A smart decision helped Andrew Hill and Reinhard Zellhuber navigate their way to overall victory in the Lesotho Sky that ended in Roma at the weekend.
The Garrun-Tib Insurance pair completed the six-day stage race in a total time of 17:23:18, with Rebloch Power’s Allard Basile and Remy Bourdon finishing second and Alliance’s Tumelo Makae and Phetetso Monese third.
Hill said riding with a global positioning system (GPS) was tough as they had to constantly watch where they were heading and how other riders might follow them. For instance, he said, if they made a mistake on the GPS those following could take their line once they had corrected it.
Garrun-Tib Insurance’s Andrew Hill (front) and Reinhard Zellhuber won the Lesotho Sky in Roma at the weekend. Photo: Wayne Reiche/Lesotho Sky
“It was quite tough that way but we overcame it by having three devices, two on Reinhard’s bike and one on mine. We had them zoomed out at different levels, which meant we could see our path ahead at 200m, 80m and 50m,” said Hill.
He added that the route itself was “pretty epic”. While the days’ racing may have seemed short, there was a lot of climbing so they never really got into a nice rhythm of flat riding.
“It’s all up and down the whole time and what we expected; we knew it was going to be tough,” said Hill.
“The rocky descents and climbs were fine, but the navigation was quite hard as you’re riding with GPS and you have to watch it going downhill to ensure you’re still on the right track.”
The duo, who won stages two, five and six, said their main strategy was to consolidate and ride for the general classification rather than worrying about individual stages.
“We were concentrating more on the overall situation and being consistent over each day, not having any big issues and just riding smart rather than going all out from the start,” said Hill, whose main goal was to finish on the podium while it was important Zellhuber get UCI points.
Hill said the final stage, which they won in a time of 1:57:29, was a short but tough route.
“It was more cross-country style but still with lots of climbing. We knew we would be pressed as everyone was keen for that last stage win, so we’re happy with our overall result.”
Hill’s partnership with Zellhuber occurred after his teammate pulled out of the race.
“He asked me to team up and I was keen. Our combination was quite cool and he learnt well and rode very smart,” said Hill.
Hill is now gearing up for the Berg and Bush “Descent” this weekend where he will race alongside Shaun-Nick Bester, followed by the Berg and Bush “Two-Day” with Travis Stedman.
