↓
 
Bikesportnz Posted on by

Josep Garcia top man at 2021 ISDE in ItalyRed Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Josep Garcia has successfully finished the 2021 FIM International Six Days of Enduro (ISDE) as the outright fastest rider.

Winning the Enduro2 class along the way, Garcia’s incredible display of speed and consistency also helped Spain to a runner-up finish in the World Trophy competition, finishing behind the four-rider team from host country Italy (Andrea Verona, Davide Guarneri, Thomas Oldrati and Matteo Cavallo).

FMF KTM Factory Racing’s Taylor Robert finished as the second fastest E2 rider.

Held in the Lombardy and Piedmont regions of northern Italy, the 2021 ISDE challenged well over 600 riders with five days of dry and dusty special test racing, followed by the traditional final day motocross races.

Hot weather greeted riders right from the start of the event with tests becoming tougher, and dustier, as the competition progressed.

Finding the demanding conditions and fast tests very much to his liking, Garcia (KTM 350 EXC-F, pictured here) immediately laid down the gauntlet to his rivals, going quickest overall on the opening day before repeating the feat on day two with an even greater advantage.

It was soon clear that the fight for the overall would be fought between Garcia and Italy’s Verona (Gas Gas), with the pair topping the majority of special tests.

Taking his third consecutive day win on Wednesday, a hard crash on Thursday resulted in Garcia completing the day as second-fastest, albeit just three seconds down on Verona.

With the positions reversed again on day five with Josep finishing fastest by close to 20 seconds, Garcia went into the final motocross on Saturday with a healthy lead in both the overall and the Enduro2 categories.

Riding to ensure a safe finish, yet still wanting to put on a show for the hundreds of fans lining the track, Garcia got a good start in the final motocross before fighting his way through to second place.

Unable to catch and pass Team USA’s Dante Oliveira, Garcia’s runner-up result on the final day secured his win in both the Enduro2 class and saw him complete the event as the overall fastest rider, also helping Spain to their runner-up result in the World Trophy category.

“I’m really happy, it’s a dream come true to win the Six Days overall,” said Garcia.

“Thanks to all my team and KTM for giving me the opportunity to do this. It’s been a really tough week, as I knew it would be tight at the top of the standings and you are forced to focus 100 percent the whole time. The days are very long too with many hours on the bike. My crash on day four thankfully didn’t cost me too much time, and I came out of it okay physically.

“I’m really pleased with my week and my bike has been perfect. Winning four of the five full days is great and I think I only had three falls over the whole week. Sadly, we didn’t quite manage to take the win in the World Trophy, but the team gave their all and to finish as runner-up is really good. It’s been an incredible event for me.”

Dominating the Women’s category, KTM-supported Brandy Richards went fastest on day one by close to two minutes and didn’t look back, extending her lead each and every day from then on.

Comfortable on the fast, dry tests, the KTM 350 XC-F rider helped to give her USA Women’s World Trophy team a near 14-minute advantage going into the sixth day’s motocross races.

Completing her 2021 ISDE with a clear win in the final moto, Richards cemented her place at the top of the Women’s class and secured Team USA the Women’s World Trophy title.

Results – FIM International Six Days Enduro 2021:

 

Overall individual classification:

  1. Josep Garcia (ESP), KTM, 4:14:16.07
  2. Andrea Verona (ITA), GASGAS, 4:16:12.52
  3. Mikael Persson (SWE), KTM, 4:17:46.67
  4. Matteo Cavallo (ITA), TM, 4:19:10.57
  5. Taylor Robert (USA), KTM, 4:19:17.23

 

Enduro 1:

  1. Andrea Verona (ITA), GASGAS, 4:16:12.52
  2. Mikael Persson (SWE), KTM, 4:17:46.67
  3. Lorenzo Macoritto (ITA), TM, 4:20:50.46
  4. Davide Guarneri (ITA), Fantic, 4:20:54.87
  5. Jonathan Girroir (USA), GASGAS, 4:23:24.54

 

Enduro 2:

  1. Josep Garcia (ESP), KTM, 4:14:16.07
  2. Taylor Robert (USA), KTM, 4:19:17.23
  3. Dante Oliveira (USA), KTM, 4:21:13.27
  4. Layne Michael (USA), Yamaha, 4:22:03.22
  5. Thomas Oldrati (ITA), Honda, 4:22:26.76

 

Enduro 3:

  1. Matteo Cavallo (ITA), TM, 4:19:10.57
  2. Matteo Pavoni (ITA), TM, 4:20:18.95
  3. Jaume Betriu (ESP), KTM, 4:20:45.91
  4. Ryan Sipes (USA), GASGAS, 4:24:01.03
  5. Leo Le Quere (FRA), Sherco, 4:24:33.50

 

Enduro Women:

  1. Brandy Richards (USA), KTM, 4:36:27.62
  2. Jane Daniels (GBR), Fantic, 4:46:05.94
  3. Mireia Badia (ESP), GASGAS, 4:46:24.87
  4. Rachel Gutish (USA), Husqvarna, 4:54:49.22
  5. Joana Goncalves (POR), Husqvarna, 4:55:51.41

 

World Trophy Team:

  1. Italy (Verona, Guarneri, Oldrati, Cavallo)
  2. Spain (Garcia, Betriu, Sans, Guerrero)
  3. USA (Girroir, Robert, Michael, Sipes)

 

Junior World Trophy:

  1. Italy (Macoritto, Morettini, Pavoni)
  2. France (Fargier, Le Quere, Criq)
  3. Sweden (Ljungstrom, Norrbin, Ahlin)

 

Women’s World Trophy:

  1. USA (Richards, Gutish, Gallegos)
  2. Great Britain (Holmes, Daniels, Rowett)
  3. Spain (Gomez, Calco, Badia)

 

Photo courtesy KTM Europe

Find BikesportNZ.com on FACEBOOK here    

 

 

Comments are closed.

↑