The FIM EnduroGP 2023 World Championship got underway this past weekend in Arma di Taggia / San Remo (Italy). In this first round, the Rieju Factory Team premiered a large part of its team, with Léo Le Quéré competing in the E-3 class, Adrià Sánchez in Junior J1, while in the women's category, Mireia Badia once again defended the brand, alongside Rosie Rowett.
Friday afternoon saw the Super Test on the beach of San Remo, an event that attracted a large crowd of spectators on the seafront promenade, who enjoyed an intense parallel race.
Two days of demanding competition awaited the drivers on a tough terrain, with very stony, dry and dusty parts, with three special stages, one on the beach itself and the other two, the stretch and a more technical extreme stage between the mountains of San Remo, tests that were repeated over four laps.
In this first race of the World Championship, there was a high level and a great competition between the participants of all the categories, it is clear that this season will be one of the most exciting and disputed of the last years.
French rider Léo Le Quéré, despite not quite finding his feeling, managed to finish 10th in the E-3 category on Saturday and 11th on Sunday.
Adrià Sánchez did not feel comfortable in this race due to its characteristics, so he finished 23rd in the Junior class on both days and 12th in the J1 class on Saturday. On Sunday he improved one position to finish 11th.
Mireia Badia did not have her best performance in this first test either, as in the same initial Super Test on Friday, she suffered a spectacular fall, finishing ninth. On Saturday she crashed again at the beginning of the race and some mistakes slowed her down, finishing in fourth position. On Sunday she recovered, refining her riding, which allowed her to battle throughout the day with the leader, to finish on the second step of the podium.
The British Rosie Rowett was very regular, had no major incidents, and was satisfied with her performance on both days, obtaining two fifth places among the women. With these results Mireia Badia is now in third place in the provisional women's World Championship, while Rosie Rowett is fifth.
Mireia Badia:
"I didn't start the weekend too well, on Friday in the Super Test I crashed, although without physical consequences. On Saturday I didn't have a good day either, I made a lot of mistakes, in the first special stage I crashed again, a fact that penalised me for the whole day, finishing fourth. Sunday was much better, the time trial on the beach and in the section I felt good, while in the extreme test I lost some time, despite this I was happy to get on the podium in second place, in a category that this year is very difficult, we are four or five that we are all there with options".
Rosie Rowett:
"It's a positive start to this first round of the World Championship, with a group of drivers who are very strong this year. I'm happy with fifth position, showing that I can be there with my times in the special tests. We have encountered a mix of special stages, from sand to rocky mountains, it has been a very good weekend racing the bike".
Adrià Sánchez:
"The truth is that this first test didn't go well for me, the specials were very fast, with a very rocky terrain, we are used to more technical and less fast specials, even though I had a good feeling I lacked speed, because I didn't get the times, nothing, we will have to keep training hard to get better for the next test".
Léo Le Quéré:
"It was a difficult weekend for me and for the Rieju team. We didn't get the results we were hoping for, which is hard to accept, but that's the way it is, we'll work hard to get it right".
The second round of the EnduroGP World Championship will be held in Lalín, with the GP of Spain from 5 to 7 May.
