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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1539721
WIND IN THE P60 Italian team of Matteo Grattarola (Beta), Lorenzo Gandola (Beta) and Francesco Titli (TRRS) improved throughout the open- ing lap to pull ahead of France's Hugo Dufrese (Beta), Benoit Bincaz (Electric Motion), and Alexandre Ferrer (Montesa), who finished the lap on 56. As the Spanish began to tighten their grip, Italy briefly led over Great Britain before two consecutive perfect scores of 10 on sections four and five dropped them back to third place, a position they couldn't improve despite some heroic ef - forts in front of their passionate home fans. After a second lap score of just nine brought their total to 30, the Spanish team's winning margin of 49 reflected their dominance. However, spirits were nearly as high under the British tent, where Peace and the Hemingway brothers, both making their TdN debuts, celebrated narrowly beat - ing Italy by just six points. Fourth-placed France finished on 138, and that was 40 ahead of the Norwegian trio of Sondre Haga (GasGas), Jarand-Matias Vold Gunvaldsen (TRRS) and Jone Sandvik (Sherco). Japan has dominated the International Trophy for the past two years, but this time its team of Tsuyoshi Ogawa (Beta), Shinya Hirohata (Montesa), and Jin Kuroyama (Sherco) had to settle for second place after a strong performance from a United States team made up of Josh Roper (GasGas) and broth - ers Alex Myers (Scorpa) and Will Myers (Sherco). On a low-scoring day where the ability to handle pressure was crucial, the U.S., last year's silver medalists, shared the lead at the halfway point with a total of four, alongside the German trio of Jonathan Heidel (Beta), Johannes Heidel (Beta) and Paul Reumschuessel (TRRS), with Ja - pan another point behind in third. Remaining incredibly calm and collected, on its second lap the U.S. team dropped their score by a point to finish with a total of seven, leaving them four ahead of a two-way tie for second place, with Japan edging out Germany on a tie-breaker. "It's been an amazing week - end, and we have had such a good day today," said Roper. "We rode phenomenal all day and were able to cover for each other, even on sections we messed up, so that really helped our score." In the Women's division, it was a close battle to the end with a tie-breaker needed to determine the overall winner, which went to Team Spain. Both Spain and Italy totaled 54 points, while Great Britain took third with 62 points. Team USA, with riders Maddie Hoover (GasGas), Kylee Sweeten (Montesa) and Abigail Buzzelli (Beta), was seventh with 104 points. CN OVERALL (Top 5) 1. Spain (30 pts) 2. Great Britain (79) 3. Italy (85) 4. France (138) 5. Norway (178) INTERNATIONAL (Top 5) 1. United States (7) 2. Japan (11) 3. Germany (11) 4. Belgium (36) 5. Poland (36) Team USA took top honors in the International class with riders Josh Roper (GasGas) and brothers Alex Myers (Scorpa, pictured) and Will Myers (Sherco).