The Red Bull Outliers, the fourth round of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship, took place in Steveville, Canada, where Alfredo Gómez defended the colours of the Rieju Factory Team.
The race started with a special urban prologue under the spectacular skyscrapers of Calgary. The course, with natural and artificial elements, was short but still very exciting, with riders competing in various heats and endurocross-style semi-finals to determine who would make it to the final. Alfredo Gomez on his Rieju was very competitive, fighting for the top positions, 2nd and 3rd in the heats, although a small crash in the final left him in 4th place in the prologue.
The main race took place in the iconic Badlands, where the long, super-steep and slippery climbs took place on dry, very sandy, desert-like terrain combined with clay. Very hot temperatures made the race even tougher for both riders and bikes.
Alfredo Gómez rode well through the course, riding with a group of four riders and was in ninth position, until he reached the last tricky climbs of the course, where he crashed and some falls made him suffer more than expected, losing a lot of time. Alfredo finished the race in 12th place, with a penalty.
With two rounds to go in the 2023 World Championship, Alfredo Gómez is provisionally in tenth place.
Alfredo Gómez comments:
"On Saturday we started very well in the prologue. I was second and third in qualifying and in the final I started quite well, but I had a crash with Johnny Walker and fell back to eighth, although I was able to come back to fourth, close to a podium. On Sunday in the race I started quite well and nothing, I was in a group of four riders, in the last ramps the clutch didn't grip and I had a few crashes trying to climb several times, so I lost up to three positions. But well, I'm happy, on Saturday I was very good, on Sunday not so much, but I think we're continuing to develop the bike and we'll see if we can make some more progress in the next race.
Aguilar del Campo, Spain, will host the next round of the 24MX Hixpania Hard Enduro World Championship this October.
