This is the longest route to date and will take riders over more hills than ever before. Another change this year is that the stage layout now includes the Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour as the final stage.

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The Giro starts in Durbanville, on Wednesday, 9/3/2005, and finishes some 620 km further on Sunday, 13/3/2005, in Green Point.

The 2005 race route is as follows:

Stage 1
9/3/2005: Durbanville-Durbanville (via 3 ascents of Vissershok)
170 km

Stage 2
10/3/2005: Paarl-Paarl (via Franschoek and Du Toit’s Kloof passes)
160 km

Stage 3a
11/3/2005: Wellington-Wellington (via Bain’s Kloof pass)
110 km

Stage 3b
11/3/2005: Bellville Velodrome Criterium
50 km

Stage 4
12/3/2005: Signal Hill Individual Time Trial
5,5km

Stage 5
13/3/2005: Cycle Tour (via Chapman’s Peak and Suikerbossie)
110 km

Cycle Tour Event Director, Anton Groenewald, predicts far greater demands being made on the riders this year: “This is the hardest tour to date. The time gaps between riders will be bigger than ever before.”

All of the stages, barring the Criterium and the Signal Hill hill-climb, time-trial stages, feature the Heinz King of the Mountains competition. This is a race within the race. Riders are required to race to the summits of demarcated mountaintops in their quest for this category leader’s polka-dot jersey.

The sprinters also have a race within the race in the Pickford's Points Competition. Points are awarded to the leading daily stage finishers and these are added to the points they accumulate in the several point sprints along the route.

Cycle apparel manufacturers, Velotex, are the proud sponsors of the new Velotex Most Aggressive Rider Competition. The members of the media will be invited to adjudicate this competition on behalf of the organisers, nominating the rider they think should be wearing the new white jersey.

The joint title sponsors, Cape Argus, are again the sponsors of the Team Prize in this year’s race.

Of the nine international and 15 local teams that have entered, three of the international teams, Action, Team Wiesenhof and Team Lamonta, have taken part in the event before. All of the top local teams have entered, spearheaded by the top local professional outfit, Microsoft, and Barloworld, the South African-backed multinational team that is now based in Great Britain.

For more info, visit the Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Giro del Capo’s website: www.girodelcapo.co.za.
 

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