VOLUME 56 ISSUE 46 NOVEMBER 19, 2019 P53
ing, I set a three-year plan for the
Trophy [team to win]. It took a
little longer. With the Juniors, we
won it once in '14 [in Argentina],
so within two years. We haven't
really won it since then, but we've
been finishing pretty much sec-
ond every year, so it's not lack of
trying or lack of talent.
"I started in '17 managing the
women and again, like in any rac-
ing, once you start, I always set
a three-year plan. You can never
succeed in the first year with
something. I need to learn what
the women need and what we
need to do. This is the third year,
so if it actually happens now," he
said at the end of day five, "the
but I knew we could do it," Rich-
ards said.
The victory validated the three-
year plan that U.S. Team Man-
ager Antti Kallonen implemented
in 2017 when he took on the
responsibility of adding the wom-
en's team to his charge. "We've
kind of established ourselves as
one of the top teams year in and
year out, and we come here and
we expect always to win," he
said. "We go back seven or eight
years and we were just starting
this program; I got involved in
2012 and we were far away [from
being regular contenders]. Oc-
casionally we got top three.
"But once the program is go-
team leader Tayla Jones on
consecutive days midweek. That
left Jessica Gardiner to soldier on
alone and salvage personal glory,
which she did with a commend-
able fourth overall at week's end
behind winner Franke, Richards
and Daniels.
Individually, Richards thrived
early in the week when it was
dry and dusty. When the weather
and course loop changed on day
three, though, Franke was more
in her element, besting Richards
by 4.73 seconds, though that
wasn't sufficient to completely
erase the deficit to the American.
Franke completed that task the
next day when conditions were
similar, at least in the mountains,
with the German taking over the
lead individually after another day
win with Daniels second-fastest
and Richards slogging through
for third.
"I really struggled in the first
and the fourth tests," Richards
admitted. "It was so muddy I was
mostly just trying to stay off the
ground, but even with trying to do
that, it set me back a little bit."
Richards rallied back to win the
final two days, but Franke stayed
close enough to deny the Ameri-
can top billing in the final class
results by 1:09.95 with Daniels
third, 5:05.93 farther back.
Sheets and Gieger kept them-
selves consistently in the top
10 all week, finishing sixth and
eighth, respectively, when the
race drew to a close.
"I knew it might take us a
couple years to get used to the
whole racing format [of Six Days],
Impressively fast
all week, Josep
Garcia left no
doubt as to
who owned the
E1 class. Here,
Garcia drifts
through the
long, fast paved
sweeper of the
final moto test.
