Historic British ISDE victory!
For the first time since 1953(!), Great Britain (Steve Holcombe, Nathan Watson, Jed Etchells, Jamie McCanney) has won the FIM International Six Days of Enduro. The strong duo of Watson and Holcombe took the British in tow and defeated the 2021 champions Italy, who at the last minute sent Spain to third place.
Individually, the Spaniard Josep Garcia (photo below), just like last year, was the star of this ISDE edition. In France he took the scratch ahead of Andrea Verona, Nathan Watson, Steve Holcombe and Zach Pichon. This feat also made Garcia the very first rider to win the scratch two consecutive years.
The 21-year-old Pichon, reigning junior world champion, rode the race of his life in front of his home crowd. Zach was by far the fastest in the Junior scratch. In the World Trophy, however, home country France (Till De Clercq, Christophe Charlier, Hugo Blanjoue, Leo Le Guere) had to settle for fourth place due to a lack of star drivers.
The French “Enduro Dream Team” eased the pain somewhat with a successful performance by veterans Antoine Meo, Christophe Nambotin and Pierre-Alexandre Renet. The trio that was so successful for France last decade now won bronze in the Club Team Trophy after the Czech winners (KBS Team) and the Americans from XC Gear.
British people are winning on all fronts
Individual victories this year went to Andrea Verona in E1 (photo below), Josep Garcia in E2 and Mikael Persson in E3. Striking detail: all three of these riders compete for Team Farioli!
The Italians were the best in the Junior World Trophy and after the retirement of the super fast Brandy Richard (Team USA), the British ladies (Jane Daniels, Rosie Rowett, Nieve Holmes) were awarded the victory. World Championship leader Jane Daniels (photo above) also won the scratch as a bonus. With this, Team GB scored a double in Le Puy en Velay!
Due to the absence of Antoine Magain, Belgium was considerably weakened at the start. Yet Erik Willems, Dietger Damiaens, Dimitri Vanhoenacker and Tim Louis fought bravely. The Belgians finished 8th. One place better than last year in Italy. Leader Willems fought back the pain after an early hand injury and also had to deal with mechanical problems. Nevertheless, he finished a creditably 31st in the scratch, Damiaens (photo below) finished 36th. Tim Louis ended his ISDE with a surprise. In the cross test he sent his Rieju to a masterly 14th time!
The Dutch Junior riders (Tommie Jochems, Mike Bokslag, Marc Zomer) finished eighth. The young Belgians (Florian Tichoux, Dante Nijs, Mika Vanderheyden) finished their ISDE in 10th. Next year the FIM International Six Days of Enduro will take place in San Juan, Argentina.
Photos: Dario Agrati, Future7media
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