![\"ccs-62657-0-03718200-1441784899.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-03718200-1441784899.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>2015 H1 Hand cycling World Champion Pieter du Preez (with National Team Manager JC van der Walt) is anticipating a World Cup on home soil at the 2015 UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup in Pietermaritzburg from 11-13 September. Photo credit: Illse du Preez.<\/span><\/p>\nDu Preez, who became a C6 quadriplegic after an accident at the age of 23, has continued to push himself to the greatest physical limits more now than ever before.<\/p>\n
The H1 Para-cycling World Champion is happy ahead of the World Cup, especially one that\u2019s in his own backyard. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing competing on home soil. The fact that I\u2019ll be doing it in the rainbow jersey is just an added bonus and an indescribable feeling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m feeling good. My form is okay, so I\u2019m feeling confident. Due to the events following the World Cup, I need to focus on the [wheel] chair quite a bit as well because I want to break the record. Having said that, there is also pressure on me at home in the rainbow jersey to do well as well,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Du Preez chats about the importance of Africa hosting a World Cup: \u201cThe locals get to see what goes on and what Para-cycling is all about. It\u2019s super for the exposure of the sport in Africa and for the cyclists in the other African countries. The athletes then also get exposed to these big events and are able to compete independently against some of the world\u2019s greatest. This provides for them the motivation that they need in order to be able to aim to compete professionally as a career.<\/p>\n
\u201cPietermaritzburg is Africa\u2019s Bike City. It\u2019s also closer for some African countries to travel to, and thus, cheaper. This way we should be seeing more and more entries from African countries, which is great. It plants a seed. It\u2019s an eye-opener for them and for the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The openness of Para-cyclists and the all-round nature of these athletes is something that Du Preez has stressed. \u201cOne thing about the Para-athletes is that nothing is ever too much of an effort when it comes to helping others out. We are all pretty easy-going people and really try our best to help the newcomers, from lending advice on day-to-day stuff to the correct type and use of the different equipment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
With three months until the end of the year, there is still no slowing down for Du Preez. He heads to Berlin at the end of the month for the Berlin Marathon where he hopes to take a fourth win in a row and break the World Record. After Berlin, Du Preez will compete in a wheelchair marathon in Japan and wishes to compete in another Ironman in December.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a long shot, but we\u2019ll see,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel that this has been my best year yet, with seven African records and one world record at the Athletics World Champs (sprint). So it [ironman] would end my year off well,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n
The 2015 UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup \u2013 Pietermaritzburg (11-13 September 2015) will have two competition venues with the time trial competition being staged in the Midmar Dam complex on Friday 11 September and the road races in the city of Pietermaritzburg using Alexandra Park as the official competition venue on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September. For more information, visit: http:\/\/www.cyclingsa.com\/2015-uci-para-road-world-cup\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The name \u201cSupa Piet\u201d is far from foreign when it comes to the sports of Para-cycling, athletics and Ironman triathlons. Ironman\u2019s first quadriplegic contestant, Paralympian, and multiple Para-cycling World Champion, Pieter du Preez, who has made waves all over the world, continues to ride them high as he heads to Pietermaritzburg to compete in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":47085,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1725,3555,2779],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-19336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-para","tag-para-cycling-road-world-cup","tag-pieter-du-preez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19336"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=19336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}