The champions of the inaugural Garden Route Giro will ride away with R100 000 each after 685 kilometres of pure gravel racing. Starting just outside Mossel Bay, on the 13th of April 2026, and finishing six mountain passes and six days later in Wilderness, on the 18th, the first edition will challenge and reward. Blending the [...]
In the first episode of the new year, we look ahead at what’s to come on the bike in 2026. From the Attakwas Extreme, which kicks off the South African racing season through the Tankwa Trek, Cape Epic, Garden Route Giro, and on into the World Series calendar, which gets underway in South [...]
Over the last decade, we at Diverge have covered around 25 events per year across MTB, Gravel, Road, and Trail Running. With that experience in hand, we'll be bringing you more insights in 2026. Some of it will be on the ground, on the job for the event, while we will be covering other races [...]
South Africa’s Garden Route is about to make gravel racing history. Entries for the inaugural Garden Route Giro open on 17 June 2025 at 12:00 (SAST / GMT+2), giving riders a chance to take part in a six-day, 684km journey through mountain passes, forest trails, and coastal roads from 13 to 18 April 2026. Whether [...]
In Episode 6 of the rebooted Diverge Podcast Seamus Allardice chats to EcoBound and To Hell and Back’s Zane Schmahl about the oldest mountain bike stage race in the country. Over beers in Gamkaskloof – as Die Hel is actually known – they spoke about the history of the event, the difficulties of staging a [...]
Gravel is in vogue. It is growing and evolving, with stage racing already identified as the next frontier. The question which now needs to be answered is how many elements from road and mountain bike stage racing multi-day gravel events will incorporate, and where they will deviate entirely. The Garden Route Giro’s race director, Henco [...]
In Episode 5 of the rebooted Diverge Podcast Seamus Allardice reflects on a stellar edition of the FNB Wines2Whales Shiraz race. Toyota Specialized dominated the final event in the Epic Series’ 2024 calendar, winning all three stages, despite Alex Miller crashing heavily on Day 2. With serious stage race season now completed we then pivot [...]
Tune in for Episode 1 of the rebooted Diverge Podcast. The relaunched pod will be a shortcast/micro pod of between 10 and 20 minutes in length, focusing on the events and sports host, Seamus Allardice, covers on www.diverge.info. To read more about the events and news covered in this episode click through to the website: [...]
Gravel racing has grown and matured in recent years, stand alone events and series have gained popularity, and now the time has come for a truly world-class gravel stage race. The Garden Route Giro promises to be that and more. A six-day stage race through the stunning Southern Cape region, featuring ascents of some of [...]
