ISDE future plans: 100th edition in Portugal – UK and USA in coming years?

FIM President Jorge Viegas hints at plans for future International Six Days Enduro host nations: Portugal set for the 100th edition followed by United Kingdom and the USA?

Speaking on the Motul live TV show at the ’24 ISDE in Spain, FIM President Jorge Viegas outlined his future plans for host nations of the event.

Next year’s Six Days is the only one definitely nailed on and will take place in Bergamo, Italy, from August 24-29. But Viegas was open in talking about his plans and ideas for the coming years as the historic event ticks off its 100th edition in 2026 and beyond.

“Next year it will be in Bergamo, Italy,” explained the FIM President, “and the ’26, the 100th edition, will be in Portugal and not just because I am Portuguese. In ’27 I hope it will be in Wales, this is the idea and I hope very much that the Six Days in ’28 will be in the United States.

“I have tried many times to find a promoter in The States because they won so many times, they have a very good team, they won last year in Argentina and the question is why don’t we have a Six Days in the USA. So, this is my objective, maybe in ’28 or ‘27.”

An ISDE back in the first home of the event in the UK is certainly overdue, as is the USA and we’d add in there Australia too. The problem the FIM face of course, as Viegas stated, is to find a host club in those countries who are willing to take on such a big event. It’s not easy or cheap to host the ISDE and we must stress at this point these are not definite plans.

Historically the ISDE most often is based in European countries – you only have to look at numbers of riders and spectators to see where the heart of the sport is in these countries. Landing in places like Bergamo, or Le Puy en Velay two years ago, it is clear why.

When the Six Days heads to Argentina however, it’s good for the sport to arrive in South America but the cost of shipping bikes and people to San Juan last year for example, was prohibitive to so many. The local riders and the spectator numbers are never the same it must be added.

Live broadcast of paddock service area next year?

During the live stream broadcast, which proved to be a very welcome addition directly from the paddock and the final test each day, Viegas also talked about the history of the sport, how important to the Club contest is and also how they plan to show more of the service area in future live broadcasts. With so much interest in the tyre changing, the unique rules for enduro for riders doing their own servicing and the time controls, we think that could be a cool addition next year.