ProTouch Cycling has had nothing short of a phenomenal 2018 cycling season, but their plans for next year promise to possibly go one-up on what they achieved this year.
The year that’s passed has seen ProTouch take part in Africa’s most prestigious cycle race, the Tour du Rwanda, as well as 20 one-day classic races and six multi-stage tours in the Support SA Talent Road Cycling Series. Several ProTouch riders have found themselves at the forefront of the road cycling series, with a few taking top spot and even more within the Top 5 in the series rankings.
They aim to go even bigger next year, according to the team’s Directeur Sportif, Tony Harding. “ProTouch has had a phenomenal 2018 but our next goal is even bigger; to get South Africa back to the number one cycling nation in Africa,” he said.
With South Africa currently ranked fourth in Africa in the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Cycling Nations Rankings, behind Eritrea, Algeria, and Rwanda, Tony admitted that there’s a lot of work to be done to get South Africa back to top spot. “We kicked off this campaign in August, when we dipped our toes in the water in Rwanda, at Africa’s toughest tour,” Tony said.
ProTouch plans to continue participating in the local South African racing calendar, as well as the UCI Africa and Asia Tours in the 2019 season. The team has already secured invitations to five UCI Africa Tours (including the Tour du Rwanda) providing the opportunity for South African athletes to earn UCI points and contributing to the improvement of our ranking as a nation.
For South Africa, going continental means:
• More SA riders able (by invitation) to compete in UCI events and tours, resulting in more opportunity to earn UCI points
• More UCI points for SA athletes increases SA’s national UCI ranking in Africa
• More UCI national points increases the number of ‘invitations’ to SA for events such as World Championships, Olympics and Commonwealth Games.
ProTouch’s continental team will consist of the following riders:
• Pieter Seyffert (Captain)
• Reynard Butler
• James Fourie
• Jaydé Julius
• Myles van Musschenbroek
• Mitch Eliot
• Songezo Jim
• Rohan du Plooy
• Mornay van Heerden
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