Cape Town Cycle Tour

The Cape Town Cycle Tour,^[1] formerly known as the Cape Argus Cycle Tour, is an annual cycle race hosted in Cape Town, South Africa, usually 109 km (68 mi) long. It is the first event outside Europe to be included in the Union Cycliste Internationale's Golden Bike Series.^[2]South Africa hosts some of the largest, by the number of entrants, sporting events in the world with three being the largest of their type. The Cape Town Cycle Tour, with as many as 35 000 cyclists taking part, is the world's largest individually timed cycle race.^[3] The other two are the world's largest ultra-marathon running event, the Comrades Marathon, and the world's largest open water swim, the Midmar Mile.

The Cycle Tour formed the last leg of the Giro del Capo, a multi-stage race for professional and leading registered riders which was last run in 2010.^[4]

It is traditionally staged on the second Sunday of March and has enjoyed well-known competitors such as Miguel Indurain, Jan Ulrich, Matt Damon, Helen Zille and Lance Armstrong.

Route

In recent years the race has usually followed a scenic 109 km (68 mi) circular route from Cape Town down the Cape Peninsula and back. The race starts at the Grand Parade in Cape Town. It then follows a short section of the N2 called Nelson Mandela Boulevard, then the M3 to Muizenberg, and then Main Road along the False Bay coast to Simon's Town and Smitswinkel Bay. The route then crosses the peninsula in a westerly direction, past the entrance to Cape of Good Hope section of the Table Mountain National Park (within which Cape Point is situated). It then heads north along the Atlantic coast through Scarborough, Kommetjie, Noordhoek, Chapman's Peak, Hout Bay over Suikerbossie Hill to Camps Bay and ends next to the Cape Town Stadium in Green Point.^[5]

In 2009 and 2010, as well as during previous years until 1999 the race had followed slightly different routes, between 104 km (65 mi) and 110 km (68 mi) in length – see the table below.^[5]

Records

The course records for conventional bicycles for the 110 km course over Chapman's Peak are:^[5]

Men: 02:27:29 by Robbie Hunter (2008)
Women: 02:44:04 by Renee Scott (1991).

The record for the highest number of consecutive victories within a competitor's age group belongs to Penny Krohn, who scored 25 such age group wins.^[6]

By far the quickest time ever recorded (and highest ever average speed) was set on the 105 km course in 1993 by Wimpie van der Merwe in his fully faired recumbent (02:16:40, averaging 46.1 km/h).^[7]

The oldest cyclist to complete the race within the maximum allowed seven hours is Japie Malan (92 years old at the time) during the 2012 Cycle Tour – on a tandem in a time of 05:49:00.^[8] He is the oldest man (90 years old at the time) to complete the race on a single bicycle during the 2010 Cycle Tour^[9] in a time of 06:48:52.^[10] He is also the oldest man to have ridden the Argus for the first time, which he did in 2004 when he was 84 years old.^[11] The oldest woman to complete the race is Mary Warner (80 years old at the time) during the 2006 tour, in a time of 06:43:38.^[12]

History of the Cycle Tour

In 1978, Bill Mylrea and John Stegmann organised the Big Ride-In to draw attention to the need for cycle paths in South Africa. The Ride-In drew hundreds of cyclists, including the Mayor of Cape Town at the time. The ride was first won by Lawrence Whittaker in September 1978.

This race was originally planned to run over 140 km (87 mi), including a leg to Cape Point, but was reduced to a 104 km (65 mi) route when authority to enter the then Cape Point Nature Reserve was refused. The organisers convinced an initially reluctant Cape Argus, a local newspaper and sponsor, to grant the event the right to use its name.^[5]

The event now forms part of one of five cycling events which take place over a period of one week starting a week before the Cycle Tour and culminating in the Cycle Tour. The other events include:

Tricycle Tour (youngsters under 6 years of age)
Junior Cycle Tour (youngsters between 6 and 12 years of age)
MTB Challenge (Mountain Bike)
Giro del Capo (5-day pro stage race, the last day of which is the Cycle Tour itself)

Route alterations and stoppages

Between 2000 and 2003, the race followed an alternative route due to the closure of Chapman's Peak Drive, with a return trip via Ou Kaapse Weg and the Blue Route.

