Janine Jacobs is the Cape Town Cycle Tour’s Race Director. She started working in the Cycle Tour call centre in 2008, before moving into the operations division a decade later in 2018. Now she has her finger on the pulse of the entire event. On race day, she helps run the show from the Venue of Control, or VOC. 

“I essentially deal with all the ‘fires’ that can happen during the race – even the literal ones!” she says. “Ultimately, I’m the person who gets all the information from the various role players and then gives the event the green light to begin. I deal with all the officials, from the City to the marshals. 

While riders are making their way to the city centre, or nervously waiting in the start pen, multiple moving parts behind the scenes are slipping into place.

“But it’s the colonel – the authorised member allocated from SAPS – who’s actually in charge. The colonel asks if the race can start, and he has the power to shut it down if anything extreme is happening along the route, like protests, weather or fire.” 

Jacobs says it’s her role to act as the glue between all the key event decision-makers on the day. While riders are making their way to the city centre, or nervously waiting in the start pen, multiple moving parts behind the scenes are slipping into place. The likes of SAPS, the event medical team, the Western Cape Government health services, disaster management, traffic, the fire department, Search and Rescue South Africa (SARZA), SANParks and more all feed information to Jacobs. 

It’s Jacobs’ job to make sense of it all. 

“At the VOC, there’s a tactical room and a decision-making room – about a hundred people, all-in,” she says. “A lot is happening behind the scenes. It can be very stressful between 9am and 12, when the faster riders are out on the route; and then again after 2pm, when the slower, maybe less fit riders are out there. These are the times when the medical dispatch team is the busiest.”

Naturally, monitoring every single aspect of an event that features nearly 30 000 participants is a stressful task. Jacobs takes it all in her stride; although she does admit to enjoying a relaxing Sunday night alone, before returning home to her four kids!

“It’s a day full of nerves, definitely,” she says. “But I love it. On the day, I look forward to two things: first is seeing the looks on the faces of the elites when they finish. If they’re smiling and happy, then I know the road is in good condition. The second is going to the finish and just watching people complete the ride. 

“I love the emotion, the smiles, the cheers. I love seeing everyone looking so happy.”

For more behind-the-scenes, meet photographer Tobias Ginsberg and learn what goes into capturing South Africa’s biggest bike race.

READ MORE ON: Cape Town Cycle Tour