Looser and Haw near front of Croatia's Epic
Mountain biking
The Namibian and South African were only beaten by Monica Calderon of Colombia and Tessa Kortekaas of Netherlands.
Namibia’s Vera Looser, partnering for the first time in a major race with Bianca Haw of South Africa, rode a consistent race to finish in overall second position among the UCI women’s category of the 4Islands Epic in Croatia last weekend.
The 4Islands MTB stage race is a two-person, five-day staged mountain bike race, traditionally held on Croatia’s Kvarner islands of Krk, Cres, Lošinj and Rab, and has become part of the Epic series Ironman group.
Over the total distance of 260 km, with 5,610 metres of climbing, Looser and Haw finished each of the five stages in second position behind the orange jersey wearers Monica Calderon of Colombia and Tessa Kortekaas of Netherlands, except when they finished third in the final stage.
This year differed from previous ones in that the Ironman group bought the Kvarner race and presented “4Islands MTB race” as part of their Epic series along with the other seven races. Thus, Croatia and Kvarner now stand alongside Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Wales, Andorra and South Africa’s Absa Cape Epic.
The race takes place every day on a different island, which is a demanding logistics, but also an unforgettable experience for the 600 competitors from more than 30 countries.
Calderón and Kortekaas claimed their third Epic Series win with a 23-minute lead.
Looser commented on her social media: “We rocked the rocks for five days and finished second in the general classification! What a place, what a race, @4islandsmtb! I loved teaming up with @biancahaw for @safariessence_titanracing_team and @efficientinsure.”
UCI Men's final standings
1 Buff Megamo (Hans Becking of Netherlands and Wout Alleman) 10:28:29.
2 KTM Spada powered by Brenta Brakes (Nicholas Pettina and Ramon Vantaggiato, both of Italy) 10:37:25, +8:56.
3 Hexatri (Pierre Billaud and Théo Dupras, both of France), 10:39:54, +11:25.
4 Klimatiza Orbea (Sebastian Gesche of Chile and Roberto Bou Martin of Spain) 10:44:18, +15:49.
5 Singer KTM Racing (Andreas Seewald and Jakob Hartmann, both of Germany) 10:49:37, +21:08.
UCI Women's final standings
1 Cannondale ISB SPORT (Monica Calderon of Colombia and Tessa Kortekaas of Netherlands) 12:55:10.
2 Safari Essence Efficient Insure (Bianca Haw of South Africa and Vera Looser of Namibia) 13:19:07, +23:57.
3 Cannondale ISB Sport 2 (Costanza Fasolis of Italy and Pilar Fernández of Spain) 14:24:55, +1:29:45.
4 Slovak national team (Janka Keseg Stevkova and Martina Krahulcova) 14:47:01, +1:51:51.
5 Velo Kartell (Claudia Krenn of Austria and Nina Gunther of Germany) 14:59:33, +2:04:23.
Grand masters men
1 Rodes Gherdëina (Thomas Piazza and Viktor Paris, both of Italy) 12:42:26.
34 Hollard Namibia (Jaco Lamprecht and Silvio Suardi) 19:26:06.
The 4Islands MTB stage race is a two-person, five-day staged mountain bike race, traditionally held on Croatia’s Kvarner islands of Krk, Cres, Lošinj and Rab, and has become part of the Epic series Ironman group.
Over the total distance of 260 km, with 5,610 metres of climbing, Looser and Haw finished each of the five stages in second position behind the orange jersey wearers Monica Calderon of Colombia and Tessa Kortekaas of Netherlands, except when they finished third in the final stage.
This year differed from previous ones in that the Ironman group bought the Kvarner race and presented “4Islands MTB race” as part of their Epic series along with the other seven races. Thus, Croatia and Kvarner now stand alongside Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Wales, Andorra and South Africa’s Absa Cape Epic.
The race takes place every day on a different island, which is a demanding logistics, but also an unforgettable experience for the 600 competitors from more than 30 countries.
Calderón and Kortekaas claimed their third Epic Series win with a 23-minute lead.
Looser commented on her social media: “We rocked the rocks for five days and finished second in the general classification! What a place, what a race, @4islandsmtb! I loved teaming up with @biancahaw for @safariessence_titanracing_team and @efficientinsure.”
UCI Men's final standings
1 Buff Megamo (Hans Becking of Netherlands and Wout Alleman) 10:28:29.
2 KTM Spada powered by Brenta Brakes (Nicholas Pettina and Ramon Vantaggiato, both of Italy) 10:37:25, +8:56.
3 Hexatri (Pierre Billaud and Théo Dupras, both of France), 10:39:54, +11:25.
4 Klimatiza Orbea (Sebastian Gesche of Chile and Roberto Bou Martin of Spain) 10:44:18, +15:49.
5 Singer KTM Racing (Andreas Seewald and Jakob Hartmann, both of Germany) 10:49:37, +21:08.
UCI Women's final standings
1 Cannondale ISB SPORT (Monica Calderon of Colombia and Tessa Kortekaas of Netherlands) 12:55:10.
2 Safari Essence Efficient Insure (Bianca Haw of South Africa and Vera Looser of Namibia) 13:19:07, +23:57.
3 Cannondale ISB Sport 2 (Costanza Fasolis of Italy and Pilar Fernández of Spain) 14:24:55, +1:29:45.
4 Slovak national team (Janka Keseg Stevkova and Martina Krahulcova) 14:47:01, +1:51:51.
5 Velo Kartell (Claudia Krenn of Austria and Nina Gunther of Germany) 14:59:33, +2:04:23.
Grand masters men
1 Rodes Gherdëina (Thomas Piazza and Viktor Paris, both of Italy) 12:42:26.
34 Hollard Namibia (Jaco Lamprecht and Silvio Suardi) 19:26:06.
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article