ISDE 2021 – Day Three
Rider’s completed their final circuit of the 2021 ISDE’s Valle di Staffora route on Day 3, with Italy strengthening their hold on both the World Trophy and Junior World Trophy standings in the dry and dusty conditions. In the Women’s World Trophy class, the USA continued to dominate, with Josep Garcia again leading the day’s outright results and maintaining his overall combined lead.
World Trophy – Day 3
Marking the mid-way point of the race, it was again Italy that led the way in the World Trophy competition, extending their overall advantage from one-minute twenty-two seconds to three minutes and twenty seconds. Edging ever further ahead of Spain, Italy’s riders Andrea Verona (GASGAS), Davide Guarneri (Fantic), Thomas Oldrati (Honda), and Matteo Cavallo (TM), all delivered strong performances.
With gaps starting to increase between teams, despite dropping further behind Italy, Spain were able to edge further ahead of the USA, extending their advantage to one-minute and forty-eight seconds. Once again led by the day’s overall fastest rider Josep Garcia (KTM), Spain remains best placed to capitalise should any issues beset Italy during the last half of the event.
Josep Garcia
“I’ve really enjoyed battling with Andrea (Verona) today, when you have to fight for every second and keep pushing, pushing, pushing all the day, it’s the best way to race. I knew coming into today that it would be like that, and my goal was just to keep on pushing. It’s been a good day for the team as well. We can all look forward to a new course tomorrow.”
With France having held down the fourth-place spot through days one and two, at the end of day three it was Sweden, helped by strong performances by both Albin Elowson (Husqvarna) and Mikael Persson (KTM) who moved into fourth. After three days of competition the two nations are separated by less than ten seconds.
World Trophy Team Overall Results – Day 3
| POS | TEAM | DAY 3 | TOT |
| 1 | TEAM ITALY | 2:20’36.67 | 7:15′ 27.70 |
| 2 | TEAM SPAIN | 2:22’35.20 | 7:18′ 36.90 |
| 3 | TEAM UNITED STATES | 2:23’08.75 | 7:20′ 28.00 |
| 4 | TEAM FRANCE | 2:23’53.96 | 7:21′ 49.79 |
| 5 | TEAM SWEDEN | 2:22’54.25 | 7:22′ 24.63 |
| 6 | TEAM PORTUGAL | 2:28’17.35 | 7:37′ 54.41 |
| 7 | TEAM CZECH REPUBLIC | 2:27’59.35 | 7:39′ 25.86 |
| 8 | TEAM CANADA | 2:31’12.88 | 7:42′ 37.91 |
| 9 | TEAM GERMANY | 2:29’47.37 | 7:43′ 21.80 |
| 10 | TEAM FINLAND | 2:31’06.51 | 7:44′ 28.57 |
Junior World Trophy
The end of day three saw no change in the overall top five in the Junior World Trophy category with Italy now more than three minutes ahead and finishing fastest on the day. Comfortably ahead of the USA, who in turn sit ahead of France, Italy’s juniors seem determined to match their senior teammates every step of the way at this year’s ISDE.
Just over a minute outside of the top three in fourth, Sweden enjoyed a strong day three, unquestionably helped by Max Ahlin (Husqvarna), who ended the day as the eighth fastest rider overall.
Max Ahlin
“I’m really pleased with the way things have gone today, and a little surprised. I tried to push a little more on the last test on day two and found some good speed. I guess I brought that speed into today and everything worked out great. I liked today’s test, but I’m looking forward to new tests tomorrow. Let’s see how the last few days go for our team.”
One notable change in the Junior World Trophy competition was Finland dropping from sixth at the end of day two to fourteenth and last at the close of day three. With team rider Peetu Juupaluoma (Husqvarna), are exiting the event, Finland became the first Junior World Trophy team to drop to two riders. Benefiting the most, Chile moved into sixth.
Junior World Trophy Team Overall Results – Day 3
| POS | RIDER | DAY 3 | TOT |
| 1 | TEAM ITALY | 2:23’52.26 | 7:23′ 15.64 |
| 2 | TEAM UNITED STATES | 2:25’13.23 | 7:26′ 25.41 |
| 3 | TEAM FRANCE | 2:25’55.58 | 7:27′ 40.56 |
| 4 | TEAM SWEDEN | 2:25’16.05 | 7:29′ 32.99 |
| 5 | TEAM SPAIN | 2:28’19.85 | 7:36′ 39.50 |
| 6 | TEAM CHILE | 2:32’52.94 | 7:52′ 08.87 |
| 7 | TEAM CZECH REPUBLIC | 2:34’10.29 | 7:58′ 44.54 |
| 8 | TEAM NORWAY | 2:35’57.18 | 8:00′ 31.14 |
| 9 | TEAM NETHERLANDS | 2:38’28.15 | 8:06′ 18.05 |
| 10 | TEAM GERMANY | 2:38’00.01 | 8:10′ 06.17 |
Women’s World Trophy
The top three nations in the Women’s World Trophy class are the same as they were at the end of day two with the USA ahead of Great Britain and Spain. Now close to nine minutes ahead of Great Britain, team USA once again saw Brandy Richards (KTM) lead the way as she set the pace as the fastest outright female competitor.
