Last weekend, the Rieju Factory Team travelled to Lalín (Pontevedra) to compete in the FIM Enduro World Championship, an event that held its second round, although not for the women's class. In the same competition, at the same time, the Spanish Enduro Championship was also taking place, the third round of the season.
On Friday afternoon, in the centre of the town, the Super Test show race took place, with a short but very technical route, followed by the presence of a large crowd. Frenchman Léo Le Quéré finished sixth in E-3, as did Adrià Sánchez in Junior 1 in the World Championship, while Pau Tomàs finished 5th in the E1 classification of the Spanish Championship.
SATURDAY:
The rain that fell during the night and in the early hours of Saturday morning, left a very delicate and slippery terrain, in some grassy specials typical of this area, which increased the difficulty of the race.
In the Enduro World Championship, in some special stages in which he felt quite comfortable, although with strong competition among the riders in his category, Adrià Sánchez finished 10th in Junior 1, while Léo Le Quéré finished in a discreet 11th position in the top E-3 class, after a hectic day in which he received a 9-minute penalty.
Regarding the Spanish Championship, the best classified was Mireia Badia, who continues to be very competitive under the tough conditions, obtaining a clear victory in the Women's class, with a margin of five minutes. Although it was not Léo Le Quéré's day, he still managed to finish 4th in the national E-3 class. Adrià Sánchez finished 10th in scratch and 4th in E-2, with Pau Tomàs 4th in E-1 and 12th in scratch. Alejandro Andreu finished 3rd on the podium in the Senior B 2T class.
SUNDAY:
On Sunday the sun was shining in Lalín, but the special stages were very rough due to the passage of so many riders on Saturday.
In the EnduroGP World Championship, Léo Le Quéré improved his riding on this second day, finishing 18th in EnduroGP and 7th in the E-3 class. His teammate, Adrià Sánchez, more and more comfortable at the controls of his MR250, finished 9th in the competitive J1 class.
In the Spanish Championship Mireia Badia once again swept the Féminas, leaving Lalín with another double. Léo Le Quéré finished in a magnificent 4th scratch position, very close to the third place, the French driver finished 2nd in the E-3 class. Tenth scratch Adrià Sánchez, finishing in 5th position in E-2. In the two days, Adrià climbs the podium in the third position of the class. Good day for Pau Tomás, who got the third place on the podium in E1, keeping the same position in the computation of the two days.
Léo Le Quéré: "On Saturday, I started well because after the first two stages I was in eighth place overall, then I wanted to change a part on my bike, but I lost too much time and I was penalised. On Sunday, I had a better day, with a good feeling during the day, but despite this, the summary of the weekend has not been good, I have to keep working on my riding and my adaptation to the bike to be able to be higher. I want to thank the team staff and the brand for their confidence".
Adrià Sánchez: "I'm very happy with the weekend, on Saturday under a delicate terrain, I had a hitch in which I lost a little time in the extreme test, despite this, the first day was positive. On Sunday, I had to push hard to get the times, with times that were very close between the participants, in a world championship where there is a high level and where you have to push hard. The times were long and especially on Sunday they were already very broken, I had a fall, but fortunately without consequences, I could finish without further mishaps.
Mireia Badia: "The weekend went well, I was able to set good times in the specials, some tests that were long, especially the section and in which it was easy to make mistakes, despite this, I am happy with the pace that I have taken and how I have been in the time trials, especially in the section".
Pau Tomás: "On the first day of racing I had several crashes that left me in fourth position in the E-1 class. Due to the fact that in the Spanish Championship we only did two laps of the course, you couldn't fail if you wanted to get a good result.
The next round of the EnduroGP World Championship will be held from 26th to 28th May in Heinola, Finland. As for the Spanish Enduro Championship, it will take a summer break before returning to Galicia in September.
