Western Cape's "Cycling Ambassador" Starts London-Paris Race

The Western Cape’s youngest "cycling ambassador", Nicholas Dlamini, today, 20 June made his debut on the international cycling circuit.

Nicholas starts cycling in the London-Paris race today, becoming the youngest person to compete in the race.

This year marks the tenth edition of the event and 450 riders are participating in the multi-staged race.

The 17-year old cyclist, who is co-sponsored by the Western Cape Government, will be cycling along sporting greats such as Tour de France winner, Stephen Roche and Formula One champion, Nigel Mansell.

Speaking from London ahead of the race, Nicholas had a positive outlook on his performance along the demanding 520km route.

"I feel very privileged to be here and meeting all these incredible people. It’s great to hang out with World Champions and Tour de France winners, as well as all the other great people on the event. I'm looking forward to giving it my all over the next few days and will be going for the Yellow Jersey. There’s some tough competition, but we’ll see," said Nicholas.

Alan Winde, Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, said the province was rooting for Nicholas.

"He's cycling with sporting heroes like Roche, who is one of only two cyclists in the world to win the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia. To see a young cyclist, in his Cape Town t-shirt, on that platform is really great."

Minister Winde has named Nicholas as a "cycling ambassador", adding that the young sportsman was playing a big role in the campaign to attract 100 000 cycling tourists to the Western Cape each year within ten years.