Spain took the early lead as the 96th edition of the FIM International Six Days Enduro got underway at Le Puy-en-Velay, in southern France.
Immediately setting the pace, Spain’s Josep Garcia (pictured) hit the front by setting the quickest time on the first of day one’s five special tests (32 minutes, 50.77 seconds). The KTM rider was not hanging about and went on to dominate all five tests.
Strong support from his team-mates ensured Spain would lead the World Trophy classification by 22 seconds at the end of day one.
“I won every test today, so it has been a great start to the week. I just tried to be smart with my riding and push at a comfortable level. I’m happy to have put a result in like that on day one. Overall, it is brilliant to lead the World Trophy classification with Spain. We are really motivated for this and want to do our country proud.”
While Spain carved out an early lead, behind them Italy and Britain are separated by just fractions of a second. Italy, in second place, are just three hundredths of a second in front of Britain.
A further four seconds behind Britain are the United States in fourth. The United States figure highly in the overall individual results and will look to close that gap to Italy and Britain on day two.
Home favourites France got their FIM ISDE off to a solid start on day one, finishing fifth overall. However, they are already one minute behind leaders Spain and will need to fight back on day two.
Positions sixth to tenth are a little more spread out. Bolstered by Mikael Persson (Husqvarna) ending his day in third overall, Sweden are sixth.
Australia and Belgium ended day one in seventh and eighth respectively, with Australia 3m35.31 off leaders Spain. Completing the top 11 World Trophy nations are Finland, Poland and Germany.
Team New Zealand – Callan May, Dylan Yearbury, Tom Buxton and Seth Reardon – are 12th overall out of the 22 nations after day one, ahead of Venezuela, Austria and Mexico.
Helensville’s Buxton was best-performed of the Kiwi contingent in the World Trophy Team classification, clocking a time of 35 minutes, 25.28 seconds (48th fastest individual overall on day one).
E1 CLASS
Australia’s Daniel Milner (Fantic) topped the E1 class for day one, ahead of Andrea Verona and Thomas Oldrati, while Junior rider Zachary Pichon was fourth.
E2 CLASS
Spain’s Josep Garcia was the fastest E2 competitor, clear of Steve Holcombe and Hugo Blanjoue.
E3 CLASS
Mikael Persson topped the E3 class for day one, a second and a half ahead of Jaume Betriu, with Leo Le Quere in third.
Junior World Trophy
Defending nation Italy have shot out to an early Junior World Trophy team lead in this year’s ISDE, leading closest rivals Finland by over one minute and 32 seconds, with Great Britain in third.
Drama hit home nation France with team rider Antoine Alix (KTM) exiting the race with a mechanical issue in the opening special test. Sweden and the United States also suffered similar problems on day one with both nations each losing a rider to drop them out of the running order.
However, at the head of the standings it was all about Italy. Collectively the trio of Morgan Lesiardo (Sherco), Enrico Rinaldi (GasGas) and Claudio Spanu (Honda) looked impressively strong as they stretched out a comfortable lead to top the opening day of racing.
Behind them, Finland slotted into second. Britain sits third overall on day one to match their position in the provisional World Trophy standings and are about 33 seconds behind Finland.
Chile enjoyed a strong start to their week with fourth, while Czech Republic rounding out the top five.
New Zealand’s three-rider team – James Scott, Tommy Watts and Wil Yeoman – are eighth after day one.
Oparau’s Scott was best-performed of the Kiwi contingent in the Junior World Trophy Team classification, clocking a time of 35 minutes, 34.43 seconds (52nd fastest individual overall on day one).
While France’s hopes of a Junior World Trophy win ended early on day one, Zach Pichon (Sherco, the son of former motocross world champion Mickael Pichon) still gave them reason to cheer with him finishing as the fastest Junior Trophy rider in sixth overall (with a time of 33 minutes 34.53 seconds).
Meanwhile, Helensville’s Josh Jack, who was runner-up in the 2022 New Zealand Enduro Championships, is the best-performed individual out of the Kiwis in the club rider standings. He is eighth overall, with a time of 36 minutes, 20.80 seconds after day one.
Women’s World Trophy
The United States leads the Women’s World Trophy category after day one.
Eager to make their mark in France, the US were unstoppable. Brandy Richards (KTM) and Korie Steede (KTM) finished first and second in the individual women’s classification, and with team-mate Rachel Gutish (GASGAS) close behind in sixth.
The Americans end day one with a healthy three minute and 55 second lead over Britain, with France in third.
From the first of the five special tests, Richards was on top form. Winning the opening special test, she was never headed for the rest of the day and comfortably topped the classification by one minute and 14 seconds.
The fight for second was close with Steede battling hard with Britain’s Jane Daniels (Fantic). The duo swapped positions during the day, before Steede finally got the upper hand on the final test.
Photo courtesy KTM
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