Lejla Tanović Wins UCI S1 Race in Banja Luka

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - BiH representative and the most successful cyclist of our country won the four-day stage race of UCI S1 category held in Banja Luka.

With a dominant victory, our competitor earned another 120 UCI points, which is awarded for first place in the general classification.

Tanović, as the leader in the general classification, wore the yellow jersey after the first stage, where she gained an advantage of slightly over 3 minutes over the second-placed Frenchwoman Mantei Manon, a competitor from the Massi Academie team.

The fact that the four-time Balkan champion is in excellent form this season was shown in the third marathon and the most difficult stage, which was held on Banj brdo.

Tanović finished the 60-kilometer course with two thousand meters of elevation gain with an advantage of over 30 minutes over the second-placed Frenchwoman. The last circuit stage was held at Kastel, where Lejla recorded her fourth stage victory and defended her title from last year's edition of Grand Prix Banja Luka.

"Stage races are always demanding, but I am very happy to have won and earned 120 new UCI points that will help me advance on the UCI list. I started the first two stages reservedly, considering I still felt tired from the race in Slovakia, however, before the start of the toughest third stage, I felt great and rode at my own pace from the beginning, actually deciding the race before the last stage," said Lejla Tanović.

The next competition for our competitor is the UCI Marathon Series in Italy, which will serve as the final preparation before the World Championship, which will be held on October 25th in Turkey.

"Lejla showed great experience in the stage race in Banja Luka and managed to ride safely on all four stages, meaning without any technical defects, and to win. A large number of races have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, so it is difficult to maintain competitive form, however, Lejla has shown with her results that she is in great form before the World Championship, which will be our main goal this season," said national team coach Amar Njemčević at the end.