Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

80th International Six Days Enduro The Italians won their first ISDE since 2000. talian riders Simone Albergoni, Alessandro Botturi, Alessio Paoli, Alessandro Zanni, Guiliano Falgari and Alessandro Belometti claimed victory in the World Trophy team competition in Slovakia, defeating prerace favorites Finland by just over one minute. Despite only a handful of Trophy team riders claiming a capacity-class win during the week, the six riders performed consistently throughout the event to claim Italy's first Trophy-class win since 2000, in Spain. But it was France that topped the Trophy team competition at the end of the first day, finishing ahead of Italy and Finland after all its team riders placed well within their respective classes. Disappointing for France, though, their placing at the top of the Trophy team results didn't last long, as on day two they lost a rider due to injury, and the team never returned to the top. For the Italian team, though, things went well on each and every day of the I event, extending its advantage to three minutes over France at the end of the fourth day. With Italy looking all but ensured of victory with just two days to go, Finland fought back on day five to close in to within one minute of Italy, while France dropped out of the reckoning, having seen two more of its riders retire. Despite Finland's best efforts on the final day, Italy did exactly what it needed to do to win the event and even managed to extend the advantage it held over Finland at the end of day five. While a little over one minute separated Italy and Finland, Sweden, which placed third, finished some 10 minutes adrift. Sweden and Italy rounded out the top five. Great Britain's Trophy rider David Knight topped the Enduro 3 class on each and every day, as well as finishing the event as the fastest overall rider. Making no mistakes during the event, the factory KTM rider did what no British rider has done before and topped the event outright. 36 oaOBER 5,2005 • CYCLE NEWS Italy had more reason to celebrate at the end of day six, as its Junior Trophy team also claimed victory in Slovakia, having controlled the junior class from day one. With France haVing come closest to beating the Italian juniors on day one, Italy extended its advantage day by day, eventually winning by seven minutes, with Finland placing not too far behind France. The Finnish RiMPKK 2 Club team of Jani Laaksonen, Kari Tiainen and Pekka Viljakainen looked likely to be the team to beat in the Club team competition at the Six Days, but just as the Finnish Trophy team failed to Win, so too did the RiMPKK 2 squad. Hitting a tree stump and putting a hole in the ignition cover of his 525 KTM, seven-time World Champion Kari Tiainen failed to finish the first day of the competition, ending his team's hopes of a good result. At the end of the week, the Italians Giovanni Sala, Mario Rinaldi and Stafan Passeri - once again claimed victory in the Club team competition. The 80th ISDE was a bittersweet event for France, as it went from leading the World Trophy team competition and the Enduro I class at the end of the first day to finishing 15th-best nation and 12th best in the EI class. With just two World Enduro Championship regulars within its squad, France showed that, despite having no former or reigning World Champions, they had a strong team with apparently no weak riders. But no sooner did France begin to look like the nation to beat - reveling in the slippery, grassy special tests on day one - than they found themselves down to five men, as Raphael Andre, who had placed second in the EI class on day one, crashed out of the event on day two. Dropping to second behind eventual Trophy team winners Italy on the second day, France kept up the pressure on the Italians during days three and four, helped in no small part by Marc Germain's c1asstopping performances in the EI category. But on day fIVe, the wet day, the day that

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