South Africa's Zellhuber and Hill win 2018 Lesotho Sky title

The 2018 Lesotho Sky is in the books with the title going to
Team Garrun-Tib Insurance

The South African duo of Reinhard Zellhuber and Andrew Hill won the sixth and final stage of the Lesotho Sky in Roma on Saturday to be crowned 2018 champions of the annual mountain bike showpiece.

The Garrun-Tib Insurance pair completed the 42 kilometres final stage at the Roma Arena in a time of one hour, 57 minutes and 29 seconds (1:57:29) beating the Rebloch Power French team of Allard Basile and Remy Bourdon by eight seconds.

Lesotho’s Team Alliance Insurance duo of Tumelo Makae and Phetetso Monese finished the final stage in 2:07:55 to complete Saturday’s podium.

The three teams also finished the overall classification in the same order after six challenging days of racing.

Zellhuber and Hill took 2018 Lesotho Sky gold with a final classification time of 17:23:18.

In the end it was a comfortable victory for the South African duo as they finished almost six minutes better than the fancied French pair of Basile and Bourdon who logged an overall time of 17:29:16.

In third place, Makae and Monese finished the race with a final total time of 18:58:46.

Stage Six Results:

Elite Men:

1. Reinhard Zellhuber & Andrew Hill (Garrun-Tib Insurance) 1:57:29

2. Allard Basile & Remy Bourdon (Rebloch Power) 1:57:37

3. Tumelo Makae & Phetetso Monese (Alliance) 2:07:55

Open Men:

1. Rene Waldvogel & Daniel Siller (Stoeckli) 2:49:42

2. Jens Hitzeroth & Andreas Krensel (The Tall Ones) 3:02:02

3. Danie van Tonder & Kristian Steckler (Love The Ride International) 3:04:41

Mixed Teams:

1. Darryn Stow and Ila Stow (Lesotho Sky Lovers) 2:58:11

2. Kylie Hanekom & Nicholas Webb (Bike Hub) 2:58:11

3. Marion Hemmerling & Hansjerg Bosler (Bavarian Bears) 3:21:07

Solo Men:

1. Axel Strauss 2:20:09

2. Joe Fritsch 2:33:14

3. Gary Cooper 2:39:22

Solo Women:

1. Regina Marunde 2:39:22

2018 Lesotho Sky Overall Classification:

Elite Men:

1. Reinhard Zellhuber & Andrew Hill (Garrun-Tib Insurance) 17:23:18

2. Allard Basile & Remy Bourdon (Rebloch Power) 17:29:16

3. Tumelo Makae & Phetetso Monese (Alliance) 18:58:46

Open Men:

1. Jens Hitzeroth & Andreas Krensel (The Tall Ones) 25:54:23

2. Rene Waldvogel & Daniel Siller (Stoeckli) 26:03:48

3. Danie van Tonder & Kristian Steckler (Love The Ride International) 26:15:11

Mixed Teams:

1. Kylie Hanekom & Nicholas Webb (Bike Hub) 25:23:59

2. Darryn Stow and Ila Stow (Lesotho Sky Lovers) 25:43:19

3. Marion Hemmerling & Hansjerg Bosler (Bavarian Bears) 27:56:21

Solo Men:

1. Axel Strauss 20:35:37

2. Joe Fritsch 23:24:16

3. Gary Cooper 23:29:37

Solo Women:

1. Regina Marunde 23:24:06

Monese, Makae claim Lesotho’s first stage win at 2018 Lesotho Sky

Stage Four of the 2018 Lesotho Sky belonged to Team Alliance's
Phetetso Monese and Tumelo Makae

Lesotho claimed its first stage win of the 2018 Lesotho Sky Race after Phetetso Monese and Tumelo Makae charged to victory in the fourth stage of the six-day race in Malealea today.

Monese and Makae, who are racing for Team Alliance Insurance, completed the 56 kilometre stage in a time of two hours, 30 minutes and 53 seconds (2:30:53) to beat out Garrun-Tib Insurance’s Reinhard Zellhuber and Andrew Hill of South Africa by just two seconds

Rebloch Power’s Allard Basile and Remy Bourdon of France arrived in third place six minutes later.

On Friday the Lesotho Sky will head from Malealea and back to Roma, a gruelling ride of 86km. The race will then reach its climax with a 42km Roma loop on Saturday.

In the overall race classification, the South African pair of Zellhuber and Hill has taken the overall lead with two days to go. The Garrun-Tib Insurance pair, who won Tuesday’s stage, has a total time of 11:17:10 after four days.