Just as the USA extended their advantage over Great Britain, so did Great Britain extend their lead over Spain. The two countries are now separated by close to one minute. More than one hour now separates the fastest Women’s World Trophy team, the USA, from Italy, who sit eighth in class.
Women’s World Trophy Team Overall Results – Day 3
| POS | TEAM | DAY 3 | TOT |
| 1 | TEAM UNITED STATES | 1:46’18.38 | 5:29′ 04.00 |
| 2 | TEAM GREAT BRITAIN | 1:49’26.55 | 5:37′ 50.50 |
| 3 | TEAM SPAIN | 1:49’52.60 | 5:39′ 06.58 |
| 4 | TEAM PORTUGAL | 1:52’54.50 | 5:48′ 42.32 |
| 5 | TEAM FRANCE | 1:53’37.53 | 5:50′ 14.35 |
| 6 | TEAM SWEDEN | 1:55’04.61 | 5:59′ 27.69 |
| 7 | TEAM GERMANY | 2:10’05.33 | 6:23′ 36.02 |
| 8 | TEAM ITALY | 2:04’19.85 | 6:36′ 25.70 |
Garcia tops overall and E2
After enjoying a sizeable margin of victory as the outright fastest rider on day two, on day three Josep Garcia (KTM) was just under three seconds faster than Andrea Verona (GASGAS) with Mikael Persson (KTM) third.
Verona and Persson also sat at the top of the Enduro1 class results on day three with Italy’s Davide Guarneri (Fantic) enjoying his best day of the event so far in third.
In Enduro2 it was again all about Josep Garcia (KTM) with USA’s Taylor Robert second fastest despite a big crash in the opening special test. Producing his best result of the event so far, Sweden’s Albin Elowson (Husqvarna) placed third fastest E2 class rider.
Taylor Robert
“It’s been a strange day for me. I crashed hard on the first test, then felt great on the final test, but my times don’t seem to tell the same story. Other than that, I’m just pleased to get through today. The tests and some of the time controls are super beat up now, tomorrow’s new trails and tests can’t come soon enough.”
Italian riders Matteo Cavallo (TM) and Matteo Pavoni (TM) put in the two fastest Enduro3 class times on day three, closely followed by Spain’s Jaume Betriu (KTM) in third.
The FIM International Six Days of Enduro continues on day four with competitors taking on the new one hundred and ninety-eight-kilometre Valle di Curone lap.
2021 ISDE Results – Individual Top 20 Overall
| Pos | Rider | Cat | Nat | Man | Total |
| 1 | GARCIA Josep | E2 | ESP | KTM | 2:22’47.72 |
| 2 | VERONA Andrea | E1 | ITA | GASGAS | 2:23’58.50 |
| 3 | PERSSON Mikael | E1 | SWE | KTM | 2:24’43.03 |
| 4 | CAVALLO Matteo | E3 | ITA | TM | 2:25’28.94 |
| 5 | ROBERT Taylor | E2 | USA | KTM | 2:25’30.40 |
| 6 | PAVONI Matteo | E3 | ITA | TM | 2:25’43.15 |
| 7 | MACORITTO Lorenzo | E1 | ITA | TM | 2:26’26.61 |
| 8 | ESPINASSE Theo | E1 | FRA | HONDA | 2:26’27.74 |
| 9 | OLDRATI Thomas | E2 | ITA | HONDA | 2:26’42.50 |
| 10 | BETRIU Jaume | E3 | ESP | KTM | 2:26’44.70 |
| 11 | GUARNERI Davide | E1 | ITA | FANTIC | 2:26’58.76 |
| 12 | BLANJOUE Hugo | E2 | FRA | KTM | 2:27’13.53 |
| 13 | OLIVEIRA Dante | E2 | USA | KTM | 2:27’29.06 |
| 14 | MICHAEL Layne | E2 | USA | YAMAHA | 2:27’36.64 |
| 15 | ELOWSON Albin | E2 | SWE | HUSQVARNA | 2:27’38.58 |
| 16 | GIRROIR Jonathan | E1 | USA | GASGAS | 2:27’46.97 |
| 17 | AHLIN Max | E2 | SWE | HUSQVARNA | 2:27’57.36 |
| 18 | LE QUERE Leo | E3 | FRA | SHERCO | 2:28’02.04 |
| 19 | SIPES Ryan | E3 | USA | GASGAS | 2:28’27.94 |
| 20 | BASSET Antoine | E3 | FRA | BETA | 2:28’29.87 |
Images courtesy of ISDE
Source: MCNews.com.au