Brad Morgan
29 January 2008
Pietermaritzburg, the capital of Kwazulu-Natal, is sometimes referred to as "Sleepy Hollow", but for cycling enthusiasts it's a happening destination which, over the course of the next four years, is set to host major road cycling, mountain biking and BMX events that will draw some of the sport's best from around the world.
The city will host the UCI Mountain Bike Triple World Cup from 2009 to 2011 and the UCI BMX World Championships in 2010, but coming up early in 2008 is a new addition to the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) continental calendar, the World's View Challenge.
Taking place from 2 to 7 February, the event will feature five one-day races, all of which will start and finish in Pietermaritzburg.
Pro Tour entrants
Among the big teams competing will be South African-sponsored Team Barloworld and Pro Tour outfits Team Milram and Team Liquigas.
Barloworld currently competes as a UCI Professional Continental team, which is one level below the elite Pro Tour. However, after being invited to compete in the 2007 Tour de France, it showed it has a talented and competitive line-up with Maurico Soler capturing the polka dot jersey and Robbie Hunter finishing second in the green jersey competition.
Both Soler and Hunter scored stage victories as the red and white of Barloworld became a regular feature at the conclusion of each day's racing. Having exceeded even their own expectations, Barloworld will, no doubt, want to make even bigger waves in 2008 and 10 new signings have signalled their intention to do just that.
Fine pedigree
Team Liquigas brings a fine pedigree to the race. They finished second in the 2007 Pro Tour standings, and would have had the individual winner of the Pro Tour standings had Danilo Di Luca not been handed a controversial three-month ban and stripped of his points near the end of the season.
He fell foul of the authorities because he was linked to Carlo Santuccione, a doctor accused of supplying doping products to athletes. Di Luca says he wasn't banned for doping and claims Santuccione is his family doctor.
He has promised to challenge the ban, handed down by the Italian Olympic Committee, at the Court for Arbitration for Sport.
Excellent results
Every good cyclist needs a strong support team, however, and Liquigas' excellent results in 2007 should be viewed in that context, whether the Italian scored an individual victory or not. Such results are all but impossible to achieve alone.
In big races during 2007, Di Luca won the Giro d'Italia and the Liège - Bastogne - Liège, while Francesco Chicchi took second in the Paris - Tours Classic and Di Luca finished third in the Grand Prix de Plouay. Filippo Pozatto claimed a win on stage five of the Tour de France, too.
Liquigas also finished first in the Paris – Tours as a team, second in the Giro d'Italia, third in the Milan - San Remo, and third in the San Sebastian Classic.
Milram highlights
The individual highlight of Team Milram's year was provided by sprint star Alessandro Petacchi, who won Paris - Tours. As a team, they topped the standings in the Milan - San Remo and finished third in the Eindhoven Team Time Trial.
With Petacchi and Erik Zabel on its books, Milram boasts two of the biggest sprint stars in the sport; Petacchi has 108 career victories to his name, while Zabel, six times the winner of the Tour de France's green jersey, has a staggering 192.
Spearheaded by their sprinters, Milram recorded more than 30 victories in 2007.
Enticing offering
As exciting as it is to have two Pro Tour teams commit themselves to the Intaka Tech World's View Challenge, for South African cycling fans the chance to see Team Barloworld in action against world class
opposition on home soil is an enticing offering.
They'll be hoping to see more victories from, among others, Robbie Hunter whose win in the Tour de France was the first victory in the race by a South African.
With the event taking place during the European winter season, it provides teams with a great opportunity to get in some good training leading up to the start of the Pro Tour circuit, which gets under way in March.
The total distance of the Intakatech World's View Challenge will be 588.5 kilometres, with each day's racing offering a different challenge.
Stage breakdowns
The first day will see the riders taking on a course of 111.6 kilometres from Pietermaritzburg, through Richmond, Camperdown, and back to PMB. As it will do on each day, the race will start and finish at Alexander Park, near the centre of the city.
On day two, they'll cover 127.4 kilometres, from the KZN capital, up the hills and out of the city to Thornhill, down Pollyshorts – made famous by the Comrades Marathon - and back to Pietermaritzburg.
Day three is from PMB to New Hanover, Wartburg, and back to the city, over a distance of 108 kilometres.
After a rest day on 5 February, the cyclists face a 133.5 kilometre race, starting in Pietermaritzburg, heading out through Camperdown, Thornville, Richmond, Camperdown again, back to Thornville, and into PMB.
The final race, on 7 February, is 108 kilometres in length and heads inland via Edendale to Taylors Holt, Cedara, and back to Pietermaritzburg.
Prize money
Prize money totals R650 000, divided between the five races, with points on the UCI's Africa Tour up for grabs.
Alex Lenferna, director of the Treble Group, who are organising the event, detailed the make-up of the field and the format of the races: "Each of the races will see a professional race leading off the front of the field with a limited field of recreational riders also competing," he explained.
"The professional racing field will see a total of 15 international teams competing, with four of these teams being UCI ProTour teams, and the rest of the field being made up of UCI Continental Teams or National Teams."
The Intakatech World's View Challenge is the first event of its kind in Africa because it allows for elite international cyclists and accomplished recreational South African cyclists to compete. In addition, professional women's teams will be in action on two of the days.
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