With a break in the Borilli FIM EnduroGP World Championship schedule it is time for the FIM International Six Days of Enduro (ISDE) to take the spotlight. The ISDE remains the oldest event in the FIM calendar and is the event when individual rivalries are put to one side for six intense days in favour of national honour, as the team prizes command the main -focus of everyone’s attention.
When it comes to the FIM World Trophy competition, each nation can enter a maximum of four riders with the best three scores used to give combined daily and end-of-event team results. In the FIM Junior World Trophy competition, for riders under twenty-three years of age, three riders are entered per nation with the three best scores used to give combined daily and end-of-event team results. In the FIM Women’s World Trophy competition two rider scores are counted, with the team with the best time getting the victory.
The ISDE was last held in Italy in 2013 when the island of Sardinia hosted this historic competition. The Italian return was postponed in 2020 due to the global COVID pandemic, but this year the FIM ISDE has attracted riders from all over the World, both World-class competitors and enthusiastic amateurs, all wanting to enjoy the single most-prestigious event on the enduro calendar.
USA are defending World Trophy champions, having won at the last ISDE in Portugal in 2019, and are back to try to hold on to their title. Their line up of Taylor Robert (KTM), Ryan Sipes (GASGAS), Michael Layne (Yamaha), and Jonathan Girroir (GASGAS) is purely focused on grabbing gold again. Home advantage and a deep desire not having topped the blue-ribbon class since 2007 means that the Italian World Trophy team of Andrea Verona (GASGAS), Davide Guarneri (Fantic), Thomas Oldrati (Honda), and Matteo Cavallo (TM) puts them amongst the favourites. Spain are the other fancied nation with their quartet comprising of Josep Garcia (KTM), together with Jaume Betriu (KTM), Marc Sans (Husqvarna), and Cristobal Guerrero (Beta).
Unfortunately travel restrictions mean that the Australians will not be able to defend the Junior World Trophy they won 2 years ago. Their absence means that this class is definitely up for grabs, but with two of the fastest junior riders in the 2021 Borilli FIM EnduroGP World Championship among their three-rider squad of Lorenzo Macoritto (TM), Manalo Morettini (KTM), and Matteo Pavoni (TM) Italy are perhaps the stand out nation in this division. The American trio of Cody Barnes (Honda), Dante Oliveira (KTM), and Austin Walton (Husqvarna) will be out to improve on the silver medal they took in 2019. There are fourteen Junior teams in total.
Americans Brandy Richards (KTM), Rachel Gutish (Husqvarna), and Britney Gallegos (Husqvarna) were the gold medal winners in the Women’s World Trophy last time the event was run, although will again have to see off the threat of Germany and of Great Britain if they are going to triumph this time around. Germany will be represented by Stefanie Sonnenberg (Beta), Tanja Schlosser (Beta), and Samantha Buhmann (Beta), whilst Great Britain will field the trio of Jane Daniels (Fantic), Nieve Holmes (GASGAS), and Rosie Rowett (KTM).
A tough six days in the saddle is in store for all the riders, with the first three days – starting today – of competition including one lap of one hundred and ninety-five kilometres, meaning seven-and-a-half hours of riding each day and completing numerous cross and enduro special tests along the way. Days four and five will feature a different course to that used during the first half of the event, again featuring a mix of cross and enduro special tests and totalling one hundred and ninety-eight kilometres. The sixth and final day on Saturday 4 September will feature the closing motocross races, at the Valle Scrivia circuit in Cassano Spinola.
