Looser second at Wines2Whales 

Vera Looser once again excelled abroad when she came second in the elite women’s category at the Wines2Whales MTB race in South Africa on Sunday. 

Looser and her South African teammate Sarah Hill covered the three-day stage race of about 200km through the Overberg in 9 hours 30 minutes and 40 seconds.

Candice Lill and Tyler Jacobs of South Africa finished more than 14 minutes ahead in 9:16:05 to win the gold medals in the elite women’s category, while Margot Moschetti of France and Costanza Fasolis of Italy came third nearly 20 minutes behind Looser and Hill. 

Louis Peens and Vernon Maresch also excelled to win the men’s masters category in 9:41:21, finishing 13 minutes and 10 seconds ahead of the second-placed South African pair of Gordon Gilbert and Erik Kleinhans. 

In the mixed category, Melissa Hinz and George Thiele came third in 11:38:24, finishing 1:17:58 behind the winners, Corne Swart and Sarita Louw of South Africa. 

Christiaan Janse van Rensburg and his South African partner Theuns van der Bank came third in the amateur men’s category in 9:27:09, finishing 11 minutes 49 seconds behind the winners Damian van Ass and Justin Feurer of South Africa. 

In the amateur women’s category, Namibia’s Anique Schoeman and Charly Taylor came fifth in 13:47:24, finishing 1:23:19 behind the winners, Annarin Hanekom and Gerda Richards of South Africa. Another Namibian pair, Monja Scholtz and Birgit Ellinger came 10th in 15:59:09.

In the men’s grand masters category, Nick du Plessis and Chris du Plessis came 10th overall in 11:52:57, finishing 1:52:45 behind the winners Robert Sim and Dawid de Bruin of South Africa.