06 Jul 2021

As this year’s Tour de France, which is among the most grueling sporting events in the world, gets onto the second week of a total three, local cycling coaches and commentators shared insights and lessons to be learnt by the local cycling fraternity.

The competition, which started on June 26, saw 184 riders at the starting line.

The first week of the cycling event provided valuable experiences and insight for cycling in Botswana, according to local commentators.

“Tour de France and cycling in general has in recent times had young riders coming to the fore and winning races, which shows the importance of investing in young talent and developing it,” says, Dr Khumo Mapitse.

He said this year’s Tour de France has, without a doubt been very interesting and unusually ferocious with ‘young riders throwing the rule book out of the window and riding with instinct’.

However, the tour has been marred by crashes, robbing cycling enthusiasts of a big contest in the coming weeks, as big names list out early.

Dr Mapitse noted that local riders needed to realise that it was vital to apply strategies and tactics for their benefit, when the opportunity availed itself in a race, “as we saw on the time trials and mountain stages for Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van de Poel going all out on stages that suit them.”

He said every race was about using strengths and crushing rivals to realise individual and team goal.

Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Coach Level 2, David Lebalelo said watching Tour de France, one could not ignore the fact that preparation, which included mental alertness, teamwork, weather, contingency among other things, was key.

Lebalelo said it took a lot of intense training and preparation for one to perform well in a race of this magnitude.

The race has with 21 stages which include hills, mountains and flats as well as time trials, and only two days’ rest.

He further said although local riders were not used to riding in wet weather conditions, some of the lessons they could take away from Tour de France was the ability to ride in harsh rainy, wet weather conditions.

Furthermore, Lebalelo noted that the tour was points based, which underscored the importance of points accumulation in cycling races.

“Points accumulation is not only important for a rider or a team, but for a country as it helps in calculation of qualification for UCI accredited races and also for one to qualify for Continental and World Tour licenses,” he said.

He therefore called on all race organisers to put more effort in ensuring that Botswana had more well organised races that could eventually be UCI accredited.

He said the Botswana Cycling Association (BCA) should be in close contact with race organisers to realise that.  Furthermore, Lebalelo said for local cycling to reach competitive stage, there was need for proper structures and forum for cyclists, technical teams as well as coaches, which would safeguard riders’ interests.

Furthermore, cyclists needed to associate for their voice to be heard in negotiations and dialogue with other key players of world cycling like UCI, Africa Cycling Confederation (CAC), teams and race organisers.

He said this would enhance competitiveness of cycling in the country.

Kagiso Potongwane, UCI Coach Level 1, was also of the view that BCA should consider putting in place some form of point system to govern local competitions and also to award consistency.

With the point system in place, Potongwane noted that clubs or teams, race organisers and sponsors would be compelled to structure their races, classification and prizes on point system.

“Our race structure, particularly the National Championships, have remained the same for the longest time, and it would be nice for a race to be based on points throughout the season, instead of having one overall winner based on results of one day,” said Potongwane.

He emphasised the need for the local cycling fraternity to be dynamic in order to achieve professionalism. ENDS