Hill, White in command
THE over 400 riders were greeted with sublime conditions at the start of the fourth edition of the BSi Steel dusi2c yesterday, and the conditions were exploited brilliantly by pre-race favourites Andrew Hill and Tyrone White, who have a three-minute lead going into the final stage today.
A spot of overnight rain gave riders much-appreciated respite from the dust that has been a result of the lack of rain in the region, and the dampness made for top conditions for riding, and the pace at the front of the race was a testament to that.
Despite opening up a significant gap early in the stage, they would have been wary of Warren Price and Trevor Row,e who never relented throughout the day’s ride and finished over three minutes behind the eventual stage winners.
The bunch started stretching early in the race as the starting pace fractured the group. Also, Hill understood that with the slippery conditions it was important that he and White established a lead early. “Going through Mountain Rise we managed to get clear of the guys, but I took a tumble on the first single track. After that we didn’t see the guys, which meant that our plan of going hard early was justified,” added Hill.
For White, although the Valley of a Thousand Hills is not foreign, he is not as knowledgeable as his partner, yet he had an idea of what to expect going into his debut dusi2c experience – one that he really enjoyed. “I’ve ridden through the Valley with Andrew on training rides, so I do have an idea of what to expect, but this riding is just unreal!” White commented. “It’s really something special to be able to ride through here in a race.
“The first 20 kilometres was pretty treacherous and you had to be on your toes and not take too many risks, because we didn’t want to end our race with a silly crash early on,” he added.
Price and Trevor Rowe had a solid day in the saddle and they managed to keep the leaders in their sights as they ended in second place going into the final stage of the race.
The RMB Change a Life 1 duo of Ndumiso Dontso and Sipho Kupiso managed to hold off their Change a Life counterparts, Bongmusa Zikhali and Siyanda Masango, to claim the last podium spot going into the final stage today.
The mixed category honours was going to be a hardfought race, with Sani Racing’s Bianca Haw and Andrew Houston fighting it out with Merchants’ Jeannie Dreyer and John Ntuli. However it was the former who gained ascendancy early, and never relaxed their grip to take the stage honours by just over five minutes.
“It was a bit unfortunate for John and Jeannie, who had to pump up a tyre on the start line, which meant that they lost a bit of time,” Houston said after the stage.
The Merchants outfit will be chasing hard on the final stage and have all but sewn up second spot as they go into the final stage with a 13-minute advantage over the Parker-Dennison pair in third place.
The race for the final spot on the podium in the mixed category will be an interesting one as the pairing of Owen Gandar and Tamika Haw hunt down the Parker-Dennisons, who have an advantage of less than a minute.
The second and final stage of the 2016 BSi Steel dusi2c sees riders take on a 60km stage from Mfula Store to Blue Lagoon in Durban. – Gameplan Media