At the head of the FIM International Six Days of Enduro (ISDE) the battle rages on between Spain’s Josep Garcia (KTM) and Italy’s Andrea Verona (GASGAS). On Day Five it was the turn of Verona to take victory. However, it was by the narrowest of margins with only four hundredths of a second separating the duo.
All day the pair went back and forth for victory. Garcia shot out to an early lead winning ST1 – the Airoh special test in Le Puy En-Velay. He then went on to win the following two special tests before Verona fought back.
Impressing all on the ST4 MOTUL test, Verona levelled the score in his favour to enter the final ST5-Airoh test with fourteen hundredths of a second lead over Garcia. True to form the Spaniard fought back to win the test but it would not be enough. Verona set the second quickest time to secure the Day Five win.
In the outright classification, the advantage sits largely in Garcia’s favour entering Day Six. With one minute in hand over Verona, the Spaniard looks poised to defend his FIM ISDE outright crown.
The battle for overall victory pulled Verona clear of his Enduro1 rivals to comfortably secure his fifth category win of the week by forty seconds. France’s Zach Pichon (Sherco) was second, with Great Britain’s Jamie McCanney (Husqvarna) third.
While not getting overall honours on Day Five, Garcia still won Enduro2. The battle for the remainder of the top three was tight. France’s Hugo Blanjoue (KTM) beat Great Britain’s Steve Holcombe (Beta) by one second to finish as runner-up.
Sweden’s Mikael Persson (Husqvarna) once again topped Enduro3. France’s Leo Le Quere (Sherco) placed sixteen seconds behind in second, with Spain’s Jaume Betriu (KTM) completing the top three.
The ninety-sixth edition of the FIM ISDE concludes with the traditional Day Six Final Cross test. Coverage is LIVE on the FIM ISDE Facebook page, starting at 08.06CET for the first of the Club Team category races. The Trophy categories take to the track from 13:55CET. Don’t miss it!
