Massive field gears up for Tour Durban
Durban – With superb weather forecast for the aQuellé Tour Durban presented by Sunday Tribune, thousands of social road riders will share the freeways around Durban on Sunday morning with the cream of the elite road racing crop for the 22nd edition of the popular Durban classic.
The race for the 2015 titles in the 105km classic, that takes the peloton from the start at the Moses Mabhida stadium south before climbing through Queenburgh to Pinetown, down to the Umgeni Interchange before a fast out-and-back loop to Ballito, is expected to be very fast-paced and contested by a strong field which has gathered in the region for a week of UCI races following the Tour Durban.
Team Abantu will be looking to extend their stranglehold on the event to six consecutive years after wins by Dean Edwards (2010), Nolan Hoffman (2011-2013) and Reynard Butler last year, but they will find themselves under more pressure than they have ever been under before from the class field confirmed for the seeded elite batch.
Fronting that challenge will be the MTB Qhubeka feeder team under the generalship of JP van Zyl, who masterminded a victory in the recent 94.7 Cycle Challenge and brings to the race three top Eritrean riders and three classy local Under 23 stars.
Team Bonitas, with the consistent title threat of Herman Fouché just missed the podium last year with Luthando Kaka fourth in the frenetic end-sprint.
“I’d really like to win this year and finally get that monkey off my back,” said Fouché. “As a team we want to break the hold that Team Abantu has created over the event in the last number of years ”
Butler’s win last year was a tactical masterstroke by Dean Edwards, the Team Abantu manager, as the elite peloton was largely guilty of star-gazing and shadowing Nolan Hoffman, allowing Abantu to stage a break that set up Butler perfectly in the lead out.
Edwards will find it difficult to get away with another trump-card move like that this year given the size and strength of the elite field, and the rivalry with van Zyl holding the reigns of the MTN Qhubeka team.
Add to this mix Westvaal and a number of top class teams eager for a solid ride ahead of the Cycling South Africa Autumn Series that starts with Mondays Freedom Day Challenge, and the cut-and-thrust of opportunistic breakaways and the efforts by the favourites to bring those back should be riveting.
The women’s title race promises to be just as compelling as the winners of the last two years do battle for the 2015 laurels.
Time Freight eTeam star Lise Olivier is eager to add another trophy to the cabinet of the Pietermaritzburg based team, but she will have to deal with a resurgent Lynette Burger Pieterse, who is back to her best form after the birth of her son.
The snowballing popularity of the unique cyclocross event, which includes 10km of off-road mountain biking in the middle of the M4 freeway leg to Ballito and back, is reflected in another big field of MTB enthusiasts.
While perennial title contenders Andrew Hill and Rourke Croeser are absent this year, the field took on a totally new complexion withy the inclusion in the field of world class MTB stars Darren Lill and Waylon Woolcock, who grabbed a superb seventh in the recent 2015 edition of the ABSA Cape Epic.
The biggest field however will be reserved for the 45km Fun Ride, on the loop up the newly resurfaced M4 freeway to Ballito and back to the race base at the Moses Mabhida stadium. This has become recognised as a superb section for social riders to enjoy on the security of the total road closures.
The Domino Foundation, which has been the main beneficiary of the aQuellé Tour Durban in recent years, has been working long hours to assist those affected by the wave of xenophobia that shook KwaZulu-Natal earlier this month, serving 3000 hot meals a day to refugees in camps set up at various locations in Durban.
They have appealed to riders to support this initiative by buying a special wristband for R25 to wear on their ride. A limited number of these will be available for purchase at the race registration on Friday and Saturday between 10 am and 5pm at Suncoast Casino and Entertainment World.
The race is also supporting the efforts of the distinctive herd of The Cows who will be riding the race in their eye-catching cow suits to raise funds for the CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation, which has targeted R217 000 to refurbish the Children’s Oncology Ward at Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg.
The Cows will add their colourful presence to the 45km Fun Ride, aiming to recruit more members to their charity drive that has already raised over R21 million for CHOC from a wide variety of sporting events.
“Durban encompasses all the ingredients to be a leading Sports City on the African continent,” said eThekwini Mayor, Cllr James Nxumalo.
“The City has gone through great strides to ensure that cycling is encouraged with our residents and visitors. The dedicated cycle lanes that you will see around the city is to ensure that locals & tourists use non-motorised means of transport to reduce carbon emissions.
“The phenomenon is growing and events like the aQuellé Tour Durban help towards profiling the destination as a cyclists paradise and encourage more social cyclists as well in our city,” added Nxumalo, who rode the 45km Fun Ride himself in 2013.
“The overall support given to us from so many local businesses and individuals is actually quite humbling from items being donated for the goodie bags to volunteers and organisations being ready to assist at registration and water tables,” said Mike Lewis of the Club Cappuccino that owns and runs the event.
“It seems that the formula we stumbled upon of diverting all profits to deserving charities has intrigued many cyclists and so the next challenge is managing the Expo and registration happening on Friday & Saturday where all those last minute athletes can still enter and make a difference to the lives of many less fortunate people,” added Lewis.
Late entries for the race will be taken at the race registration at Suncoast Casino and Entertainment World on Friday and Saturday between 10am and 5 pm.
Road closures and times for the 1015 aQuellé Tour Durban
Masabalala Yengwa (NMR): 05h30 -14h30
Margaret Mncadi Ave: 05h30-08h00
M4 South: 05h30-08h30
M7 Edwin Swales & M19 to Pinetown:
06h00-09h30
M19 Pinetown to Umgeni Road:
06h15-10h00
Inanda Road (Springfield Park):
06h30-10h15
Riverside Road: 06h30-10h30
M4 North & South bound from Argyle Road to
Desainager Circle: 06h30-14h00
More information can be found…