Lõiv took victory in all three stages at the Volcat BTT (UCI C3) event, securing first place overall with a time of 7:00.33.

She said: "I decided to go to the Volcat tour at the last minute. The organizer invited me, and we were living close to the race center, so I thought, why not do something different in my preparation?"

"The first day was hard because I'd been doing tougher training sessions," Lõiv continued.

"At the same time, the course was very enjoyable. It felt like riding a cross-country Olympic (XCO) — many technical sections and mostly single-track," she added.

"The second day was a marathon, and I approached it calmly to save energy for the final day. I rode with the other women for a long time," Lõiv said.

"Around halfway, I broke away on my own, but I took the wrong turn with a group of men, so by the end, the gap to the second-placed woman was small. I lost about two minutes due to that detour, and it killed my motivation. I took the final stretch calmly and made sure not to miss any more turns," Lõiv continued.

Lõiv triumphed in the first stage with a time of 2:06.14, three minutes and 30 seconds ahead of second-placer Estibaliz Sagardoy Zunzarren (Saltoki Conor Berriainz).

In the second stage, Lõiv beat Figueras Garangou by one minute and five seconds, and in the third, she posted 1:31.17, ahead of Sagardoy Zunzarren (+1:46).

Lõiv noted the final stage was tough in and among all the veteran men's cyclists: "And it almost turned into a brawl. I rode with the second-place woman for over half the race," she said, adding: "All in all, it was a nice race /.../ Very well organized, and the trails at Volcat are enjoyable — not too difficult, but constantly exciting. Many of the climbs are on gravel and roll well, and the descents are technical but not dangerous."

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