Guest: Chris Willemse Snr CEO: Chris Willemse Cycles

On Sunday past was the 40th edition of the Cape Town Cycle Tour a cycling race tradition loved by many (which unfortunately had to be cancelled due to extreme winds.)  

And just this weekend… we have another popular cycle race coming up…the 2017 Absa Cape Epic – a grueling 8-day mountain bike race with the route changing each and every year!

So of course our Quintessential Cape Town focus this week had to be Chris Willemse Cycles – the quintessential go-to cycle paraphernalia shop which opened in 1977. Today, CWC has the biggest online cycling goods store in the Southern Hemisphere. We speak to the man behind it all next!

Additional information

Chris Willemse Senior, former Springbok and National Cycling Champion, started his own cycle shop way back in July 1977 in Paarl. Known for having a bit of a “short fuse” back in the days, Chris was fired by his French boss at Peugeot Cycles after punching him during a sales meeting.  He left Peugeot on the 19th June and moved back to Cape Town where he started CWCycles after getting a site in Paarl.

Chris Senior then became the youngest person in South Africa to ever take the position of Vice President of Cycling South Africa and also became the Chairman of the Bellville Sport Federation.

He was also the person who personally introduced many international cycling champions to South Africa for the first time such as Eddy Merckx, Patrick Sercu, Francesco Moser, Jan Ullrich and Mario Cipollini.

https://www.facebook.com/Chris-Willemse-Cycles-Online-222390311059/?ref=ts

https://www.instagram.com/chriswillemsecycles/

https://twitter.com/Cwconline

http://www.cwcycles.co.za/about-us