2 week tour during the off season.

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I dissagree. If okes will pay R20 000 to enter a two man team in something like the epic, why would they not do the same for s big road event. I think roadies are pasionate enough... I think make the event and people will come.. I also feel the local "pros" will rise to the occasion fairly quickly. Look what the epic did for MTB in the country, now think what a event like this can do for Road cycling

 

You're absolutely right. The budgets for the TDF start at about E4 million [that's 4 million Euros or R40 million Rand] and end at E15 million. The biggest sponsorship was from HTC Columbia with about R150 000 000. Actually these might not be for the TDF specifically but for the teams for the entire year. Even so, at E15 million you're still talking about at least E1m per month [or R10 million].

 

I think this event will be great for cycling but also for tourism and coverage of this country.

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If LA thinks a tour in SA is ideal for the off season, then why doesn't someone ask him to endorse it...

 

Unfortunately with so many sporting codes competing for limited sponsorship money, you need to get it right the first time by starting with a bang. That means getting recognised international riders out here to use it as a conditioning excercise leading into the European season.

 

If we go this route I believe we'll need to limit the number of days creating a 5 to 7 day tour as the internationals will not be wanting to ride a 2 week tour during the off season.

 

Probably makes sense to follow the format of the Tour Down Under [in terms of length].

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