Africa-Press – Lesotho. The 8th Edition of Lesotho Sky Race will get underway on Monday with the 2018 showpiece set to be unique from previous editions. This year the off-road mountain bike event will introduce a new route which Lesotho Sky founder Chris Schmidt says will make the race even more unpredictable.
The overall distance competitors will cover is roughly 360 kilometres over a six day period until the race ends next Saturday. The race will begin with a Metolong loop which is a 60 km trek before an 85km ride from Roma to Malealea on the second day.
According to Lesotho Sky Race director Darol Howes, riders will then duel in Malealea for two days – 36km on day three and 56km on day four – before the race returns to Roma on the fifth day with an 85km trail. The last day of the race will contain a Roma loop which will be a 42km ride to conclude the event.
Organisers said they are expecting another exciting edition of a race that started with only 22 riders in 2011 and has grown into a major event now categorised as a ‘Class One’ competition by the International Cycling Union (UCI), meaning it carries qualifying points towards the Olympic Games.
Today the Lesotho Sky attracts riders from as far afield as France, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland and Schmidt said 66 riders from 11 countries are expected this year. The Lesotho Sky is contested by teams of two riders and Lesotho will be represented by three teams.
Most eyes will on the ACE-The Sufferfest African Dream Team pair of Phetetso Monese and Tumelo Makae who will team up for the Alliance Insurance team while Malefetsane Lesofe and Katleho Manasi will ride for Standard Lesotho Bank.
The only local ladies team, meanwhile, will comprise young prospect Likeleli Masitise and Bakang Ebudilwe of Botswana under the Vodacom Lesotho banner.
Schmidt said the reason the total number of entrants is down to 66 from 90 is because of a new mountain bike race launched by Sky Adventures in March this year called the Kingdom Enduro.
“We are always looking at ways how we can improve cycling in the country and this year the number of participants is down due to the new race we launched called Kingdom Enduro,” Schmidt said.
“A lot of athletes that participated (in the Kingdom Enduro) said they will not be coming back for the Lesotho Sky but they will come back next year for the Enduro.
For this new race we didn’t invite the media because it was a new thing and we were testing but it was a success. ”
Schmidt thanked the Lesotho Sky’s sponsors.
“This is our 8th edition of the Lesotho Sky and it couldn’t have been possible without the sponsors and Alliance Insurance have been with us since day one and we really appreciate that,” he said.
“Standard Bank has been supporting us since 2012 and Lesotho Sky is now recognised by the International Cycling Union and the riders earn points here to improve their rankings, now to be recognised by the UCI it means you’ve got to meet certain requirements that include the prize money.
”
This year’s race will mark the first time Olympian Monese partners with a local rider in Makae. In 2017 Phetetso teamed up with Stuart Marais from South Africa and the duo claimed silver.
ACE Team manager Mark West said it is important for local riders to perform well and earn points at the Lesotho Sky in order to improve their UCI rankings.
West lamented that Lesotho lost lot of points by missing out on the African Mountain Bike Championships earlier this year causing the country to drop to 41st in the UCI world rankings. West also warned his riders to be at their best against the French BMC team will include highly-rated French cyclist Basile Allard.
