Wednesday, 08 June 2011 12:02
South Africa's premier men's road team signs Darren Lill
Team Bonitas, the most successful South African professional men’s road cycling team over the past two years, has added experience and depth to its line-up by signing current South African Elite men’s road champion, Darren Lill.
Lill, a strong individual time triallist and climber and an accomplished stage racer, has made the move after uncertainty over the future of the DCM team of which he has been a member since January 2011. He is one of four South Africans that were left without a team in December 2010 when the big budget Australian-based Pegasus team was denied a ProTour licence by the International Cycling Union, forcing the team to lay off most of its riders.
Darren Lill, pictured here racing for Team BMC,
has joined the South African-based Bonitas
professional team.
The 28-year-old Lill will be based in his home city of Cape Town, but will travel to all of the major South African races as well as international events in which Bonitas is competing in 2011.
Besides the 2011 Road Champs title, Lill’s other recent successes include the bronze medal at the SA Individual Time Trial Champs, overall victory at the LeCoq Sportif Tour de Boland, a stage win at the Cell C Tour of South Africa and two stage wins and second overall at the Fairbairn Capital Old Mutual joBerg2c mountain bike race.
“I’m very excited about joining Bonitas. Partly because it’s a team with good values, talented riders and supportive sponsors, but also because it’s recently become an international team with goals to achieve success abroad,” said Lill, who’s potential to shine is far greater in international events than popular local races.
"I like to race positively, and I hope to be able to use my international experience to benefit the team all round, even when it comes to doing things such as lead-out trains for the sprinters on the team like Tyler Day," smiled Lill.
Easily one of South Africa’s top international road cyclists, Lill has been unfortunate with teams over the past few years. But he’s confident the Bonitas set-up will offer him the stability he requires to achieve his potential.
“There is a good level of mutual respect within the Bonitas team and I’ve got to know some of the more experienced team members over the years. Between Johann Rabie and myself, I believe Bonitas can be a genuine force in international stage races. I still have a good few years of racing in me and I intend to make the most of this opportunity with Bonitas.”
Since 2004, Lill has done the majority of his racing overseas, first for Italian-based Team Barloworld (2004, 2005), and then for United States-based professional teams such as, Navigators, BMC and Fly V.
“We’re very keen to have Darren on Team Bonitas. His experience and strengths will change the way we race by opening up different options, especially in tough one-day races and tours,” said Team Bonitas owner, Malcolm Lange.
“I’ve known Darren for some time. He is a great talent and has achieved some awesome results. It’s a real pity Team Pegasus didn’t work out for him. He’s already shown his class this year and we look forward to having the national road champion on our team and helping him achieve his potential.”
Lill’s first racing assignment for Team Bonitas will be the Knysna Festival in early July. Lange is currently finalising some international races for the team’s schedule in August and September, with the traditional popular domestic races in October and November to follow.
For more information on Team Bonitas, visit www.teambonitas.co.za. Follow @Team_Bonitas on twitter for live race updates.
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