Tuesday, 01 March 2011 09:43
Tour De Boland will see top local riders compete for line honours
The Boland region has always been synonymous with cycling. Over 100 years ago, Paarl was one of the country's few cycling hotspots, where people of all creed, race and denomination participated in organised cycling.
The Le Coq Sportif Tour De Boland which takes place next week in the Paarl area from 8-11 March promises to be the showdown between all the top riders and teams in South Africa.
This four day tour will consist of a clover leaf route that will start and finish everyday in the main street of the Paarl. The route will cover all the major climbs and passes in the area such as Bainskloof, Du Toits Kloof Pass and the Franschhoek Pass.
The star studded field will include Darren Lill, the current SA champion as well as last years TDB winner, Hanco Kachelhoffer.
Bonitas team member, Johan Rabie who won the TDB before and finished second on the Tour of South Africa behind Kristian House from the UK will also be lining up in the streets of Paarl next week.
The Specialized Songo team which includes Burry Stander and Christopher Sauser will be a force to be reckoned with.
The UCI continental team under the guidance of JP Van Zyl that gave the international riders strong competition at the Tour of South Africa have also confirmed their entry for the Tour De Boland.
There will be two categories in the race. Category two makes provision for the women's division, top veterans and the junior riders in the country. All the top women’s teams have confirmed their entry into the race and it will be interesting to see who will wear the Clover leaders jersey at the end of the Le Coq Sportif Tour De Boland.
The junior riders will contest for the ASG leader’s jersey.
STAGE 1 - 146KM
Tuesday 08 March 2011 - PAARL-WELLINGTON-BAINSKLOOF-WOLSELEY-HERMON ROAD-WELLINGTON-PAARL
A travel past Nederburg to Wellington, from Paarl, then over Bains Kloof towards Wolseley and Tulbagh - back to Paarl along the R44 all the way back to Main Street, over a distance of 146km.
STAGE 2 - 145KM
Wednesday 09 March 2011 - PAARL - DU TOITSKLOOF - WORCESTER - BAINSKLOOF - WELLINGTON - PAARL
Stage two goes over Du Toits Kloof Pass to Worcester that's 14km of climbing - and then over Bains Kloof back to Paarl.
STAGE 3 - 167KM
Thursday 10 March 2011 - PAARL-FRANSCHOEK-FRANSCHOEK PASS-WORCESTER-VILLIERSDORP-WORCESTER
We travel to Franschhoek, over their 7km Pass, and then on to Worcester, over the somewhat longer Du Toits Kloof, and finish back in Paarl after 140km.
STAGE 4 - 64KM
Friday 11 March 2011 - PAARL CRITERIUM CIRCUIT FOR BOTH CATEGORIES
We remain in Paarl for a very hilly route, over a distance of around 60km for both categories....we're throwing in a bit of dirt, for good measure, but just for the Cat 1 guys, to remind us of Le Coq's other favorite event, the Eroica.
Add comment
Comments
RSS feed for comments to this post