Great Britain wins ISDE 2022 | Australia third in JWT/WWT

2022 International Six Day Enduro – Day 6

The ninety-sixth edition of the FIM International Six Days of Enduro (ISDE) drew to a close today marking a historical moment for Great Britain, who won the World Trophy team competition for the first time since 1953. Great Britain also secured a debut Women’s World Trophy victory to cap off a landmark week for the passionate enduro nation in Le Puy-En-Velay in France.

Italy successfully defended their Junior World Trophy title, while it was Spain’s Josep Garcia (KTM) who took the individual outright honours for the second year running.

For Team Australia is was a gruelling event, with Todd Waters dislocating his shoulder on Day 4 in a crash, while Josh Green ended up with a compound fracture in his finger following a crash on Day 5, requiring surgery overnight. Both riders had to retire as a result.

For the Australian Junior World Trophy and Women’s World Trophy teams, it was a more successful outing, both claiming third overall with strong and consistent form throughout.

With the ninety-sixth edition of the FIM ISDE complete in France, attention will soon turn to the ninety-seventh edition in San Juan, Argentina in November 2023.

World Trophy Team

A landmark victory, 2022 marks the first time Great Britain have won the World Trophy competition since 1953. In a dramatic turn of fortune, Italy clinched the vice-champion position in the final moments of the Final Cross Test. With team leader Andrea Verona (GASGAS) winning Day Six, the Italians beat Spain to the runner-up result by an incredible five tenths of one second after almost thirteen hours of racing, over six days.

Entering the sixth and final day of racing on the cusp of victory, Great Britain faced a nervous wait for their turn to race the Final Cross Test, late this afternoon. With a four minute and twenty-two second lead over closest rivals Spain, they were all but assured of a World Trophy victory, but still needed a trouble-free ride to claim the win.

With all four riders – Nathan Watson (Honda), Steve Holcombe (Beta), Jamie McCanney (Husqvarna), and Jed Etchells (Fantic) – contesting the final race of the day, everyone held their collective breath as the start gate dropped. Safely through lap one inside the top twenty, they settled into the race.

After eleven nerve-wracking laps, all four riders were home and dry and the celebrations could finally begin, Great Britain were now FIM ISDE World Trophy champions.

Nathan Watson – Team Great Britain

“It is an incredible feeling to win the FIM ISDE, it’s a long time since 1953 when Great Britain last won, so it is a big honour for us to do it. We prepared well, came with a strong team and got the job done. We were consistent all week, winning multiple days and being there when it counts. We’re massively proud of what we achieved today. It’s a real team effort both on and off the track to get this result. So, a big thank you to everyone supporting us along the way!”

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With Great Britain, Italy, and Spain completing this year’s FIM ISDE World Trophy podium, it was host nation France who took fourth, with the United States in fifth.

Australia’s Team had to settle for 21st in the standings, with Todd Waters and Josh Green both retiring on stages four and five respectively with injuries, with a strong performance from Daniel Milner and Andrew Wilksch.

E1

What a year 2022 is shaping up to be for Andrea Verona! Already crowned Enduro1 World Champion, the GASGAS Factory Racing ace made it back-to-back Enduro1 class wins today at the ISDE in France.

Last year’s ISDE was pretty good for Verona by anyone’s standards. But the 2022 edition was even better! Charging to the E1 victory on every day of the prestigious event saw the speedy Italian simply dominate the proceedings. Increasing his E1 lead with every passing day, Andrea topped the Enduro1 class with a near four-minute margin of victory.

With just the relatively simple and traditional Final Cross Test remaining for the final day, making up the time was next to impossible. However, with the World Trophy standings still all to play for, Verona secured a crucial victory, which helped elevate Team Italy into second overall in the final classification.

Andrea Verona – Team Italy

“It’s been another amazing ISDE for me. Winning Enduro1 for the second time was incredible and it has been a great fight with Josep Garcia in the overall competition all week. We really pushed each other, and it was close at the end, but I wasn’t quite close enough! On the Final Cross Test it was a real sprint finish and I suffered with a little arm pump. Racing closely with Josep, we both really wanted that win and I held on which helped Italy move up to second overall in the World Trophy. So, digging deep there really paid off for the team! Overall, it’s been a tough week but a memorable one, and I must thank my team for building me such a great bike for me to race to another win here at the ISDE.”

Zachary Pichon was the E1 runner up, with Jamie McCanney third overall, just ahead of Australian Daniel Milner.

E2

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Josep Garcia has claimed overall individual victory at the 96th edition of the FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE). Riding his KTM 350 EXC-F, the reigning Enduro2 World Champion topped three of the five days at the event before delivering a strong runner-up performance in the final motocross test to take the win by close to one minute. The result marks the young Spaniard’s second consecutive overall victory at the event, following his success in 2021.

Entering Saturday’s final motocross test, Josep enjoyed a near one-minute advantage over his rivals. A strong start saw the 25-year-old get out in front where he stayed until lap five when a small mistake saw him drop down to second. Fighting hard for the remaining laps, Josep narrowed the gap to the leader but settled for second, safely crossing the line to secure his second consecutive individual overall ISDE win.

