Fourth in Albstad, first in Nové Mesto and now also first in Val di Sole. Tanja Žakelj won her second World Cup ahead of Katerina Nash and Emily Batty and extender her lead in the overall rankings by 160 points ahead of Maja Wloszczowska.
“I started the race with the World Cup leader jersey, but I wasn’t under pressure because of that. However I knew that I’m now the one that has to lead, take the charge and go forward. Other girls now know me and know how fast I am. I just did the best I could,” explained Tanja Žakelj after the round 3 of the UCI MTB World Cup in Val di Sole, Italy. Tanja really was in charge – she took an early lead from the start and then rode in second position. In the last lap she attacked with everything, passed Nash and finished the race with 20 seconds gap. That gave her enough time to slowly pass by her friends and family by the finish line. Seconds later she was again in the hands of world cycling media and images of another amazing victory went around the globe.
“It was fantastic out there on the course. Spectators and especially Slovenians were cheering for me all the time and that gave me additional strength,” also said Tanja.
Her bike setup was a lot different for this race. Just before the race day her bike was equipped with SRAM XX1 components (she was racing XX group before that), but she also had new Schwalbe Thunder Burt tire on the rear and Lizard Skins’s new XC grips on her bike.

All photos by Grega Stopar

It is a great pleasure to be back in Val di Sole and watch the best riders in the world on the course like this. Val di Sole course is one of the hardest in the circuit, with non-stop delivery of rocks, roots and dust. Žiga Pandur is super strong and great in technical sections, so it was easy for him to qualify for the Sunday race. He was very good with 40th time, with less than 15 seconds down on Gee Atherton. Jess Stone unfortunately didn’t qualify, she was couple of seconds behind the time that would take her in top 20. Junior rider Jure Žabjek also had a good day, he was 14th in the seeding run.
Žiga Pandur’s comment on the timed run and tire choice: “I didn’t thought that I was super fast, I know I can do better. But I didn’t make any big mistakes and so I also didn’t loose speed. You have to be smooth on the course like this, it’s very dusty and full of holes. Schwalbe’s new tire Magic Mary works great here, it is the terrain that lets the tire like this excel. For final run I will do some changes in my lines and with that little extra speed I will try to improve on my result.”
Jure Žabjek on his seeding run: “The top part was no so good, the second half was much better. I did a bigger mistake towards the end, but besides that I’m happy with my riding. Course is changing all the time, so I will have to do some changes for the Sunday.”
Saturday is reserved for the cross-country events, we are of course fully focused on the ladies race – with Tanja Žakelj defending the World Cup leaders jersey. Live on Red Bull TV at 11:30!
All photos by Grega Stopar

Jess had some bad luck yesterday, today it was Žiga’s time… He was fast on his final run of the weekend, but then he slipped in one of the corners and with the time lost all hopes for good result were gone. He finished the race in Fort William in 70th position.
Žiga Pandur after the race: “I was simply to fast in one of the corners, had to go off the perfect line and lost control. It was hard to pull bike back on the course because it got caught in the tape. After that the concentration fell and I just went down to the finish. I’m far from happy with the result, since I was going really fast today. I have to forget about this right away and focus on the race next weekend in Val di Sole.”
It is going to be another great week in Italy with triple event and our gravity and cross-country riders there on the same venue. Žiga will be there to get his personal best and Tanja to defend the World Cup leaders jersey.
Photos by Grega Stopar

Qualifications round in Fort William was just a day in the office for Žiga Pandur, who continues his streak of good results in the World Cup. He qualified 56th with the time of 4:59.52, 18,4 seconds behind Danny Hart, today’s fastest man on the slopes of Nevis Range. Jess Stone didn’t finish her run, he had a flat on one of the wooden sections and that finished her racing weekend.
“I couldn’t find my rhythm on the Friday training, it just felt weird. This was the first time I rode dusty course like this in the season, so I guess this was part of it. Today it was much better, on the training and in the timed session. I made some small mistakes, but on such a long and hard track this is not a big deal. I will try to perfect some of the details for tomorrow and I’m sure it’s going to fly,” said Žiga in the pits.
Žiga will go on the course at 14:54; if you are not among 20.000+ people in Fort William watching the race follow it live on Red Bull TV.
Photos by Grega Stopar