Top Namibian cyclist Vera Looser excelled to finish second at the gruelling Swiss Epic Mountain Bike Stage Race on Saturday.
Competing against some of the world’s top marathon MTB riders, Looser and her South African partner Danielle Strydom won the silver medal in an overall time of 20 hours 55 minutes and 51 seconds.
That was nearly 25 minutes behind the winners, Monica Calderon Martinez of Spain and Tessa Kortekaas of the Netherlands, while the Hungarian pair of Costanza Fasolis and Chiara Burato finished about 50 minutes behind Looser and Strydom in third place.
The five-day stage race took place in some of the most spectacular trails and landscapes of the Swiss Alps, covering 341km, with 11 450m of climbing and 12 600m of sharp descents.
The event started on Tuesday, 20 August and continued through to Saturday 24 August, with riders completing about 65km per day.
Looser and Strydom rode consistently throughout as they finished second on each of the five stages. Martinez and Kortekaas beat Looser and Strydom by close to five minutes on the first stage and then gradually extended their lead over the next four stages.
Looser and Strydom, however, maintained their second position, and eventually finished well-ahead of the Hungarian pair.
It was the third consecutive year that Looser had reached the podium at the Swiss Epic, after she and Kim Le Court of Mauritius won the gold medal last year and the bronze medal in 2022.
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