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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126844
Morgan Kavanaugh gets his card punched before starting the third loop. The start/finish area sco reboard listed the rider entry by nation. Rocky terrain was the order of the day in the 15 sections which were ridden three times. Here . Austrian Walter Luft carefully picks his line. Trial des Nations French sweep in Italy By M .H . Wicker PI ANO RANCl O ,ITALY, SEPT. 29 For the second straight year, the French team of Thierry Michaud, G iles Burga t, P h ili p p e Berlatier and P ascal Couturier proved they are without equal in o bserved trialsby easily winning the Trial des N at ions, T he U .S. learn wa s led by MorK h ith 16 ga n ava na ug. WI , . -yearo ld Ma rk Manniko, Kip Webb 16 and Ryan Young Iillin g o u t th e entry. T he team finished 11th after fin ishi ng ninth in last year's event in Pol an d . T he orga n izers la id o u t a IS-secti on loo p sprea d o ut o ver a n area of seven mi les wh ich was ridden three tim es. T he to p th ree indi vidual scores per team were co u nted to wa rds th eir o vera ll sco re. Th e terrain co ns isted o f a lot o f rock-strew n g ro un d wi th p lenty o f big ste ps to climb. T he o pe n ing cere mon ies in cluded a parad e o f na tions which the U.S. team led . T he Europea n tr ial s co mmunit y pl aces q u ite a bit o f irnportan ce o n a tte n da nce by th e U.S. since we are th e o n ly team which must ra ise a ll m on ey fo r o ur participation th rough th e private sector wh ere th e res t o f the team s a re funded by clubs and/ or or ganizat ions within th eir o wn co u ntries. Newl y-crown ed Observ ed T ria ls Wor ld Cha m p io n Mi ch aud set th e pace in th e firs t ro u nd with an 18point sco re which was eq ua lled by teamm at es Berl a rier a nd Couturier. _The t h ree co ntinued th eir torr id pa ce with. Mi ch aud h ~ v i ~ g .th e hon or o f posllng t h ~ to p ind ividual sco rt:, a full 12 pOInts better tha n Belgian Eddy Lej eun e, th e man he took th e Wor ld Cham p io ns h ip crown from . Mann iko, th e AMA/ NATC Hi gh Sc hoo l Na tio na l Cha m pi on, had th e hardest time of th e U.S. team . Despit e bein g the yo unges t rider in th e enti re en try, Fanri c ri der Mann iko sho wed a good deal of maturity a nd fini sh ed well within th e tim e fra me wo rk the re is no g race period in th e Trials des Nat ions as th ere is in th e World Championshi p ro u nds . For We bb a nd Youn g th is was th eir fir st time in Eu ropean co m pe ti tion and the first time ei ther had been o uts ide th e U.S. Webb, r id ing a Beta , a nd Famic rider Youn g were th e most p opu la r with t he specta to rs because o f thei r go-for- it rid ing styles and o utgo in g personal it ies in co n tra st to many o f th e rid ers wh o arc no t qu it e so o u tgo ing. T he sen io r rider i n th e gro u p was Kavanaugh , wh o part icipated in last year 's event and pa ssed o n wha t he had learn ed in Pol and to the rest o f th e team . TheSpanish nat ion al team o f Lui s C all ach , Andreu Codina, J ordi Tarres a nd Juan Freixas pl aced second in t Iinal standings .w it b .272. U1Nk .. . For American Ryan Young the Trial des Nations marked his first competition-and trip-outside the U.S. Young was one of the crowd favorites. 67 mark s behind Fr an ce's winning tally o f 205. It a ly fini shed third with a score o f 299. • Resu lts OVERAl l 1. France: Phil ipp e Ber tatter . Pascal Couturier , . Thier ry M ich a ud. Gill es Burgs t (2051 2. Spai n: Andreu e odi na. Lu i s Gall ach . Jo rdi ra rres . Juan Freixes (272). 3 . Italy: Diego Basis. Aen ato Chiabeno. Gia nn i raee rem. Da nillo Gale a zzi (2991. 4 . Belgium: Edd y Leje un e. Eric Lejeune. Co r ~ do nnier (3 161. 5. Sweden : lars Karlsson. Jo nny An derssen. lindho ln (378). • •• q. •Gl e a ~ rjlfil' :.1Iqels",~n" i Y ~I~s, IIi ~ald. son (381) . 7. Finland: J ah n Floessel. Sip pon en (391). 8. East Ger ma ny: Haaf, Hoffman , lewadovski (4 13). 9 . Austria : Lu tt. Sch nei der. Wo lf (502). 10 : Swit zerl and : Buch w al der. Ei riz. U nderberg (519). 11. Un ited St ates: M orga n Kavanaugh . Mark M an niko. Kip Webb. Ryan You ng (5291. 12 : Holla nd: Me irdres. Van Ecnekevort , Wa lrave (532) . 13 : Pola nd (61 01. INDIVID UAL OVERAU t . Michaud (Fan) 55; 2. Eddy LejeunelHon) 67; 3 Ber lat ier (A pr) 75: 4 . Cout uri er (Bet) 7 5; 5. Tarres (Be l ) BO; 6 . Gall ach (Mer ) 8 2; 7. Bos is lMon) 90 ; B. Ch iab ert o (Fan) 9 . Burg s t (Yam ) 100; 10. Codin a (Mon) ' 10 r ~ •. __ • • ~ _ _