Mireia Badia wins Women’s Enduro GP Round 3, Stage 1 and 2 at Bettola, Italy today, leading the Championship overall. Pushed hard by fellow rider’s Rachel Gutish, British rider Rosie Rowett, and French rider Elodie Chaplot the 7 rider class proved that sheer strength of mind, will, and determination has the power to race on track conditions which switch from Extreme Tests, to Cross, to Enduro Specials.
With Saturday’s hot, dry, and dusty conditions testing all women rider’s to remain consistent in test times, Sunday’s slippery tracks – as a result of rain overnight – challenged all competitors to stay upright while maintaining speed on uphills, downhills, off cambres, and tight turns.
Stage 1 times were super close with Spanish rider Mireia Badia (Reiju Factory Team RFME National Team) taking top step of the podium with total time of: 1:15:57.44, America’s Rachel Gutish (Sherco) holding P2 on 1:16:02.15, and French rider Elodie Chaplot (Beta) rounding out top 3 with 1: 17: 45.37.
The following Stage 2 on Sunday provided change of track conditions for rider’s keen to mix up points standings with Mireia taking Special Test wins in Enduro and Extreme, Elodie nailing a win in Special Test Cross, and Rosie Rowett (Reiju Factory Team) taking top spot in SP test 6 – Cross. Special mention goes to French rider Justine Martel for completing SP 4 in P3, confirming pace and results remains key focus for all – as well as for the women racing ISDE 2024 on October 14 – 19 in Spain.
Given the hectic schedule of Enduro GP from Prologue, to testing, to Specials, to mix of race formats and terrain – women rider’s compete on level playing field as their male competitors in regard to physical endurance to race, mental capacity to beat the clock, and technical ability to produce results at the end of each Special test.
Congratulations to all women rider’s – Mireia Badia leads the Enduro GP Championship heading into Round 4 in Wales on August 2 – 4 and final Round 5 in France on September 13 – 15.
Header photo: Mireia Badia credit: Enduro GP.
Words: Sharon Cox.
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