Looser on top of the world 

Vera Looser once again put Namibia on the world map when she won the UCI Cross Country Marathon World Cup series at Lake Placid, USA on Sunday. 

After winning the first leg in Novo Mesto, Slovenia in May, and coming third  at the second leg in Megeve, France in July, Looser clinched the overall series when she beat Rosa van Doorn of The Netherlands in a sprint to the line in the third and final leg at Lake Placid.

Both cyclists completed the 100km marathon in a time of four hours 58 minutes 29 seconds, while Looser’s closest rival for the overall series title, Lejla Njemcevic of Bosnia Herzegovina finished third in 4:59:00.

Looser yesterday told The Namibian that it was quite a tactical race. 

“It was a rather flat race, so the climbs weren’t long enough to really make a difference while the technical parts, the single trails were not difficult enough to make much of a difference either, so the leading four women stayed together for quite a long time – it was me, Lejla, Rosa and Janina Wüst of Switzerland,” she said. 

“On the last lap, on the last little climb, Rosa attacked, and I managed to stay with her, while we dropped Lejla and Janina. Lejla managed to catch up again but then she somehow took a wrong turn, I dont know what she qwas doing, because we had done the lap three times already, and by the time she realised that and turned around, Rosa and I had quite a big gap. But I don’t think the results would have changed much because Rosa and I are the better sprinters and it would have come down to a sprint anyway,” she added. 

Looser and Van Doorn were neck-and-neck over the final sprint to the line, but she said she was determined to win the race. 

“It was a very close sprint between me and Rosa to the line, there were just a few centimetres between us, but I really wanted to win this or at least come second because then I knew I would also win the overall series, so that was quite cool,” she said. 

“During the race I always felt in control, and I was never out of my comfort zone – it was hard because there were always little short climbs that were brutal, but I think this kind of racing suits me so that was really nice,” she added. 

Looser saids she was proud of her achievement.

“Winning the World Cup is quite an achievement, it’s really cool to win that over three different races, and I think it also shows that I’m quite a complete rider, because the races were quite different in characteristics,” she said.

“I’m always proud to wear the Namibian flag on my chest although today was the last time that I was wearing the Namibian national jersey because the national marathon championships are next weekend in Namibia and unfortunately I will not be there to defend my title, so from now on I will be riding in a normal kit again,” she added. 

Looser’s triumph in the world cup, follows on another impressive performance a week ago when she came seventh at the UCI MTB Marathon World Championships at Snowshoe, USA.

“The couse at the world champs was a bit different – it definitely suited the cross-country riders more and they are also super strong, so they got a gap at the beginning and the maintained it till the end. I think my seventh place was still a good result, but I would obviously still like to win a medal at the world champs some day, so I’ll just keep on trying,” she said. 

Alex Miller, meanwhile, also competed at Lake Placid on Sunday, coming 13th overall in the elite male category 4:04:11. Simon Schneller of Germany won the race in 3:57:36, followed by Martin Stosek of the Czech Republic in 3:57:37 and Fabian Rabensteiner of Italy in 3:57:38.