The 2024 Tobago International Cycling Classic (TICC) will pedal off from October 2 in the sister isle.
The race features five days of international cycling staged on challenging yet picturesque courses set on the background of the Tobago landscape.
The event is set for 2-6 October and features three divisions of men’s cyclists and the largest field of women riders in the history of the event.
But the struggle to regain the mass participation from Europe – heightened by the Covid-19 pandemic – continues with limited direct flights.
“It is very expensive to get into Tobago ,” said TICC Event Chairman Jeff Charles. “We don’t subsidise their airfare, we subsidise accommodation and meals, transportation in Tobago. So it is two things: the airfare is very high to Tobago and there are no direct flights from Germany, Sweden or Denmark – you have to pass through either the Netherlands or London. And to move their bikes and bike bags and luggage between connecting flights – on top of being expensive – is a little cumbersome.”
Despite the unfavourable flight conditions, Charles has managed to increase the European participation – which numbered a solitary rider in the 2023 edition.
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“We got a couple of riders from, England, the Czech Republic, and we will have a full team from the Netherlands . We have some Europeans We have much more than last year….This year we will probably have 15-20,” said Charles.
Charles added that efforts to gain UCI sanction for the event will also be restrained this year.
“I have put UCI on hold,” said Charles, “UCI wants the race but Tobago’s infrastructure , and their resources cannot facilitate what the UCI wants. What they want to do, Tobago can’t do it. It is very difficult for Tobago to do it; for example, completely blocking off the road to vehicular traffic for the tour. Tobago can’t do that, that is the lifeline of Tobago.”
Charles said the UCI continues to be interested because of its desire to have a presence in this part of the world. Charles said he is gradually building the TICC back up to pre-Covid-19 levels in an environment where people are travelling less and sponsors have slashed their support.
Among the top contenders for this year’s competition are Lucas Bourgoyne of the USA, and James Somerfield (UK).
Burgoyne is a professional criterium (crit) racer based in Austin, Texas, and is known in the cycling community as the “Texas Bullet.” He races for the Austin Outlaws.
Somerfield is a British former UCI Continental racer with extensive experience competing at the professional level both in the UK and internationally.
US star Jonny Brown won the 2022 Tobago International Cycling Classic, while Eder Freyre of Mexico took the title in 2023.
According to a media release from the TICC 2024, the buzz around the race’s ‘Cycling Village’ at the Crown Point Hotel indicates that one of the biggest events on Tobago’s calendar, is about to begin.
For five days from the October 2, cyclists from Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Canada, Mexico and USA will vie with regional riders from Suriname, Barbados, Jamaica, Grenada, Guyana, St Lucia, St Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago, for over $100,000 in prizes, across challenging terrain.
The 2024 edition of the TICC has three Divisions: Division 1 is for the international riders who will race across five stages, while Division 2 riders will compete over four stages. The Division 3 category caters for recreational cyclists with a three-stage race.
Charles has once again designed a course to suit all strengths and provide the variety that makes stage racing popular and challenging.
It’s the reason that the TICC once earned UCI (Union Cycliste International) accreditation.
Cyclists will challenge themselves on the fast criterium racing around the Scarborough city centre or suffer up the leg-busting climbs of Charlotteville and Speyside.
The race’s slogan “Big Event, Small Island Style’” means that the stages are completed early to allow for the liming and partying to take place each evening.