THE 2022 Cape Town Cycle Tour returns to its customary calendar place next Sunday and both 2021 champions, Nolan Hofmann and Kim Le Court De Billot, will be looking for more glory.
Covid-19 restrictions forced the Cape Town Cycle Tour Trust to postpone the 2021 event to October but for the 44th edition, the race returns to its regular March 13 slot.
Hofmann’s love affair with the Cape Town Cycle Tour looks set to continue in 2022, as he brings with him five strong Aluwani team mates to guide him safely to the final kilometres. If they manage to bring back the track-sprint specialist after the predictable onslaughts up Suikerbossie, then there is little that stands in Hofmann’s way. He has won the event four times now, one shy of SA cycling great Willie Engelbrecht’s all-time record - but has also racked up two second-places and a third in just 14 starts.
Christiaan Janse van Rensburg will also be back, after finishing second last year and dominating his age 30-34 category at national champs in February, as will Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg, who won his second Elite national title in 2022.
Le Court De Billot returns as defending women’s champion, after triumphing in a reduced bunch sprint from the then national champ, and Hout Bay local, Hayley Preen.
Le Court de Billot also won the title in 2018, and will be joined by five-time champion Cherise Williet as the only previous winners in the Elite group.
Hayley Preen is back, and in form after a strong defence of her SA Champs title in February, where she narrowly lost out to Frances Janse van Rensburg, who is also racing. S’annara Grove and Kelsey van Schoor, who rounded out the top five in 2022 with Olympic mountain biker Candice Lill, are also back.
The men’s and women’s Elite races will be broadcast live on the Cape Town Cycle Tour Facebook page, from 6am for the women’s and 6:15am for the men’s, on Sunday.