SA champ Lill wins final stage at Tour De Boland

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Monday, 14 March 2011 11:34

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Lill crushes opposition

South African champion Darren Lill of Team DCM took the final day's racing by the horns at the Le Coq Sportif Tour De Boland, throwing down the gauntlet on the slopes of the Paarl Rock to outclass overnight race leader Johann Rabie (Bonitas) and Christoph Sauser (Songo), former World Mountain Bike Champion.

The route, up the steep slopes, on dirt roads on the Jan Phillips Mountain Drive, and the sharp turns in the main section of Paarl, caused immediate trouble to all but the strongest and most agile of mountain climbers. Lill put the hammer down from the very first ascent, and between him and Sauser, attempted to drive the peleton to pieces as soon as humanly possible.

With each lap, the number of riders who were able to survive the continuous onslaughts became less, until, on the third lap of the 12km circuit, the last few were whittled down to around ten. Several attempts were made by riders such as Johan Van Zyl (CSA Academy) and Daryl Impey (MTN) to advance themselves into a cushioned lead prior to the murderous ascent. Impey managed to create a seemingly unassailable gap on the penultimate lap, but was roped in rather vigorously by the lead few when Lill sailed away to secure the King of the Mountain classification.

Lill spent the rest of the last two laps in a solo effort to put some distance into the likes of Sauser, the fast-losing overall leader Rabie, Van Niekerk, the King of the Mountain overnight, and a flailing Christoph van Heerden, the leader on points overnight.