Josep Garcia – Team Spain

“It feels amazing to get the win at the Six Days again. My week has been amazing! I came into this year’s event with the goal of giving my all on every single day and trying to make a bit of a gap before the final day. I wasn’t able to win every day and it’s true I didn’t ride a completely faultless race – I did make a couple of mistakes including injuring my arm on day three – but I stayed focused and managed to finish on Friday around one minute ahead. With the Six Days you can’t take anything for granted so I knew I still had to have a good motocross race to take the win. After a great start I got out in front and knew I just had stay there without making any mistakes to get the win. I had a small crash in one of the corners and that cost me the lead, but I was able to get going and finish second. It also feels great to get on the World Trophy podium with Team Spain, we had such a good team this year, and everyone has worked so hard. Of course its disappointing to miss out on second by just half a second after such a tough week, but the important thing is we gave 100% every day and we’ll be back next year to fight for the win.”

Runner up in the E2 class was Nathan Watson, ahead of Steve Holcombe. Top Aussie was Korey McMahon.

E3

Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Mikael Persson won the Enduro3 class at the 2022 FIM International Six Days Enduro. Riding his TE 300 at the historic event, the Swede topped his class on each day of competition in France before placing a solid fourth on the final motocross race.

With just Saturday’s motocross test separating him from the top step of the Enduro3 podium, Persson delivered a solid but safe ride on the final day to finish the event off on a high and secure his class win.

Mikael Persson

“I’m pretty happy with my performance over the week. Obviously, it feels great to take the win in E3, and I think I had good consistent speed in all the tests, in the different types of terrain. I know there is a little work to do to get on terms with the guys right at the front – a couple of seconds here and there can mean a bit of a gap at the end of six days. For me, I know I tried my best throughout the whole race. The top 10 in the results is near enough the same as in EnduroGP, so I’m where I should be you could say, but I know I made a couple of mistakes that cost me some time. On day five especially, I really pushed as hard as I could, and it meant I went into the final motocross test nearly one minute ahead of the others in my class. As we know anything can happen on the way to that final chequered flag, so I stayed safe and got a solid finish. It felt great to be riding for the Swedish World Trophy team again this year. Everyone gave their best and we came away with sixth place in the end, not far behind the USA. My focus now switches back to the world championship and the final round where I hope to fight for the E3 title.”

Jaume Betriu was E3 runner-up, ahead of Leo Le Quere, with Andrew Wilksch the sole Aussie in the class.

Individual Overall Results – Top 25

Junior World Trophy

Defending champions Italy have won the Junior World Trophy competition at the FIM International Six Days of Enduro (ISDE) in France. Making it two wins in a row, Italy have added another win to the Junior World Trophy victory they secured at home in 2021, securing the top step of the Junior World Trophy podium in Le Puy-En-Velay.

Leading the class from Day One, the Italians remain unfazed as they entered the sixth and final day of racing to take victory.

Morgan Lesiardo – Team Italy

“It feels amazing to win the FIM ISDE with Italy, I’m very proud to take this victory for my country. We worked hard all week to put ourselves in a good position to take the win. Of course, as defending champions you want to finish on top again, but it is not so easy. It’s been a long and tough FIM ISDE, but a very enjoyable one.”

Despite holding an outside shot at beating Italy, Finland were unable to overhaul their rivals and had to settle for the runner-up result. With a sizeable lead over their closest rivals for the final step of the podium, Australia’s Kyron Bacon, Korey McMahon and Blake Hollis enjoyed a strong Day Six to take third.

Great Britain took fourth overall, with Spain rounding out the top five Junior World Trophy teams.

With the traditional Final Cross Test signing off the racing on Day Six at the FIM ISDE in France, it was the United States’ Austin Walton (Husqvarna) who claimed the final day win of the week.

The American looked good on the fast-paced test, racing clear to a five second margin of victory over Italy’s Morgan Lesiardo (Sherco), with United States’ Mateo Oliveira (KTM) one second behind in third.

After winning all five days so far, many expected France’s Zach Pichon (Sherco) to try for a clean sweep. But Pichon opted to settle for fourth to cement his position as the fastest outright Junior rider in the event’s outright individual classification.

Junior World Trophy Final Results

Women’s World Trophy

It was a historic day for Great Britain today at the FIM International Six Days of Enduro (ISDE) as they won the Women’s World Trophy competition for the very first time.

First introduced to the FIM ISDE in 2007, Great Britain had yet to take a win in the Women’s World Trophy category but finally, following a determined team performance that all changed today in Le Puy-En-Velay, France.

Entering the sixth and final day of racing with a healthy fourteen-minute lead over nearest rivals France, GB held a virtual grasp on the title, yet still needed to get it over the finish line in the Final Cross Test to become champions.

A nervous day indeed for Jane Daniels (Fantic), Nieve Holmes (Sherco), and Rosie Rowett (KTM), but the trio kept their cool and got the job done.

Jane Daniels – Team Great Britain

“This is a big moment for everyone involved here and it is going to take a little while for it to sink in,” told Daniels. “This FIM ISDE has been amazing, tough, and everything in between. We knew starting today that the main objective was to keep it safe and get everyone across the line. It’s a relief to see that chequered flag, we’ll definitely celebrate tonight!”

In the final Women’s World Trophy classification, FIM ISDE hosts France finished as runner-up. Australia’s Jess Gardiner, Emelie Karlsson and Ebony Nielsen joined Great Britain and France on the final step of the podium in third.

The outcome of the Final Cross Test went to United States’ Korie Steede (KTM), who led for the majority of the race to claim a six second victory over Canada’s Shelby Turner (KTM), with Rachel Gutish (GASGAS) in third.

In the battle for the individual classification, there was added delight for Great Britain with Daniels taking outright individual victory. After six days of racing, she won by two minutes and nineteen seconds over Steede, with Spain’s Mireia Badia (Rieju) third.

Women’s World Trophy Final Results