Following a date change from February to April 13 and 14, the Emperors Palace Classic, presented by ASG, is set for a big stop-over on South Africa\u2019s autumn road racing calendar.<\/p>\n
According to event director Wynand de Villiers the weekend festival of cycling, which takes place in and around the Johannesburg casino resort, was moved to keep riders on their bicycles a little longer before the winter cold set in.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe event was shifted to April to extend the racing available in autumn. Most guys will have done the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour and this gives them something else to train for while they still have that residual fitness.\u201d<\/p>\n
With three big races in February alone, including the Dis-Chem Ride for Sight and Macsteel Carnival City Classic, De Villiers said the provincial calendar had simply become too crowded.<\/p>\n
Participants in this year\u2019s Emperors Palace Classic, presented by ASG, will line up a little later in the season following a date change from February to April 13 and 14. <\/span><\/span>Photo: Wayne Hayward<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n According to event director Wynand de Villiers the weekend festival of cycling, which takes place in and around the Johannesburg casino resort, was moved to keep riders on their bicycles a little longer before the winter cold set in.<\/p>\n \u201cThe event was shifted to April to extend the racing available in autumn. Most guys will have done the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour and this gives them something else to train for while they still have that residual fitness.\u201d<\/p>\n With three big races in February alone, including the Dis-Chem Ride for Sight and Macsteel Carnival City Classic, De Villiers said the provincial calendar had simply become too crowded.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was virtually impossible to race all three, even if you wanted to. We felt we needed to move this race for it to stand alone and allow more riders the chance to take part.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the change has already had a positive effect on the flow of entries, with some 6 000 participants anticipated across the mountain bike events on the Saturday and the road and kiddies\u2019 races on the Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve fine-tuned the event over the last six years, so it offers something for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n As in previous years, De Villiers said he expected the top professional teams to turn out for the 97km road race.<\/p>\n \u201cThe route is relatively unchanged and will be fast, flat and exciting. For the social riders, it\u2019s ideal for getting the legs moving after Argus.\u201d<\/p>\n With defending champion Reinardt Janse van Rensburg currently racing in Europe for Dutch team Argos-Shimano, the way is clear for a new winner.<\/p>\n De Villiers said the course, which features a single climb just before the halfway mark, would once again favour a sprinter. \u201cSomeone like Herman Fouch\u00e9 of Bonitas, who recently won the Argus, would be a big favourite.\u201d<\/p>\n In keeping with tradition, he said the road race would be followed by an invitation-only kermesse featuring the top professionals.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Circuit Spectacular around the central fountain is always a highlight for spectators.<\/p>\n \u201cThe kermesse has largely been abandoned by the other Classics and ours is possibly the only one remaining countrywide.\u201d<\/p>\n On the mountain biking side riders had 20km and 40km options, said De Villiers. He said about 90% of the routes traversed the grounds of OR Tambo International Airport.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been granted special access and participants will be riding just 50 metres from the runways at some points. They\u2019ll be able to feel the thrust and power of the jet engines as they\u2019re about to take off.\u201d<\/p>\n De Villiers said the kiddies\u2019 races, for ages two to four and five to eight respectively, had also become immensely popular. \u201cEmperors Palace is an amazing, one-stop venue, so there\u2019s plenty to keep the whole family entertained for the entire weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n Enter online at www.cyclelab.com before April 2.<\/p>\n For more information, contact ASG Events on 076 621 1807 or e-mail eventsupport@asgworld.co.za.<\/p>\n For updates, go to Facebook or @emperorsclassic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Following a date change from February to April 13 and 14, the Emperors Palace Classic, presented by ASG, is set for a big stop-over on South Africa\u2019s autumn road racing calendar. According to event director Wynand de Villiers the weekend festival of cycling, which takes place in and around the Johannesburg casino resort, was moved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-21964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21964"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=21964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}