Andrew Hill and Shaun-Nick Bester bounced back from mechanical problems on day two to win PwC Great Zuurberg Trek mountain-bike race at Addo today.
The TIB-Silverback-Best4Sport team took the final stage win in the three-day event to claim overall victory at the Zuurberg Mountain Village, 70km outside Port Elizabeth.
They rode hard from the start to finish the 50km stage in 2:18:12, four minutes ahead of Stuart Marais and Renay Groustra (RSA Web).
Shaun-Nick Bester (front) and Andrew Hill negotiate a bridge on the 50km final stage of the three-day PwC Great Zuurberg Trek mountain-bike race, which finished at Zuurberg Mountain Village at Addo, 70km outside Port Elizabeth, today. Picture: Shayne Minott
In third place were stage-two winners Aiden Connelly and Rogan Smart (Bike Shop-Scott-Strocam).
The Durban-based Hill, winner in 2015 and 2016, took his third GZT title, while Bester, from Pretoria, was riding the popular Eastern Cape event for the first time. Their overall time was 8:53:46.
The Plett pair of Connelly and Smart were second overall, with East London’s Jason Reed and Jason Peach third.
The women’s race was won by Swiss star Ariane Luthi and South African partner Robyn de Groot, who won their third stage in a row in 2:40:17.
Theresa Ralph and Sarah Hill (Galileo Risk) were second home in 2:43:03.
Luthi, a two-time Cape Epic women’s winner, and De Groot (Ascendis Health-Spur) had an overall time of 9:38:04, with Hill and Ralph second in 10:06:02.
After comfortably winning the first stage on Friday, Hill and Bester suffered a setback when the Durban rider had a mechanical which saw them lose about 30 minutes.
Robyn de Groot (left) and Ariane Luthi cross the line to win the women’s category in the three-day PwC Great Zuurberg Trek mountain-bike race, which finished at Zuurberg Mountain Village at Addo, 70km outside Port Elizabeth, today. Picture: Shayne Minott
“It really was something of a miracle because we were able to secure the bolt we needed to fix Andrew’s problem from another rider who had also suffered a mechanical,” said Bester.
As it turned out, their lead was cut from nine minutes to two seconds, but today the leaders were able to re-establish their dominance.
“From the start today, we decided just to ride as hard as possible to try to build up a lead in case anything went wrong,” said Bester.
Luthi was delighted with her first experience of the race, especially after she had doubts about entering because of her limited time in South Africa.
Although living in Stellenbosch, she spends the European summer racing on the continent and returns tomorrow to continue preparations for the world mountain-bike marathon championship in Italy in September.
“I was only back for two weeks, but as it turns out this was a really worthwhile exercise and a true African experience,” she said.
“There was the most amazing single-track today and we were able to stay in front, keeping it steady and enjoying the stage’s offering.”
The mixed category was won by defending champions Neill Ungerer and Yolande de Villiers (Silverback Bikes), who took their third stage victory in a row in 2:32:39.
They were followed across the line by Ben Melt Swanepoel and Yolandi du Toit (Garmin), with Nicholas Webb and Kylie Hanekom third.
