EnduroGP of Germany: Garcia wins the day, Verona wins the world title

Result from day one of the 2022 EnduroGP of Germany in Zschopau where Josep Garcia handsomely won the day ahead of Brad Freeman and Steve Holcombe but Andrea Verona claims the 2022 EnduroGP World Championship – Jane Daniels wraps up the Women’s title.

EnduroGP of Germany day 1 in a nutshell:

Overnight rain and some very green tests made it a slippery start on day one at the German GP. In the end it proved a long and hard day with wet conditions and no shortage of retirements across the entry list with injury and mechanicals.
The extreme test was first up at 9am and Josep Garcia wasn’t happy, exiting test one shaking his head. The error was ancient history about 15 minutes later in the first enduro test where Garcia quickly established a comfortable lead he would never reliquish. Josep was the class act of the day and the 44 seconds winning margin is the biggest of the season.
There was intrigue all through the time sheets, including the E3 class title scrap, but most eyes were on where Andrea Verona and Wil Ruprecht were at. Wil needed to win today and Andrea finish inside the top five but with Garcia sailing away, Ruprecht never was in that position.
The best of the rest was a battle between Beta teammates Steve Holcombe and Brad Freeman who were nip and tuck through much of the day.
A trio of test wins in the afternoon though saw Freeman ramp it up and claim second place scratch, plus go equal in the E3 class points standings with Michael Persson. All to play for tomorrow boys.
Holcombe wasn’t overly happy with his third place but it secured Beta’s first double scratch podium for over a year – for two guys who dominated the championship for the past decade, but spent so much time injured lately, this is no small fact.
In the end though it was Andrea Verona’s day. The GASGAS rider traded fourth place with Ruprecht all day but ended up three seconds adrift of the Australian for what is actually his worst result of the season. Who’s counting. Verona claimed the ultimate prize in EnduroGP and Italy’s first Enduro world title in the modern era.

View this post on Instagram

Phew, follow that. Well, Zach Pichon is already crowned world champ in the Juniors but a) has the J1 title to sew up this weekend and b) had some marauding Swedish riders on his back today in the shape of Albin Norrbin and Max Ahlin.
Norbinn came closest, 2.65 seconds separated him from the scratch win, but Pichon took another victory for the season in the end.
The usual suspects were at the top of the Youth class timing sheets on day one in Germany with Kevin Cristino doing what he must to keep the championship alive, winning the day. Points leader Harry Edmondson did what he had to as well, clocking a comfortable third as the meat between the battle for third in the series between Thibault Giraudon and Sami Puhakainen (P2 and P4 respectively). The championship goes to another day but Edmondson holds a 14 points advantage.
As for Jane Daniels. What can you say? Riding conditions weren’t easy today but once again Daniels was streets ahead of every other female competitor – so much so she actually hovered on the verge of top 20 place in the Open class scratch result.
The winning margin was a massive three-plus minutes to maintain her 100% winning margin for this season (seven from seven), and that brings Jane the 2022 FIM Enduro Women’s World Championship – her third title but first FIM World Championship.
Behind the new champ the fight rages for third overall between Rosie Rowett and Rita Vieira. The pair traded places in the morning but by the third lap, Rosie looked strong and claimed P2 ahead of Mireia Badia (championship runner-up) who took third from Vieira in the last test.
Czech riders Jiri Hadek and Robert Friedrich battled for top spot in the Open class scratch all day with Friedrich eventually taking it by six seconds. Alejandro Ceballos-Escalera was third.