Underberg – PYGA Euro Steel’s team of Pieter du Toit and Philip Buys and their solo rider Jaedon Terlouw picked up where they left off at the Euro Steel Drak Descent MTB race to claim the race title after Sunday’s 53km second stage.
The trio had looked comfortable in establishing their authority on Saturday’s 43km route and finished the job without too much fuss on Sunday, despite the close attention of the young team of Omar Wilson and Keegan Tullis.
Another perfect, sunny morning greeted cyclists, conditions which were ideal for Buys.
“Despite the rain in the area in the lead up to the event, I found the route quite dry and with less mud than previously,” he said. “Pieter and I had enjoyed some good training rides before this and approached the race as another opportunity to get some good riding into the system before the Epic.”
Solo entrant Terlouw, whose partner Michael Foster was forced to withdraw due to illness, set the pace early on, but Buys and Du Toit where never far off his wheel and paced their race to perfection, while Wilson and Tullis were able to stay close enough to contest the finish sprint.
“Jaedon went hard but we just sat off him without too much effort. There wasn’t much tactics called for and our plan was to stick near the front and do enough to win the event,” said Buys. “It’s early in the season but this was ideal preparation for the Cape Epic in March, the first big one for the year for us.”
Wilson and Tullis, two young riders from Pietermaritzburg, finished second overall, with Underberg locals Andrew Houston and Damon Stamp claimed third in the team event.
Terlouw was the solo winner, with Daniel van der Watt and Josh Johnson filling the podium positions.
In the women’s race, the solo riders dominated with up and coming Tyler Jacobs winning both stages comfortably to emerge as the clear women’s winner. Francis Janse van Rensburg finished second with former Dusi Champion and talented mountain biker Bianca Haw making full use of her local knowledge to finish third.
Official race times were not available.
