France are no stranger to winning the FIM International Six Days of Enduro (ISDE). Visiting the top step of the podium many times, they have been a formidable nation when it comes to battling for FIM World Trophy team honours.
However, it is the years between 2008 and 2017 that will long be remembered as a golden era for France in the FIM ISDE. Across a ten-year span, they raced to victory an incredible seven times in a manner that was nothing short of domination.
With France proving the dominant force in the FIM Enduro World Championship at that time, that winning mentality naturally carried across to the annual FIM ISDE. With a field of riders to choose from that were already world champions or vice world champions, they were almost in a position of being unable to lose.
Success began in Greece in 2008, when Julien Gauthier, Jordan Curvalle, Rodrig Thain, Christophe Nambotin, Sebastien Guillaume, and Nicolas Deparrois claimed victory. France went on to win again in Portugal in 2009 and Mexico in 2010.
Finland on home soil in Kotka beat them to victory in 2011, but twelve months later France were back on top in Germany. The race itself was almost a French tricolour whitewash, with the team pushing hard to occupy the individual outright podium too. In the form of their lives, riders like Antoine Meo, Johnny Aubert, Pela Renet, and Christophe Nambotin were pushing the level of enduro to heights few could match.
That dream team selection would remain almost unchanged for 2013 and 2014, delivering France two more wins in Italy and Argentina, before Australia denied them a four-in-a-row in 2015 in Slovakia.
The United States also sneaked in a debut win in 2016, but France came back with vengeance in 2017 to win on home soil in Brive-la-Gaillarde. Jeremy Tarroux, Loic Larrieu, Christophe Nambotin, and Christophe Charlier made it a memorable week for spectators.
However, the golden era for French domination appears to have ended and now victories are harder to come by. With the legendary names of Meo, Renet and Nambotin returning to the ISDE to race in the Club Team Awards this year, French enduro is in a transition of sorts as we wait for the new guard to establish itself at the sharp end of the competition.
Whether Till de Clercq, Christophe Charlier, Hugo Blanjoue and Léo Le Quere can be responsible for seeing the tricolour waved from the top step of the World Trophy podium in Le Puy-en-Velay remains to be seen. But if anything a French-based FIM ISDE will serve as a catalyst to spur on the next generation of French riders.
The FIM International Six Days of Enduro takes place in Le Puy-en-Velay, France from 29 August to 3 September.
