В Виндхуке стартовал пятый по счету международный велогонка Tour de Windhoek

Namibia’s oldest international cycling event, the Pupkewitz Megabuild Tour de Windhoek, is back for the fifth successive year and will be held in and around Windhoek this weekend. The Tour de Windhoek was held for the first time in 1990 shortly after Namibia’s independence in 1990, but died down a few times and had to be revived again over the years. After several lapses, the event was revived in 2017 with Pupkewitz Holdings and Hollard Insurance as the main sponsors, while Pupkewitz Megabuild took over as the title sponsor in 2020. Since 2017 the tour was held each year except for 2021 due to Covid. However, last year it reached new heights when more than 60 cyclists from several southern African nations competed, while the women’s tour made history by becoming the first UCI-accredited tour in Namibia and only the second Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) women’s tour in Africa. This year the tour has been scaled down a bit with mostly Namibian cyclists competing, although cyclists from South Africa, Angola and Lesotho will also be in action. “This year we are not having a UCI-accredited race, it’s just the normal Tour de Windhoek, where we focus more on the Namibian riders,” Namibia Cycling Federation (NCF) president Tauko Shilongo says. “I think last year some of our local cyclists felt aggrieved that we were not concentrating enough on them, and everything was geared to the UCI race. We did send invitations out to international teams and a few will participate, but mostly its Namibian teams with Namibian riders this year,” he adds. In the Elite Men’s category, defending champion Drikus Coetzee will be back to defend his title while he aims to win it for a record fourth time. He will lead a strong Hollard Elite team which includes top upcoming Namibian riders like Christiaan van der Westhuizen, Jaques Hanekom and Theuns van der Westhuizen, as well as the experienced Ingram Cuff. Their main challenge in the team category is expected to come from the King Price Racing team, which includes top Namibian seniors Alex Miller and Martin Freyer; top Namibian juniors Marco Thiel and Mike Baartman; as well as upcoming South African rider Ernest Roets. The Hollard Ambassador team includes seasoned Namibian cyclists like Clinton Hilfiker, Andre Vermeulen and Theo Steenkamp, as well as upcoming junior Theodor Janse van Vuuren; while the Barloworld Cymot Pro team includes Namibian riders like Simon Keita, Petrus Hanga and Maruen Kleopas, as well as upcoming Lesotho riders Khotsofalang Rakaota and Kabelo Makatile; and Ethan Kulsen from South Africa. In the Elite Women’s competition, three teams will battle it out for honours. The Pirtek Hollard team includes top local rider Anri Greeff and the 2024 Tour de Windhoek winner Kelsey Jade van Schoor from South Africa; the Cymot Ladies team includes Namibia’s top junior rider Rosemarie Thiel, Nicola Sauber and Megan Brechet from Angola; while the Tshenolo women’s team includes Namibia’s Monique du Plessis and Michelle Doman, and Lize-Ann Louw from South Africa. The Tour de Windhoek started with an individual time trial yesterday, while it continues with the Dordabis Road Race over 85km this morning. The third stage – the Finkenstein Dordabis Loops – takes place tomorrow morning and will be followed by the Central Criterium at Pupkewitz Megabuild tomorrow afternoon. The fifth and final stage, the Airport Loops road race over 92km takes place on Sunday morning, and will coincide with the Tour de Windhoek Classic which is open for all riders. Shilongo thanks the sponsors, saying it was not possible to stage the event without their support. “Pupkewitz Megabuild have been the title sponsor for several years now and we are very thankful for their support. This year they put in more than N$600 000 in cash, while we’ve also got sponsorships in kind from Pupkewitz Motors and Agrimark. “Pupkewitz are stakeholder partners of the NCF, so they want to build and develop the sport, and without their support we cannot host events of this magnitude,” he says.