For the second successive year, the Tour of the Great South Coast will not hit the Limestone Coast with cycling fever after it was cancelled due to COVID restrictions.
Since its inception in 2012, the classic six-day bike race – which takes in some of the Limestone Coast’s most iconic landmarks including the Blue Lake, Port MacDonnell and Naracoorte Caves before moving through Victoria’s Glenelg Shire – has become one of the highlights of the AusCycling National Road Series calendar,
The race organised by Caribou Publications was hoped to start later this month from Tuesday, August 31 to Sunday, September 5, but sadly fell to the same fate as the 2020 edition.
Tour founder and director John Craven said the ongoing uncertainty around the country due to the ever-changing COVID-19 regulations made it impossible to host an event of this magnitude.
“It was a situation that we were forced into because of the Australia-wide lockdowns and the subsequent uncertainty of the availability of riders through travel restrictions,” he said.
“In the preceding nine years we have had fields of more than 100 top-line riders including at least 10, who competed in the Tokyo Olympics.
“If the event started today, I could not guarantee a field of more than 20 because 80% of our field comes from interstate or New Zealand.
“It is exceptionally disappointing to not race two years in a row and one of the big issues is how there is no light at the end of the tunnel.”
What makes the cancellation an even tougher pill to swallow for Craven and his team is how much momentum had been build for race to revive in 2021.
South Australia’s Naracoorte Lucindale, Mount Gambier City and Grant District councils were all on-board to continue their sponsorships and host at least one stage, while the South Australian Government agreed to support the event for the first time.
Usually Caribou Productions complete a 10-week pre-tour program to build hype around the Tour of the Great South Coast.
Craven said high hopes were anticipated for tour’s 10th anniversary, but now those celebrations must be put on hold.
“This was supposed to be the 10th year and it never looked better,” he said.
“Sponsorship was at an all-time high, the enthusiasm shown by riders from Australian and New Zealand was outstanding.
“They were virtually screaming for a bike race because there’s been so many cancellations over the past 18 months.
“Our company has been organising sporting events for 41 years and the current crop of councils are up there with the best we have ever dealt with.”
The previous Tour of the Great South Coast in 2019 boasted one of the strongest fields ever and was dominated by Australian Tokyo 2020 representative Sam Welsford, while the speed of teammate Kelland O’Brien also wowed onlookers.
Craven said he hopes the tour can be brought back to the Limestone Coast in 2022, but conceded there is a long road ahead.
“We are in basic discussions and have had messages of enthusiasm from councils and sponsors, but they are a bit rocked by the second cancellation,” he said.
“The cancellation makes it harder to resurrect the event, but there is a lot of optimism in cycling circles, so we have to wait and see how everything unfolds.
“I am not sure if our crew and staff could cop another cancellation, it might just kill it.”