Despite winning two stages (on Monday and Wednesday) the pre-race favourites Basile and Bourdon have dropped to second after a costly Day 4. The Frenchmen are just over five minutes adrift of Zellhuber and Hill with a total time of 11:22:58.

Lesotho’s Monese and Makae are in third place with a 12:24:18 time after four days.

Stage Four Results:

Elite Men:

1. Tumelo Makae and Phetetso Monese (Alliance) 2:30:53

2. Reinhard Zellhuber and Andrew Hill (Garrun-Tib Insurance) 2:30:55

3. Allard Basile and Remy Bourdon (Rebloch Power) 2:36:42

Open Men:

1. Jens Hitzeroth and Andreas Krensel (The Tall Ones) 3:35:41

2. Fourie Rossouw and Gerhard Erasmus (Storytellers) 3:40:17

3. Rene Waldvogel and Daniel Siller (Stoeckli) 3:57:18

Mixed Teams:

1. Kylie Hanekom and Nicholas Webb (Bike Hub) 3:40:23

2. Darryn Stow and Ila Stow (Lesotho Sky Lovers) 3:40:25

3. Marion Hemmerling and Hansjerg Bosler (Bavarian Bears) 4:08:18

Solo Men:

1. Axel Strauss 3:05:30

2. Joe Fritsch 3:09:19

3. Gary Cooper 3:14:33

Solo Women:

1. Regina Marunde 3:14:33

General Classification:

Elite Men:

1. Reinhard Zellhuber and Andrew Hill (Garrun-Tib Insurance) 11:17:10

2. Allard Basile and Remy Bourdon (Rebloch Power) 11:22:58

3. Tumelo Makae and Phetetso Monese (Alliance) 12:24:18

Open Men:

1. Fourie Rossouw and Gerhard Erasmus (Storytellers) 16:34:55

2. Jens Hitzeroth and Andreas Krensel (The Tall Ones) 16:57:22

3. Danie van Tonder and Kristian Steckler (Love The Ride International) 17:08:53

Mixed Teams:

1. Kylie Hanekom and Nicholas Webb (Bike Hub) 16:29:47

2. Darryn Stow and Ila Stow (Lesotho Sky Lovers) 16:49:09

3. Marion Hemmerling and Hansjerg Bosler (Bavarian Bears) 18:12:42

Solo Men:

1. Axel Strauss 13:29:06

2. Gary Cooper 15:17:13

3. Joe Fritsch 15:30:53

Solo Women:

1. Regina Marunde 15:17:13

Phetetso Monese and Tumelo Makae team up at 2018 Lesotho Sky Race

Phetetso Monese is going for gold alongside Tumelo Makae at this
year's Lesotho Sky Race...

Lesotho’s premier cyclists Phetetso Monese and Tumelo Makae are teaming up for this year’s Lesotho Sky Race which started today and ends on Saturday

The ACE-The Sufferfest Lesotho MTB Team cyclists are racing under for Alliance Insurance this week and are part of 33 teams competing at the annual mountain bike showpiece.

This year’s running of the Lesotho Sky is the eighth edition of a race that has grown from strength to strength each year since its launch in 2011 and now carries International Cycling Union (UCI) ranking points.

This year 66 cyclists from 11 countries have registered to take part with South Africa leading with 37 the entrants while Lesotho has eight.

The other competitors come from as far afield as Germany and the USA.

2018 Lesotho Sky participants by country:
Lesotho	8
South Africa	37
Germany	5
USA	3
France	2
Belgium	1
UK	1
Netherlands	1
Belgium	1
Switzerland	1
Austria	1

This year is the first time 2016 Olympian Monese is teaming up with a local cyclist in the race contested by teams of two riders.

Last year Monese paired up with Stuart Marais from South Africa and the duo won silver.

This year Monese is looking to go one better alongside Makae who is now based in Switzerland as part of a Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Scholarship.

In total, Lesotho has three teams at this year’s Lesotho Sky. Standard Bank Lesotho has a team comprising Malefetsane Lesofe and Katleho Manasi.

There is also a Vodacom Lesotho women’s team made up of the promising Likeleli Masitise and Botswana’s Bakang Ebudilwe.

Other prominent riders at the Lesotho Sky 2018 include the French Olympic pair of Basile Allard and Rémy Bourdon.

In total, competitors will cover just over 360 kilometres across six days.

The race began today with the 60 kilometre Metolong loop which passed by Thaba Bosiu and Qiloane mountain. Tomorrow cyclists will embark on an 85km ride from Roma to Malealea.

Cyclists will then race in Malealea for two days before the race returns to Roma on Friday. The 2018 Lesotho Sky will conclude with a 42km Roma loop on Saturday.