NMNM: Fantastic race for Tanja, only thing missing was a top result


Tanja did extremely well on her first World Cup race of the season. She was on the verge of the very nice surprise in Nové Mesto na Morave, but got a tire puncture in the last lap and things even got worse from there. Tanja was 38th on the end, but that is not a proper reflection of the race, it also didn’t take good spirits from here.

Classic venue in Nové Mesto na Morave and Tanja have a long history together, after all this is where Tanja won her first UCI MTB World Cup. Today she was racing on the same venue and was again on the verge of a very nice surprise. She was better with each of the laps, all the way to the second half of the last lap when she lost pressure in the rear tire and the race was suddenly over for her.

“2022 season is different for me, I race on the races of my own choosing and I this is why I always race very motivated and at 100 %. This is how I also raced today, on my first World Cup event of the season. I’m very happy with the development of the race, of course not so much with the result. Bad luck hit in the very last lap and the result doesn’t give the proper reflection of the race. I’m super happy with the feelings I had during the race, I’m now even stronger and I know that I can match other girls. This only gives me additional motivation for training. I already look forward to the next races,” explained Tanja after the race.

What happened?

The track in NMNM is known as one of the more technical tracks, today was all of that plus super fast thanks to bone-dry conditions. Tanja managed to get to P18 in the last lap, with option to even gain more places. Last time coming through Vertical Drop she got a feeling that she lost some pressure in the rear tire, but wasn’t sure about it and decided to continue with the race. “You’re not stopping on the World Cup if you’re not sure,” adds Tanja.

She already passed the technical zone when things got worse very quickly. She lost the pressure and the rear tire, but continued with her race. On the BMX section things got even worse… she hit hard with the naked rim and broke it, only option now was to run to the finish line.

Tanja explained how the race developed: “Race in Nové Mesto was completely dry, on this venue we didn’t have a race like this for years. I didn’t liked that at first, the speed was higher than usual. I was behind the top-30 from the start and at that time I already knew that I will only go higher. It was a proper race from start to finish, only thing missing was a good final result, but I’ll deliver that next time. I’m far for disappointed when I see that I can be competitive.”

Tanja has a lot of racing experience and will overcome the result but will know how to take positive feelings to the next races.

Foto: Lawrence Lollo Cozzutto, Grega Stopar