Following the cancellation of the Cape Town Cycle Tour, ASG Events race director Darren Herbst is expecting many cyclists to fill the void at the Emperors Palace Classic cycle races in Johannesburg later this month.
With entries closing on April 10, a big entry is expected for the two-day festival, which will feature two mountain bike events on April 22 and two road races on April 23.
The Cape Town Cycle Tour was called off soon after the start due to heavy winds last month and Herbst feels many riders will use the Emperors to make up for that missed opportunity.
“Because of what happened in Cape Town last month, with the race being cancelled, we are finding that many riders who put in a lot of training for the event are now looking for an outlet,” he said.
Following the cancellation of the Cape Town Cycle Tour last month, a big entry is expected for the Emperors Palace Classic to be held in Kempton Park, Johannesburg, on April 22 and 23. Photo: Yolanda van der Stoep
Furthermore, Emperors is again rated as a premier seeding event for the Cape Town Cycle Tour, which is another incentive for riders to enter the 98km feature race at the Kempton Park casino resort.
With the Emperors Palace Classic celebrating its 10th anniversary, Herbst said they felt they had a winning formula.
“We are holding it as before as we feel the success of the previous events guides us in the way forward.”
He said they had however beefed up their marshalling and would be working closely with the Road Rangers and metro officials to ensure everything ran smoothly.
The Emperors Palace Classic starts off with 25km and 50km mountain bike events on the Saturday and culminates with 48km and 98km road races on the Sunday.
Herbst said there was a big emphasis on the mountain bike races which had proved popular.
“The entries for these events are limited because of the loop structure that we have in place and so the fields fill up pretty quickly.”
The event also caters for children aged three to five and six to eight with the Emperors Palace Kids Classic on the Sunday.
