E-SPORTS DEVELOPMENT TEAM

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PROTOUCH LAUNCHES AFRICA’S FIRST E-SPORTS DEVELOPMENT SQUAD

This is Africa’s first E-SPORTS Development Squad, aimed at riders aged between 13 – 18 years old. This announcement by ProTouch Sports, to launch a new development team alongside its UCI Continental Road Cycling Team – ranked number one in Africa – comes after the launch of its Support SA Talent Virtual Racing Series that has been running for over past 15 weeks and UCI announcement last week that an E-Sports World Championships for Elite riders, will be held later this year. This signals the intent by the UCI, of a whole new racing category being formed.

“The new African squad, which will be announced at the end of October and, will consist of around 10 riders – primarily from South Africa – and, with a representative mix of both male and female riders,” said Rebecca Eliot, ProTouch’s Business Development Officer. Eligible riders have the opportunity to directly apply for a place in the team, simply by filling out the application form. Riders will be selected also based on performance in the Virtual Racing Series 3, that kickstarts on 2 September 2020. Riders wishing to participate in the Series can do so by entering using the Zwift link provided on our Facebook page.

The development squad will race in a neon green ProTouch kit to be launched soon, as well as receiving access to an essential support package from Wahoo and other key strategic partnerships. Successful applicants will also receive access to mentorship from ProTouch Continental riders and coaches, as well as access to international E-Sports ‘Invitation Only’ events that will commence in November 2020, and spearheaded by global E-Sports Teams.

With an increasing interest in this new race category – which during global Covid-19 lockdowns increased substantially – ProTouch believes E-Sports is here to stay and as the number one UCI-ranked Continental Team in Africa, believes it has a role to play in developing this category further in Africa. “The world of E-Racing has some challenges to overcome, with one of the biggest being the validating and verifying of performance data. As a Team, we are committed to ensuring that our rider set-ups and data are as accurate as possible, this is imperative for the future of the sport”, added Eliot.

 

We subscribe to the international standards being set by teams such as Canyon ZCC – the World’s first professional E-Racing Team on Zwift, that was launched in 2019. ProTouch is committed to ensuring that once it commences racing that:

 

1. Each of its riders will provide a weigh-in video on the day of the race, taken before the race. This will be posted to the Zwift Transparency Group
2. All riders agree to adhere to the Zwift eRacing Rules  
3. Each of our riders is responsible to ensure that their equipment is calibrated properly and running the latest updates of software.
4. All riders will dual-record their performances and, it is our rider’s responsibility to ensure the two power sources are as close to matching as possible.
5. Each rider commits to having up-to-date power recordings ready to share with ZADA or any other governing body as and when required to do so.
6. Our riders will be involved in livestreaming performances and we will share in corroborating material to verify equipment setup.
7. We will continue to adapt our commitments as new standards and approaches are developed.

 

 

“ProTouch has a proud history of nurturing young talent in South Africa having run Junior, U23 and Elite Teams for over 5 years and, we’re excited to be continuing this with the introduction of our E-Sports development squad. We’ve already built the Top Continental Team in Africa, and we look forward to helping to grow the next generation of cyclists from Africa too in this new category” commented Tony Harding, Team Principal of ProTouch.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?

Complete the application form. Applications are open from today and will close on 15th October 2020. We will then review applications received as well as performances by riders in our Virtual Racing Series. This will be followed by an interview process with shortlisted applicants at the end of October 2020.[/vc_column_text][kleo_button title=”OUR STORY” href=”https://youtu.be/1IPG3FQ83zk” target=”_blank” style=”custom” position=”left” size=”lg” type=”app” title_alt=”WATCH” special=”no” icon=”videocam” custom_background=”#c80f3f” custom_bg_hover=”#a50b34″ custom_text=”#ffffff”][vc_single_image image=”8384″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”8562″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text lead=”yes” font_size=”120%” line_height=”250%” css=”.vc_custom_1598699786270{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]

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OUR 2020 SEASON…UNTIL COVID-19

We were lucky enough to participate in three international UCI Tours before COVID-19 halted our 2020 season, these included: a return to Gabon – Tropicale Amissa Bongo,  [UCI 2.1] which we completed with four Top 10 stage and seven Top 20 stage and, two Top 15 General Classification finishes.

With the goal of a podium, at the South African National Championships, we brought home two podiums – both 3rd places alongside World Tour riders – in both the Road Race and Individual Time Trials and, four of our riders finishing in the Top 10 [Road Race and Individual Time Trial events].

We then headed back to Africa’s Toughest Tour, Tour du Rwanda [UCI 2.1] concluding this with a 4th Place in the General Classification and, six Top 10 stage and three Top 20 stage finishes. Our final Tour before lockdown, was Tour de Taiwan, where the Team finished off with five Top 20 places.

With the UCI announcing that all events are cancelled, it is likely that our first events will only be from October onwards. We will be looking forward to returning to the roads of the World.

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REBECCA ELIOT

Serial entrepreneur who has enjoyed a 30-year ‘idea engineering’ career in Impact and Affinity Projects. Having been part of the start-up team for MySchool Programme, Rebecca’s experience spans the retail, financial services, hospitality and, healthcare industries – with a specific focus on unlocking value and rewards programmes and, developing enhanced value propositions.

She is the mastermind behind the Support SA Talent and Invest In a Dream Projects and, her experience in the rewards industry, provides the expertise required to launch the Athlete Affinity Programme and Athlete Rewards Programme, both planned to be released this year.

Rebecca is responsible for business development, partner and investor relations, as well as the marketing and building of the the PROTOUCH™ brand.

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BRAD ELIOT

Having obtained his B Compt Honours at the University of South Africa, Brad went on to complete his HDip Accounting and acquire his CA (SA). He completed his articles at Deloitte and Touche, before joining Alexander Forbes in 1998 as a Corporate Finance executive. Working in various roles over his 18 year tenure, mainly as Group Information Officer. He was appointed as a non-executive director at Astute Financial Services Exchange in 2018 and joined the Multichoice group in 2019 as Group Chief Information Officer.

As an athlete himself – having been awarded provincial and Springbok colours for Yacht Racing – he co-founded the ProTouch Team in 2016, with Tony Harding. Brad is also a UCI Level 1 Coach and is a keen road and mountain biker.

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TONY HARDING

Tony has a 30-year career in the South African road cycling industry, which commenced in 1987 when he first started working with a young Robert Hunter who, went on to win a stage at Le Tour de France.

He served as the National Team Manager from 2002 to 2008, attending both the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games as well as 2006 Commonwealth Games, where South Africa won a silver medal.

Tony has worked with the majority of road cyclists in South Africa and managed his own teams, prior to founding the ProTouch Team with Brad Eliot in 2016.

Tony concentrates his efforts as ProTouch’s Team Principal on identification of talent for our Team, input into UCI event calendar and race strategy with Maxime Martin, our Teams Sports Director.

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MAXIME MARTIN

Maxime was a professional cyclist from 2008 to 2016, riding for teams in France, Singapore and Japan.

He managed two Canadian Continental Teams – H&R Block ProCycling and DC Bank Pro Cycling – before joining ProTouch in July 2019 as the Team’s Sports Director.

The Team has delivered some great results under his direction, including:

2 stage wins in China and Malaysia; a Sprinters Jersey in Malaysia; 20 Top 10 GC finishes in Rwanda, Gabon, South African, Iran and China and, over 20 Top 10 Stage finishes in Malaysia, China and Iran.

Maxime concentrates his efforts on managing our Athletes, to achieve their potential and promote the PROTOUCH™ brand on the World Stage.

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