Minister Marais encourages young riders to participate in Cape Roleur Prologue

HotChillee is once again inviting young riders from across the Western Cape to compete at the Cape Rouleur Young Rider Prologue, which takes place in Franschhoek on 1 March 2020. This is the fourth year of the initiative where riders stand a chance to join their Development Rider Programme and take part in HotChillee events in South Africa and Europe in 2020/2021.

There are up to 100 places for riders aged between 12 - 23 years to take part, with HotChillee selecting 8 participants from the U17, U19 and U23 age categories to join this year’s Programme. These riders will have the opportunity to take part in HotChillee events in 2020 and 2021 thanks to support from the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport and The Buffalo Foundation. Previous members of the programme include World Tour riders Nicholas Dlamini, who has been nurtured into a World Tour Pro Team, NTT Pro Cycling and is now a beacon of hope to the young riders at grassroots level.

Minister Anroux Marais said, “The Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport commends HotChillee on using cycling and education as tools to improve the lives of youth people living in vulnerable communities. We are exceptionally pleased to support our local riders participating in the HotChillee Cape Rouleur Young Rider Prologue in 2020 and I look forward to personally congratulating the winners and monitoring their progress throughout the programme. Through our established partnership with HotChillee and The Buffalo Foundation, we look forward to further increasing support for the development of cycling in creating an enabling environment to increase mass participation, talent identification and skills development in the province.”

Ninety riders from across the Western Cape participated in 2019, with 10 selected to be a part of the HotChillee Development Rider Programme. Eight riders from the programme have been invited to join the HotChillee Development Team for the Cape Rouleur 2020 with the chance to be selected to race in Europe as part of the LONDON-PARIS this July.

The programme is supported by The Buffalo Foundation, PPA, Cycling South Africa, the Western Cape Government and run in partnership with Velokhaya Life Cycling Academy.

Jan Joubert, Founder of The Buffalo Foundation said,  “We’re proud to be supporting this initiative by HotChillee. The work that The Buffalo Foundation does with local academies means we see first-hand the positive impact that cycling has on young people"

The Cape Rouleur Young Rider Prologue will take place on Sunday 1 March 2020 from The Protea Hotel, Franschhoek: 33 Huguenot Street, Franschhoek, 7690.

The programme will be as follows:

12:00 -14:00: Sign On

14:00: Young Rider welcome and Q&A

14:30-14:45: Riders escorted to start in UCI Age Categories

14:45: Young Rider Prologue

16:45: Young Rider Results

All riders under 18 will need to be registered by a parent or guardian. Places are available on a first come first served basis. Please note that this invitation is only to ride the Prologue, not the whole Cape Rouleur.

The deadline for registration is Friday 21 February 2020 – Click here to enter.

The HotChillee Cape Rouleur 2020 is a 5-day cycling tour of the Western Cape, South Africa, starting in host town Franschhoek in the Cape Winelands before riding with rolling road closures to the Cape Town Waterfront. Stages range between 100 – 150km per day with riders finishing by mid-afternoon, leaving plenty of time for recovery sessions by the pool and fine dining at leisure in the evening.

Riders join one of three fully supported speed groups and ride through some of the most beautiful scenery in South Africa with rolling road closures, motorbike outriders, lead cars, HotChillee Ride Captains, mechanical and medical support.

For more information contact:

Xylon van Eyck

xylon@believagency.com

About HotChillee: HotChillee specializes in cycling events around the world. Their global event series is made up of multi-day endurance events, with the best known being the internationally acclaimed LONDON-PARIS road event, now in its 17^th year. 

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