Italian Mattia Furlan is the big winner of the 2021 BMX Race Ljubljana – he won both races of the weekend, on both occasions ahead of fellow Italians. Slovenian riders are strongest in younger categories, this is where they’ve shown the most and given hard time to the strong international competition.

Title of BMX Race Ljubljana report is more than just a word game, top-3 finishers from the Sunday’s UCI C1 race were in the top three positions – and in the same order – on the Italian national champs earlier in the season. Mattia Furlan was again the strongest, winning two out of three motos in the elite category on the C1 race. Martti Sciortion was fastest in the second moto and took final 2nd place, Michele Tomizioli was third.

“For me, this was a perfect weekend. I won the Saturday race in the 17+ category, but Sunday’s race was the main event. It really was a good race, the results were also great – same podium as on our national BMX champs. Race in Ljubljana is smaller than some around Europe, but sometimes it’s harder to win this kind of race. It feels great, a superb victory and a good practice ahead of the world championships in three weeks’ time,” said Furlan after the race. Mattia was a main favorite for this race, he knows the track well and is now top Italian rider – 18th on the UCI rankings and first reserve for the Tokyo BMX race (Italy only had one spot).

Wave of young domestic riders has made a strong stand in all junior categories and has shown how fast the scene is developing. C1 victory for Slovenian went to Tim Rovtar (15-16 years), Val Lampič (13-14 years) & Rok Bajc (Cruiser). Others – Jošt Ložar & Mak Breznik Falk for example, both already podium finishers on the European cup – had to settle with victories in motos and awareness that they will be in the advantage in their age group in the following season. Strong field from 7 European countries made racing good and intense, perfect for further development of the racing scene.

Racing weekend in Ljubljana was almost perfect – not even the short storm couldn’t spoil the atmosphere. Mattia Furlan of course left Ljubljana with the biggest smile on his face, he likes racing here and was successful in the past as well. “I appreciate the work of the organizers, I feel welcome here. Of course I also went down to the city for lunch and dinner, this is also part of the reason why I like coming back here.”

Main sponsor of the race is the City of Ljubljana, other main partners are Zavarovalnica Triglav, Unior, Sinter Brakes, Factory Store, mtb.si and Slovenian Cycling Federation.

Videos
Race 1 highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJuwqwbTKtc
Race 2 (UCI C1) full race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYdg6aJKqqo&t=2358s

Links
Official website & replay of 2020 race: www.bmxraceljubljana.si
Event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/3780360838667435/
Race #1 2020 video highlights: https://www.facebook.com/KDRajd/videos/320645955752892/