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With the Tour De France set to begin on August 29, over 70 local cyclists have decided to replicate the format locally with a ‘Tour de Sez’ to take place alongside the 21-day spectacle.
While the group hope to take their tour to foreign shores again in 2021 with a cycle from St Malo to Rome, this year they will be staying much closer to home in their efforts to raise money for the Sarah Groves Foundation.
The event has been designed to allow cyclists to set their own attainable goals and challenges. Competitors can cycle as much as they please within the race dates and craft their own routes, with score updates every five days and winners announced on 20 September, exactly 12 months before they head to Italy.
Pictured: Racers will be split into three teams, with a handicap system employed to ensure each cyclist has a fair chance of taking home respective accolades, including a distance winner, climbing winner, total time winner and double rides winner.
12 individual prizes will be awarded based on their overall effort – including the traditional Tour de France champagne.
"The stage has been set and it’s all systems go for the first edition of Guernsey’s Tour de France challenge," said one of the event organisers, Gary Hooks.
"The whole idea behind the challenge is to set our riders with an attainable goal which they can achieve in their own time inside the race dates. A rider can ride as often as they please and all of the statistics will be recorded as the race progresses, with updates every five days and eventual winners announced on 20 September."
"All funds go directly to the Sarah Groves Foundation, a Guernsey-based grant-giving charity supporting projects that improve the lives of young people."
For more information on the charity, visit: SarahGroves.org. More information on the event itself is available from the challenge’s Facebook page.
Pictured top: Some of the Tour de Sez riders leaving Guernsey en route to a previous cycling challenge (Credit: Chris George).
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