Top road cycling teams in Tour de Boland
2011-02-24
WHEN the naysayers predicted, a year or so ago, that cycling in South Africa was dead, they might have been completely wrong. Le Coq Sportif, the iconic European brand, blew life into the sport, by, respectively, launching, and relaunching, itself. The 2011 Tour de Boland (8-11 March) will use Paarl and the Drakenstein Municipality as their key base. The tour focuses most strongly on tourism and marketing of the Boland region. Several other important brands associated itself with the Tour de Boland. One key such player is Clover, who has, up until recently, never sponsored cycling on any significant level before. Others include the Drakenstein Municipality themselves, as in previous years. The Tour de Boland is now in its 5th year and significantly is the growth it is showing. Both national and international stars will be on the start line in Paarl on 8 March, to start the first of four days of intense Boland racing. Former winner Hanco Kachelhoffer (Team Bonitas), most recently the winner of the Fact One in Johannesburg, has confirmed his attendance, along with his entire Bonitas squad, which includes Malcolm Lange and Johann Rabie, the latter also a previous Boland winner, and the former, of course, a multiple South African Champion, and a most recent Argus Tour victor. Team MTN, lead by Arran Brown, will be attending the Boland in full force, in final preparation of their international campaigns later on in 2011. The 2011 edition of the Tour de Boland will see a strong contingent of assembled riders since it is now formally on the same level as the top one-day races in the country and comes at an opportune time on the calendar, a week after the Tour of South Africa and the week preceding the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour. As a national level tour it will host all the top club teams in South Africa, UCI Teams as well as teams from overseas. As a unique introduction in 2011, Tour de Boland will also include a second race that will cater for the top veteran and women riders in South Africa as well as a Junior category.
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