Lejla Tanović wins second place at UCI Marathon Series race in Slovakia

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The best BiH cyclist and 14-time national champion Lejla Tanović won second place at the UCI Marathon Series race in Slovakia. In the 80-kilometer race with 2500 meters of elevation gain, our competitor took second place behind Blaža Pintarić from Slovenia, currently the world's top-ranked marathon cyclist and silver medalist from last year's World Championship. The race in Slovakia is part of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Marathon Series, which awards points for the UCI ranking. After the latest points update, Tanović holds 71st place in the UCI ranking list, which is also the best career placement for our competitor.

"The race was extremely demanding, considering I rode at a very high intensity for four hours. Marathon is not my primary discipline, but due to the limited number of competitions because of the coronavirus, we decided I would participate, and I am glad that I showed good form and won second place. I am happy with my best placement on the UCI list so far, however, there are still a large number of races left until the end of the season, so I will surely improve it further," said Lejla Tanović.

This is the first medal from the UCI Marathon Series for BiH, and Tanović plans to compete in two more races and the World Championship in the marathon discipline by the end of the season.

"Lejla rode very skillfully and was just over a minute behind the first position when she missed the track near the end of the race and lost a lot of time before returning to the track. Nevertheless, she managed to leave third-placed Keseg Stevková Janka, the Slovak national champion, behind her and maintained second position until the end of the race. We are satisfied with the form shown, and now we are heading into the final preparations for the World Championship," said coach Amar Njemčević to conclude.

The next competition for the four-time Balkan champion is a four-day UCI S1 stage race in Banja Luka, which Lejla won last season.