29 Jun 2021

The world’s biggest cycling race, Tour de France, is an opportunity for the country to realise and gain insights that cycling is more than just a sport, which can influence custom and tradition that can be used to market and brand the country, says Botswana Cycling Association (BCA) president Mmetla Masire.

Masire said in an interview recently that Botswana could also reap tangible economic benefits if the association worked on an event that could be a tradition which the country took pride in.

“Benefits of such magnitude of an event are far reaching and can contribute towards economic diversification, ranging from sport tourism to support industry,” he stated.

Tour de France started in France in the city of Brest on Saturday.

The 108th edition of the tour will see 184 riders from around the world embark on a three-week race through cities of France for this year’s title.  

Masire further indicated that Tour de France served as a motivation to local riders to aim higher as anything was possible.

He highlighted that the participation of Nicholas Dlamini, the first black South African to race the Tour de France under Team Qhubeka, should serve as a motivation to Botswana riders.

Dlamini has come through UCI’s World Cycling Centre Africa at Potchefstroom to cut his teeth on the development team after joining Team Qhubeka at the Italian base at Lucca
Masire applauded his inclusion and motivated local riders that ‘to reach these levels require a lot of training, hard work and dedication’.

He also said local competitive cycling could learn from Tour de France that teamwork was important in comparative events as opposed to individual glory.

He said if cyclists could take lessons from the race, they would have a positive impact and influence on the competitive and professional approach on the sport of cycling.

Team Swift Cycling Club coach and also UCI coach level 2 David Lebalelo also shared similar sentiments with Masire, emphasising that Botswana could learn from the race the culture of the sport tourism, race management as well as resources needed to make the race a success.

Lebalelo, whose club has hosted successful races locally, noted that team managers could learn few things such as management of a team from start to end of the race.

He appealed to local cyclists and managers to observe technique and strategies applied, and the race approach by teams as that could help develop and improve cycling locally.

He said sports events improved the image and opportunities available in the areas in which the cycling event or other sport activities were held.

With 21 stages in total, tour de France on its own is a sports tourism activity, a huge boost to the economy of cities hosting the race, therefore Lebalelo noted that a similar race in Botswana could boost and stimulate local economy through direct spending by sports tourists at host facilities like hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues with jobs created and tax revenue earned.

Tour de France 2021 started with the opening 194km stage one won by French rider Julian Alaphilippe on Saturday, whilst 184km stage two was won by Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel on Sunday. The tour continues. Ends