Cape Town may be on the edge of the planet as far as the rest of South Africa is concerned, but this is ridiculous — 35Â 000 cyclists will make their way around the fairest Cape this Sunday in the Cape Argus/Pick ‘n Pay Cycle Tour and the event is largely being ignored by pay-TV broadcaster Supersport.
The majority of the participants taking part in the world’s biggest timed cycle race are from out of town, yet the broadcaster is devoting a paltry one-hour package to the race, one week after the event, which will no doubt feature (as it has in previous years) the channel’s in-house comedians Darren Scott and Neil Andrews conducting interviews with large-breasted women and toilet-goers.
All this while the Comrades Marathon, with only about 12Â 000 to 15Â 000 entrants, attracts a world record of 11 hours of live TV footage plus reams of print-media coverage.
While the country’s armchair sports fans will be sitting in front of blank TV screens on Sunday, Capetonians and those lucky enough to be in the Mother City for the weekend will witness one of the finest displays of professional cycling yet seen on the continent.
Robbie Hunter, the first South African to enter and finish the Tour de France, has at last woken sponsors to the talent that lies within our borders. Money is flowing into the sport and not only for local races. Both HSBC and Barloworld have committed funds to overseas tours and because of this their teams start as joint-favourites alongside Malcolm Lange’s small Microsoft team.
There is no doubt that Lange is the country’s finest one-day winner — his record speaks for itself — but a string of changes in his life over the past four months has meant that he has opted out of the five-day Giro del Capo tour and will focus on Sunday’s race alone.
‘I had a little boy in December, then my father died three weeks ago. It has been a tough time for me and I have not been able to focus on cycling as much as I should have, but I will be there at the end. If you look at the Barloworld team’s R17-million budget, you can see why they are doing well at the moment. We will have our time cut out to contain Barloworld — I just hope that the finish is secure because it is going to be one hell of a sprint,†the outspoken winner of 328 races said.
After Lange, look no further than Giro del Capo defending champion David George. An out-and-out track star-turned-sprinter, he has the legs to pull off another win and proved this by winning the five-day tour on the first day, finishing alongside teammate Tiaan Kannemeyer a good three minutes ahead of Czech Lubor Tesar in third. This lead will make it extremely difficult for any team to chase down, considering the strength of the defending team.
Proving what status the Cape Argus/Pick ‘n Pay tour has achieved internationally, five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain has been drawn into the race, along with a select band of 150 cyclists, to raise awareness and funds for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and its 23 charitable projects around the world.
The sponsors have turned a brilliant publicity opportunity into a non-event by not even managing to secure time for a cup of coffee with the legend. Never mind the fact that the 39-year-old Spaniard will be joined on his whistle-stop tour by Argentinian Puma rugby legend Hugo Porta.
As sexist as it may be, the women play second fiddle in this race. Starting a batch down, they are often relegated to finish among the cyclists in the junior and senior categories. The resurgence in the sport has meant that there are now two fully-fledged professional teams, Liberty and Proline.
Among the possible female winners, only a handful stick out — defending Argus champion and newly-crowned South African champion Anriette Schoeman (Proline), who has the support services of 94.7 Highveld Stereo winner Elsa Carstens at her call.
Liberty’s Ronel van Wyk, who finished behind her arch rival in both last year’s race and the South African championships, is eager to change her string of seconds to a glorious first place. She will be backed up by teammates Yolande du Toit and Annette Loubsher.