The Routes
Roads worth crossing the world for
RouteCape Town · South Africa
Chapman's Peak & Cape Point
The most famous stretch of road cycling in South Africa. Chapman's Peak Drive hangs off the cliff face between Hout Bay and Noordhoek, nine kilometres of curves with the …
RouteStellenbosch · Franschhoek · Paarl · Wellington
Cape Winelands by bike
An hour from Cape Town, the Winelands stack some of the finest road cycling in the southern hemisphere: Helshoogte between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, the amphitheatre …
RouteRiebeek Kasteel · Riebeek West · Swartland
Riebeek Valley gravel
Under Kasteelberg, an hour north of Cape Town, the twin villages of Riebeek Kasteel and Riebeek West sit in olive and wine country ringed by the wheat fields of the Swart…
RouteGreyton · Hermanus · Breede River · Arniston
The Overberg by bike
East of the Hottentots Holland mountains the Cape softens into the Overberg: rolling wheat and canola country that runs down to the whale coast at Hermanus, the lazy loop…
RouteMossel Bay · Sedgefield · Knysna · Wilderness
Garden Route riding
Between the Outeniqua mountains and the Indian Ocean, the Garden Route strings together forest, lakes and coastline: Mossel Bay, George, Wilderness, Sedgefield, Knysna an…
RouteOudtshoorn · De Rust · Uniondale · Swartberg
Klein Karoo gravel
Ostrich country, red hills, and the greatest gravel pass in South Africa. The Klein Karoo runs east from Oudtshoorn through De Rust towards Uniondale, walled in by the Sw…
RouteGraaff-Reinet · Camdeboo · The Big Empty
Great Karoo gravel
North of the mountains the country opens into the Great Karoo: dead-straight roads to the horizon, flat-topped koppies, windpumps, and a silence you can hear. Graaff-Rein…
RouteCederberg · Uitkyk Pass · Clanwilliam
Cederberg gravel
Three hours north of Cape Town, the Cederberg is sandstone country: fire-orange rock arches, rooibos farms, star-thick nights and a spine of mountain gravel that includes…
RouteGirona · Catalonia · Spain
Girona rides
Girona is the cycling capital of Europe — the medieval Catalan city where a large share of the professional peloton lives and trains. From the old town's stone bridges yo…
The calendar
South African race calendar, 2026 to 2027
Checked against each organiser's own site on 13 August 2026. Dates marked TBC have not been published yet. Entries are handled by the organisers, never by us.
| Race |
Next edition |
Where |
Type |
Distance |
Entries |
| Nedbank Gravel Burn |
25–31 Oct 2026 |
Graaff-Reinet → Shamwari |
Gravel stage race, 7 days |
~750km |
Open, closes 31 Aug 2026 |
| Cape Town Cycle Tour |
Sun 14 Mar 2027 |
Cape Town |
Road, one day |
109km / 42km |
Early entry open |
| Absa Cape Epic |
21–28 Mar 2027 |
Western Cape |
MTB stage race, pairs, 8 days |
~650km |
Waiting list |
| The 36ONE MTB Challenge |
22 May 2027 |
Oudtshoorn |
MTB ultra, nonstop |
361km / 189km |
Open, early bird |
| The Tanqua Kuru Bicycle Race |
Late May 2027, TBC |
Tankwa Karoo |
Gravel, 2 days |
174km / 115km |
Opens ~Sept |
| B-well Around the Pot |
Aug 2027, TBC |
Swellendam |
Gravel, one day |
160km / 102km |
Not open yet |
| The Stanford 100 |
Dec 2026, TBC |
Stanford |
Dirt road, one day |
169 / 77 / 40km |
Not listed yet |
The Races
Race country
We do not run any of these races. South African race organisers do, and they are very good at it. These are the events we enter ourselves, send our guests to, and build trips around. Every fact on the guides below comes from the organiser's own site, with a link to enter on theirs.
RaceCape Town · 14 March 2027
Cape Town Cycle Tour
South Africa's biggest day on a bike. The Cape Town Cycle Tour Trust closes 109 kilometres of the peninsula to traffic for around 30,000 riders every March, and puts the proceeds back into cycling through the Pedal Power Association.
RaceWestern Cape · 21–28 March 2027
Cape Epic
Eight days, two riders, one timing chip between you. Kevin Vermaak started the Absa Cape Epic in 2004 and it is now the most watched mountain bike stage race in the world, run by Epic Series under The IRONMAN Group.
RaceOudtshoorn · 22 May 2027
The 36ONE
361 kilometres around the Klein Karoo in one go, through the night, with 36.1 hours to do it. Dryland Event Management have run it out of Oudtshoorn since 2010 and cap the field at a thousand riders.
RaceSwellendam · August
Around the Pot
The Overberg gravel miler. Petrichor Events send up to two thousand riders out of the Swellendam Showgrounds onto the wheatland dirt roads around the Potberg, and in 2026 it became a UCI Gravel World Series qualifier.
RaceGreat Karoo · 25–31 October 2026
Gravel Burn
Kevin Vermaak built the Cape Epic, then went and did it again on gravel. Seven days and roughly 750 kilometres from Graaff-Reinet to Shamwari, fully supported, in tented Burn Camps, with the biggest prize purse in gravel racing.
RaceStanford · December
The Stanford 100
The last big gravel day of the South African season. Jeremy Crowder runs it out of Stanford Hills Estate in the Overstrand, on dirt roads that are eighty to ninety percent gravel, with a 25 mile option for people who have never raced before.
RaceTankwa Karoo · May
Tanqua Kuru
Two days of gravel in the Tankwa, capped at around a hundred riders, with art installations, a fire ceremony and refreshment stops staged like theatre. Much of the photography in our gallery was shot here.