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Cape Town Cycle Tour takes place on Sunday

Bicycle riders
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The 109km Cape Town Cycle Tour takes place around the Cape Peninsula on Sunday with close to 35 000 cyclists participating. It all forms part of the Cape Town Cycle Tour Lifecycle Week which includes the Mountain Bike Challenge, as well as the Kiddies Cycle Week and the Expo.

There is something for all ages, shapes and sizes.

The Cape Town Mountain Bike Challenge was blessed with cloudy, overcast conditions with light drizzle. By having a 20km, 40km and 60km race, everyone was catered for. The race went around the Simonsberg Conservancy in the Stellenbosch, Paarl area, transcending through wine estates such as Muratie, Delheim, Warwick and Uitkyk.

Director of Cape Town Cycle Tour, David Bellairs, says the tour has been around for 17 years.

“We now 17 years on we still in the Simonsberg conservancy Stellenbosch, Paarl area and we have grown from 300 riders to 2200. It’s a wonderful family day lots of moms and dads with their children enjoying three different routes 20, 40 and 60 kms. The 60km a very hard ride; the 20km a beautiful ride through some of the most iconic wine farms we have in the Western Cape.”

The race included some of the world’s top mountain bikers with under 23 Cross Country World Champion, Alan Hatherly, winning the men’s section and Candice Lill winning the women’s race.

Bellairs says the race is basically the start of the Cape Town Tour Lifecycle Week.

“It was creating something we call the lifecycle week. It’s a week a festival of cycling. It kicked off this past weekend with the MTB event the Nonto the kids cycle tour and junior event in Green Point. We have 3500 kiddies on bicycles up to the age of 12 riding anything from 1.5km to 7kms that brings the youth into the event then we have the expo taking place at the Cape Town stadium that leads us to the main event. It’s like having an energy of cycling for a week here in Cape Town.”

Fun was had by all, from the competitive mountain biker, to the amateurs like me trying to finish unscathed.

Something to look forward to indeed will be on the road bike; it will be 109km with almost 35 000 other cyclists and some of the most spectacular views in the world.

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