Europcar sponsors international, local cycling

Thomas Voeckler - the French rider who wore the yellow jersey for 10 stages during last year's tour - and Pierre Rolland will lead the nine-man squad for the 99th Tour de France, which will cover a distance of 3 497 over 20 stages. The Tour got underway with a prologue in the Belgian city of Liege last Saturday.

"Cycling was chosen for its wide appeal to the public, its international dimension and the close relationship it forges between riders and supporters. There is a strong synergy between cycling's values of teamwork and discipline, strengthened by individual performance and our core business of delivering as a team to ensure excellent customer service," says Dawn Nathan-Jones, CEO of Europcar South Africa.

Local Europcar SA pro team

Locally, the company is committed to lending its support and sponsorship to this popular and growing sporting discipline. It has formed a Europcar SA pro team, made up of eight young riders between the ages of 22 and 26, who are selected for the team based on their experience, race wins and future potential in elite races.

Operations Director, George Corbett, a cycling enthusiast and a director of Cycling South Africa provides integral input to the company's local cycling strategy. "The reason we started the team was to get brand representation on the road and the international team sparked a keen interest to start a local team. We also wanted to give development riders a springboard to get into the elite teams," says Corbett.

"We believe that having this local team in the company's colours is key to the brand's global strategy, as a leading car rental company and we look forward to their race successes. For now though, we will be watching and supporting our international professionals at the Tour de France." concludes Dawn Nathan-Jones.