{"id":7267,"date":"2010-03-14T10:43:54","date_gmt":"2010-03-14T08:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=7267"},"modified":"2010-03-14T10:47:01","modified_gmt":"2010-03-14T08:47:01","slug":"lance-armstrong-adds-action-to-argus-cycle-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/lance-armstrong-adds-action-to-argus-cycle-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Lance Armstrong adds action to Argus Cycle Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The world’s leading cyclist, Lance Armstrong, is riding his first Argus Cycle Tour today, adding prestige to the event, which is the largest cycling race in the world.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Armstrong\u00a0is a wonderful marketer for Cape Town, communicating his experiences in Cape Town, via the social marketing medium Twitter, to his 2,5 million followers.\u00a0 His arrival was marred by the Immigration department at Cape Town International airport\u00a0not allowing him to enter the country as he did not have a blank page left in his passport.\u00a0 Surprisingly, this problem was quickly solved, as all arriving guests with such a problem must return to their departure airport, to fix the problem.\u00a0\u00a0 Armstrong’s Tweet about the incident\u00a0was painfully truthful: “Well, made it in to SA. Not the friendliest welcome I’ve ever received but we’ve all seen immigration officers like that. #posterboymaterial<\/span><\/a>“<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some of his Tweets are:\u00a0 “Done w\/ a nice 3hr ride. I’ve heard many times before that Cape Town is stunning. That was no lie. What a place” (9\/3);<\/span>\u00a0“Just finished a nice 4.5 hr ride. Great roads and riding here on the Cape. Gonna miss it! (13\/3).\u00a0 This is powerful brand endorsement for Cape Town, sent out to Armstrong’s many loyal fans.<\/span><\/p>\n

Braving a gusting southeaster, the 33rd Argus Cycle Tour\u00a0will be\u00a0a challenge for the 38000 participants completing the 109 km of the race, which started in the early hours of this morning in the city centre, and ends in Green Point.<\/p>\n

Armstrong stopped cycling competitively (he has won\u00a0seven Tours de France events)\u00a0when he became a cancer victim, but he has won the battle against the dreaded disease, and spends a lot of time on cancer awareness projects.\u00a0\u00a0 He expressed surprised at the large number of participants in the Race, only having experienced about 200 participants in the Tours de France.<\/p>\n

The Cycle Tour is expected to contribute R 400 million to the economy of the Western Cape, coming from expenditure on accommodation, restaurants, fuel, and travelling.\u00a0 It appears that Cape Town accommodation is less booked this weekend than in the past, meaning that fewer participants from\u00a0centers outside of Cape Town have registered to enter.<\/p>\n

The Cycle Race will lead to road closures today, affecting traffic around the Cape Peninsula.\u00a0\u00a0 From 11h30 all city centre roads will re-open, and so will roads around the route of the Race as the cyclists come through the Cape Town suburbs during the course of the day.\u00a0Victoria Road in Camps Bay, Hout Bay\u00a0and Bantry Bay will be closed for a large part of the day.<\/p>\n

The Cycle Tour has been marred by a large number of accidents involving practising cyclists, not only in Cape Town, but also in Hermanus and near Oudtshoorn, resulting in a cry for dedicated cycle lanes to be developed.<\/p>\n

Whale Cottage Camps Bay has already been booked for the 2011 Argus Cycle Tour by Cargo Carriers, who will take over the whole guest house.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world’s leading cyclist, Lance Armstrong, is riding his first Argus Cycle Tour today, adding prestige to the event, which is the largest cycling race in the world.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Armstrong\u00a0is a wonderful marketer for Cape Town, communicating his experiences in Cape Town, via the social marketing medium Twitter, to his 2,5 million followers.\u00a0 His arrival was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,22,21],"tags":[32367,467,1239,32370,3881,3394,32366,1167,3885,32378,1423,1899,3879,697,3883,3491,3877,867,3884,13,3882,3878,1587,32387,163],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t