The race has been stopped three times due to extreme weather, although in the first two cases many competitors had completed the race before the stoppage, and once significantly shortened due to fire. It has been cancelled once:

The 2002 race was stopped at 14:45 at Ou Kaapse Weg when temperatures reached 42 °C (108 °F)^[5]
The 2009 race was stopped at 16:30 at Chapman's Peak due to strong winds, with gusts up to 100 km/h (62 mph) that blew cyclists off their cycles. Initially the cut off time was extended from 7 to 8 hours due to the strong wind. Despite the late closure many cyclists were affected, because starting for some groups was delayed by as much as 2 hours due to extreme winds at the starting line-up.^[13]
The 2015 race took place on a significantly shortened route of 47 km to the end of the Blue Route and back, following a major fire earlier that month that led to the closure of Chapman's Peak Drive and parts of Ou Kaapse Weg.^[14]
The 2017 race was cancelled on the day due to extreme weather. Wind speeds in excess of 100 km/h in addition to fires on part of the route caused the event organisers to cancel after the first round of cyclists had started the race. The threat of possible protest action along a section of the route also increased safety concerns. Participants who had started already were turned back at the end of the M3 highway.^[15]

Details of each event

Key information regarding each of the race events is as follows:^[5]

References

^ Cape Argus renamed to Cape Town Cycle Tour
^ Series' official website. Archived 15 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine However, in 2010 it was excluded from the Golden Bike Series (as shown on the website. Retrieved 27 March 2010).
^ "Hisense South Africa Pedals into the 2024 Cape Town Cycle Tour as an Official Partner". Yahoo Finance. 6 March 2024. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
^ Cape Town Cycle Tour event website Archived 14 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine and Giro del Cabo website Archived 2 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine
^ a b c d e f Drawn from Mike Wills The Cycle Tour, 2008; and re years 2008 to 2012 from 2012 Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour magazine, p 72-73.
^ Cape Town Cycle Tour website Archived 4 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Her string of consecutive age group wins came to an end in 2010 when she was second in her age group, with a time of 03:32:00. Her best time was 02:48:39 over a 105km course in 1995. Source: Racetec Archived 21 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
^ Results For: Van Der Merwe, Wimpie
^ Cape Times, 12 March 2012.]
^ "Eye Witness News, 14 March 2010". Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
^ The Echo, 19 March 2010.
^ Full Circle, March 2009.
^ "Argus race results, 2006". Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
^ "Cycle tour website". Archived from the original on 14 March 2010. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
^ Bamford, Helen (20 March 2015). "Cost of fighting Cape fire hits R6m". Cape Argus. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
^ "Cape Town Cycle Tour 2017 cancelled as a result of extreme weather". Cape Times. 12 March 2017.
^ Results For: Wright, Lloyd Bernard
^ Sunday Tribune 15 March 2010, 'The Cape Argus Cycle Tour'.
^ On time extension and early race closure: Cycle tour website. Archived 14 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine For a comparison between competitors' target racing time and their equivalent "storm time": Interesting facts: 2009 tour Archived 4 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
^ Cape Argus 2011 results: Tyler Day edges Malcolm Lange Archived 14 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine 13 March 2011
^ Cape Times, 12 March 2012; Cape Argus, 16 March 2012; Cape Argus Cycle Tour website. Video of the pile-up close to the finishing line. Archived 16 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
^ Results For: Sun 10/03/2013 Cape Argus
^ Cycletour website. Archived 10 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
^ Campbell-Gillies, Victoria. "CAPE TOWN CYCLE TOUR 'DRASTICALLY SHORTENED' DUE TO FIRES". EWN. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
^ Capetowncycletour.com: Clint Hendricks claims 2016 Cape Town Cycle Tour Archived 10 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine 6 March 2016
^ "Safety is our first priority – CT Cycle Tour director". Cape Town: Sport24. 12 March 2017.
^ "Results".
^ "Hoffman, le Court win Cape Town Cycle Tour".
^ "Women's Elite Invitational Race | Cape Town Cycle Tour".
^ "Cape Town Cycle Tour results: New Zealander Sam Gaze sprints to victory – in the Bunch".
^ "Cape Town Cycle Tour results: Travis Barrett sprints to victory – in the Bunch".
^ a b c "'THE HOF' MAKES IT FOUR WINS AS THE WEATHER GODS CELEBRATE POSTPONED 2021 CAPE TOWN CYCLE TOUR". Archived from the original on 3 November 2021.
^ "Win Number Three For Le Court De Billot While Pritzen Takes Maiden Men's Title". 13 March 2022.
^ "2023 Cape Town Cycle Tour Category Winners - Cape Town Cycle TourCape Town Cycle Tour". 13 March 2023. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
^ "Live Results - Cape Town Cycle TourCape Town Cycle Tour". 19 February 2024. Retrieved 8 May 2024.

External links

Official website

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cape Town Cycle Tour.