VOLUME 58 ISSUE 36 SEPTEMBER 8, 2021 P89
MYOWNRACE
15 DANTE OLIVEIRA
11TH JWT/3RD E2/10TH
INDIVIDUAL
"I was just trying to give it a li le more ev-
ery day," he said. "Going into the Six Days,
the first couple days I was super-hesitant,
like scared to fall and stuff. I just wanted to
keep it on two and be smooth, honestly. I
didn't really want to do anything crazy. But
I just started ge ng a li le more com-
fortable on the bike and sliding it around
those loose turns, trying to really be flat-
tracking it and le ng the bike get loose. I
guess I got more confidence every day."
13 RYAN SIPES 3RD
WT/4TH E3/16TH
INDIVIDUAL
"It's been a tale of two riders for me," Ryan
Sipes said a er day four, and it turned out
to be true for the week as a whole. "The
first day was pre y good; days two and
three were really bad; day four was a lot
be er—I rode a lot more like myself and I
was able to sit around 15th or 16th overall,
which is not where I used to be, but I don't
train for this stuff anymore [due to his
commitments to race a variety of different
events nowadays]. The way I rode today
was s ll not probably my absolute best,
but it was eight out of 10; I was hanging in
there."
WWT INTEREST
GROWING
This was Rachel Gutish's sixth
ISDE, but this was her first since
Spain in 2016, well before the
WWT team fell under the wings
of the men's program. "It wasn't
an organized program the way it
is now," she said. "The other big
change within the team is just the
level of interest there is back home
and how many women want to
go. In Germany in 2012 they were
so desperate for women to fill the
team, they picked 16-year-old Ra-
chel Gutish, because that was their
best option [laughs]. The fact that
that was the best option, that's re-
ally not great and of course it was a
complete disaster. Things got better
after that."
GRITTI TRIED TO
GRIT IT OUT
Seventy-four-year-old Italian Ales-
sandro Gritti entered his home
country's ISDE, but the conditions
were a bit much for the enduro leg-
end and he withdrew on day two.
ISDE TRAGEDY
Unfortunately, there was one fatality
connected with this ISDE. When
Arnold Staal failed to return to the
paddock at the end of day two, the
Dutch federation informed the or-
ganizers who quickly sent workers
to search the course. By the time
they found him, though, he was
deceased; cause of death was not
revealed. Staal was a member of
the MCCZ Club team and riding in
the C3 class.
Briefly...
