Gravel racing is growing but it’s nowhere near as popular as mountain biking in South Africa. However, when I saw the recent media and social media posts of the Garden Route Giro, a new six-day gravel stage race, it changed my perception of Gravel racing in South Africa. Here’s why.
By Sean Badenhorst | Images from the Garden Route Giro route recce
I’m not sure exactly why, but internationally, Gravel racing falls under the UCI’s Road segment, whereas in South Africa, Gravel falls under Cycling South Africa’s MTB division. As a result, Gravel racing has fallen into the disciplines we cover at TREAD Media. And that’s actually quite cool. I love all kinds of bicycle racing and I feel that Gravel has helped begin to fill a gap left by what was once a booming road racing scene in the country.
In the USA, where Gravel racing as we know it today evolved, there’s currently a struggle for the Gravel purists to accept that with growth comes structure. Gravel racing grew in the USA initially because it was unstructured, highly accessible and somewhere that cycling misfits, retired cycling pros, young upstarts and anyone else really could feel part of a cool ‘movement’. A counter bicycle racing sub-culture of sorts. It obviously introduced a few rules, but operated mostly on the unwritten principles known broadly as ‘The Spirit of Gravel.’
Although Gravel purists may disagree, once Gravel racing gained official UCI discipline status and an annual World Championship, it achieved an important high point. With structure comes rules and regulations. With UCI status comes more mainstream awareness and, eventually sponsorship. And that leads to improved structure and credibility.
I needed the above detour to get to the impact the Garden Route Giro will make here. South Africans generally don’t know of or care much about ‘The Spirit of Gravel’. Some may, but it will be a minority. South Africans have spent the past two decades living in a structured mountain bike racing culture. Not only living in it, depending on it. Because for many, to do a safe ride over a long distance in a fairly dangerous country, they must enter a race. The fact that we generally have the highest quality mountain bike races in the world also makes entering them attractive and worthwhile.
Since the Covid period, which crushed cycling events, many mountain bike trails parks have been established, giving a safe-riding option without having to enter a race. But usually over shortish distances and mostly close to urban areas – convenient and appreciated, but without the excitement and stature of a stage race or major one-day race. Once events regained the government’s permission to resume, that impressive racing culture returned. Not quite with the same force, thanks to a combination of factors, including a generational shift, political instability and an ailing economy.
Understandably, there’s been a fair bit of interest in Nedbank Gravel Burn, a new seven-day Gravel stage race that will take place in South Africa in late October this year. With the race’s allocated slots filled months in advance, there’s been little need to market the event, so for many South Africans, the awareness and interest has peaked – for now.
With Cape Epic founder, Kevin Vermaak, at the helm and a string of large sponsors already committed, there’s no doubt that Gravel Burn will be a success. But while Gravel Burn is marketed as a race, its route heads through the Eastern Cape wilderness on largely unknown roads, away from towns and cities where daily race villages are an essential component. It’s part race, part adventure.
Where Garden Route Giro differs is that it’s primarily a tour of the Garden Route and Klein Karoo. From established coastal towns to quaint Karoo villages, Garden Route Giro is organised by the experienced Dryland Events Management team, who are based in that region. A stage event that’s less adventure, more race. Looking at the route, there are familiar names of towns and routes and passes that I know and respect.
By launching Garden Route Giro, Dryland Event Management, which organises seven successful, high-profile mountain bike or gravel races each year, three of those with a UCI grading, is giving Gravel racing as a South African discipline an important boost.
When I think back to the South African cycling scene in the early 2000s, road cycling was significantly larger than mountain biking. A combination of a good quality one-day races by Advendurance from 2003, the launch of the Cape Epic in 2004 and sani2c in 2005, became the foundations that helped build mountain biking into an amazing, attractive and classy mass participation sport.
I don’t know if Gravel racing will mimic that success in terms of volume, but with the addition of Garden Route Giro, we now have a similar recipe in place – purely for Gravel racing. I don’t really know of anyone in this country that’s a Gravel racer. I know many who enter Gravel races, but they are also mountain bikers or roadies, or even triathletes. It’s very much a hybrid racing segment and still finding its place as a stand-alone cycling discipline. And is now more likely to do so with a calendar of pure Gravel races and Gravel stage races.
Entries for Garden Route Giro will open on Tuesday, 17 June 2025. The race itself will be held from 13-18 April 2026. So far, I know that it’s a drop-bar bike race and that it’s a solo-entry event, but I don’t know much else about the format yet.
What I can see from the route is that it will be incredibly scenic. And I know from experience that if it’s organised by Dryland Event Management, it will be very well organised. The whole Dryland team is committed and professional, but I’m always so impressed by how the three owners of the company, Henco, Carel and Bernard have an incredibly hands-on role in every event they organise and treat every entrant like a VIP.
Am I going to do the first edition of the Garden Route Giro? Well, I haven’t exactly found my groove with Gravel racing yet, but I have got some plans to do a few Gravel races this year (once I’m recovered from some broken bones). If I can find my Gravel groove, then lining up on a Gravel bike in Mossel Bay on 13 April next year may be a possibility.
For more information about the Garden Route Giro, click here.
