Chile time ahead for the ISDE lads
By TMX Archives on 9th Nov 07
THE 82nd running of the ISDE starts in Chile on Monday, November 12, when 520 riders and their support crews descend upon the coastal city of La Serena, 500km north of the Chilean capital Santiago.
Taking place in New Zealand last year, the secondconsecutive long-haul' (for Europeans) Six Days has resulted in manyof the world's best enduro riders, as well as numerous British ClubTeams, opting not to compete. Nevertheless Britain will once again beofficially represented with both Trophy and Junior Trophy squads.
Despite the huge logistical effort needed to get riders, theirmachinery and support crews to South America, over 520 riders from 30countries have signed-up for the event. From those riders, 20 Trophyteams, 15 Junior Trophy teams, five Women's Club teams and over 100Club teams will compete along with 20 individuals.
But this year's event sees a notable drop in thenumber of top' riders competing in the event. With Britain's DavidKnight having to compete in the third and final round of the US indoorEndurocross series, Mika Ahola, Samuli Aro, Stefan Merriman, IvanCervantes, Seb Guillaume, Simone Albergoni and Marc Germain are allnon-starters, resulting in many nations putting forward much weakerTrophy teams than in recent years.
In the Trophy team competition, Finland, who wonback their Trophy team title from Italy in New Zealand last year, willstart this year's event as favourites despite two of their strongestriders - E2 world champion Mika Ahola and Samuli Aro, not competing.
Having dominated the competition during the lastdecade, the wealth of experience the Finnish squad has will be hard tobeat and with Spain, Italy, Australia and Great Britain all competingwithout their number one riders, another Finnish Trophy team victorylooks inevitable.
In the Junior Trophy team competition, any one ofa number of nations could win. With Team USA winning the category inNew Zealand last year and with Italy winning in '05, neither team havesquads that, on paper at least, aren't that strong this time around,which means that anything could happen in La Serena.
New to the ISDE this year is the Women's Club teamcompetition, in which five teams will compete. Attract-ing squads fromthe States, Germany, Sweden, France and Chile, French rider LudivinePuy will likely be the lady to beat.
See T+MX News, Friday, November 9, 2007 for full report and pictures.