Masterful show from Hill and Louw
Cycling duo claim dusi2c title in fine fashion.
ANDREW Hill and Adriaan Louw (Team TIB) claimed top honours at this year’s 2014 BSi Steel dusi2c crossing the finish line at Blue Lagoon ahead of the chasing two teams of Quattro’s Tyron Bird and Tim Stark and Team Safire’s Trevor Rowe and Warren Price.
Following an interesting duel with Bird and Stark for a lot of the race the leaders made a break that the chasing teams could not match and it was enough to give them the second stage win and the overall crown but Hill explained his apprehension heading into the final stage and mentioned that he knew he and Louw were going to have work hard before they could relax.
“We had a nice little lead going into the final stage but anything can happen in mountain biking,” a relieved Hill said. “You just have to consolidate and make sure that you put a bit of lead into the guys before you can rest a bit on your laurels.”
The route had been changed slightly with a new, permanent foot bridge being put in and Hill explains that the changes that were made have been good for the race. The race was getting close towards the end but a push from the leading pair meant that they opened up a big enough lead to claim the victory.
“From the gun we knew that we had a bit of a water crossing coming up with the change of route this year and that change was actually really good. Crossing the river early on was nice and then a brand new foot bridge that is helping a lot of the locals in the area was also a nice change.
“This year’s route had some welcome changes with a lot of things that cannot be changed and add to true mountain biking experience that you get at dusi2c,” he added.
Arriving at this year’s dusi2c as a greenhorn meant that Adriaan Louw had a fresh perspective and it seems that the young Western Cape rider enjoyed his first race in the Valley of a Thousand Hills and he explained that he looks forward to the new concepts that ‘Farmer Glen’ Haw might offer in years to come.
“It really is an amazing event. That is all you can say. It is a mountain biking dream and it is the pinnacle of trail riding,” Louw said.
Louw and Hill will join the rest of the South African team for the upcoming UCI MTB Marathon World Championships in Pietermaritzburg and Louw believes that the dusi2c was great preparation for the event.
