The Takealot Tour of Good Hope’s elevation to UCI status for 2019 will ensure that one of South Africa’s premier road tours is a drawcard for local and international competitors.<\/p>\n
It is the first time that the five-day race, which takes place in the Cape Winelands from March 4 to 8, will have UCI points up for grabs and Cycling SA general manager Mike Bradley believed it would benefit riders across the board.<\/p>\n
He said it was the national body’s aim to develop more UCI-classified races and they had, therefore, approached race organisers ASG Events to consider this option.<\/p>\n
With the documentation completed, the Tour of Good Hope has received UCI 2.2 status. It joins the only other event in South Africa with a similar ranking, the Tour de Limpopo.<\/p>\n
Bradley said their top priority was to create more opportunities for South African riders to earn UCI points.<\/p>\n
“Having these sorts of races is important, particularly at this time because from now until October it is Olympic qualification year,” he said.<\/p>\n
“That means the higher our riders rank internationally, the more we will have to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.<\/p>\n
“Having UCI status helps from a strategic point of view, allowing our riders to earn points in events close to home.<\/p>\n
“And then, even when they do have to travel, at least they have collected UCI points and this makes them contenders to be considered for Continental or Pro Continental outfits.<\/p>\n
“The more SA cyclists we have in those teams, the better for the development of the sport in the country.”<\/p>\n
Bradley said another benefit of having UCI status was the potential to attract strong foreign outfits.<\/p>\n
“International teams don’t look at anything that’s not UCI-rated,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I have already had some interest from teams abroad for the Tour of Good Hope and have put them in touch with the race organisers.<\/p>\n
“It’s important to attract international competition to local races as it provides stronger competition for our cyclists and prepares them better for what to expect overseas.”<\/p>\n
He felt the Takealot Tour of Good Hope would grow and attract international riders, which would have a positive spin-off for local cycling.<\/p>\n
Besides overseas competition, Bradley said several African nations had shown an interest in riding the tour “and there are some very good riders in those teams”.<\/p>\n
He added that a 2.2 classification was the starting point for any race wanting international status and that the UCI prescribed a minimum prize fund.<\/p>\n
“But an event such as the Tour of Good Hope already provides well above the prize-money required so it was really a matter of providing the necessary documentation to gain UCI status.”<\/p>\n
A 2.2 category, he said, accommodated club teams, regional teams, local professional outfits and Continental and Pro Continental teams.<\/p>\n
A unique element of the Tour of Good Hope is that it allows amateurs to compete in the same event as professionals, albeit in separate starting groups.<\/p>\n
Apart from the general classification for individuals, next year’s amateur race will have a strong focus on the overall team competition.<\/p>\n
More info at www.tourofgoodhope.co.za.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Takealot Tour of Good Hope’s elevation to UCI status for 2019 will ensure that one of South Africa’s premier road tours is a drawcard for local and international competitors. It is the first time that the five-day race, which takes place in the Cape Winelands from March 4 to 8, will have UCI points […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":58746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3260],"tags":[1743,3807,1919,3011],"class_list":["post-24538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-asg-events","tag-takealot","tag-tour-of-good-hope","tag-uci-status"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}