Looser set for Paris roads

Vera Looser will be among the sizeable African contingent in the women’s elite road race at the Paris Olympic Games on Sunday. 

She will line up against 29 rivals in the women’s road race starting at 14h00, which concludes the cycling events on the road.

The Namibian cycling star will be taking part in her third Olympics and is considered a pioneer for African women in the sport at the games.

The final road cycling event will start and finish in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower on the Pont d’Iéna that crosses the Seine between the Trocadéro Gardens and the Champ de Mars.

The race will cover 158km, with 1 700 metres of climbing and nine named ascents, and finish on three challenging circuits in central Paris that visit the iconic Montmartre area of the city.

Along with Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio of South Africa, Looser has helped blaze a trail for riders from other African countries who have been missing from the start lists.

Obtaining work permits to race in Europe, where riders can develop their professional careers and fulfil the qualification criteria, has complicated matters for many riders.

The increase in participants in the women’s road race and the widening of qualification criteria has meant that more women can compete from a broader range of countries.

At the Paris Olympics, the African continent will be represented by nine women in the road race; two in the time trial; three in the mountain bike cross country event and two in track racing.

African women competing in the Paris Olympic Games cycling races are:

Individual time trial – Diane Ingabire (Rwanda) and Djazilla Mwamikazi (Rwanda);

Mountain bike cross country – Djazilla Mwamikaze (Rwanda), Candice Lill (South Africa) and Aurelie Halbwachs (Mauritius);

Road race on August 4 – Nesrine Houili (Algeria), Awa Bamogo (Burkina Faso), Eyeru Tesfoam (Ethiopian competing for Refugee Olympic Team), Kimberley Le Court-Pienaar (Mauritius), Vera Looser (Namibia), Ese Lovina (Nigeria), Diane Ingabire (Rwanda), Tiffany Keep (South Africa) and Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (South Africa);

Track Cycling: Women’s Omnium – Ebtissam Zayed Ahmed (Egypt).