GP Noiretable, France race report

I'm sorry you had to wait for this update but I have been kind of off the grid&on the champagne lately!

I think everybody already knows... WORLD CHAMPIONS for the 4th time in a row!!!! It may seem that this year's championship was easier for me but I can assure you it wasn't! If you look only at the statistics you can see that I won 10 days while Ivan Cervantes won only 4 but some of my victories came after incredible fight on the last special test, the closest one by only 17 hundredths of a second! However, this last GP in France had a different atmosphere for me. I needed only to finish 10th both days or just second once in case Ivan wins.

The weather before the race was perfect but of course it didn't last over the weekend. The race started with rain and the Super test Friday evening. Super test was made only for the Friday and it had a tricky log section where many riders had problems and two rock sections where you could jump over or ride through. I had my race against Oldrati this time and on the first loop I jumped over the rocks no problem. The slippery logs also no problem but then on the second loop I made a mistake going too fast in one corner and nearly went off the track. Jumping over the rocks on the second loop was a bit short and my back wheel touched the big rock in landing and I lost my grip on the handlebars! Some wobbling about on the last slippery pile of logs and that was it! I was through my first trial by fire of my weekend towards the title! Cervantes was the best of E2 but I was only about two seconds slower so it didn't worry me. I went to sleep thinking about the long slippery grass tracks I had to face the next morning...

The Saturday morning we had more rain and the E2 was the first to start. The Enduro test was nice and smooth grass track and I enjoyed riding it but felt like I lost too many seconds struggling at some corners. My time was 11:02:77 and I couldn't believe it when I heard I had beaten Cervantes by 17 seconds! Sherco rider Fabien Planet was the second best of E2 but 6 seconds slower too! I was so relieved after such a good start that I relaxed but tried to keep concentrated on the long trail leading to the MX test. There was one very long and difficult stony uphill on the trail and at after the first stones in the beginning of this uphill I lost my balance. I was staggering towards the left side of the uphill when I noticed a sign straight in front of me: "WOMEN" with an arrow pointing to the left. I was tempted to follow this path away from the infernal uphill thinking maybe I would go unnoticed with my long hair! I didn't want to find out so I struggled like everyone else and my heart rate at the limitator finally at the top! The first MX test was nice and smooth but slippery as well and I did 6:00:00 which was second best time. Fabien Planet beat me by nearly five seconds on this one! The Xtrem test was at the end of the lap and not timed on the first lap. It seemed to be easier than expected as long as nothing unexpected was happening!

The second lap started with the Enduro test and there I made a mistake on the rocky hill stalling the engine at the top. The rain had also stopped some time ago and the ruts in many corners were dry and grippy. I realized only towards the end of the test that I had missed almost every rut! Instead of going for the inside lines I kind of went outside in the corners cutting trough the ruts and accelerating on the inside after the corner. Good lines when the rut is more slippery than the rest but no it was completely opposite!! My time was 12:06:25 which was hopelessly slow. Thomas Oldrati was the best on this one beating me by nearly 12 seconds and also Cervantes beat me by 10s which made me a bit nervous. What seemed like an easy victory after the first special test in the morning was turning into a struggle to finish on the podium! I got up the infernal uphill on the trail with no big problems and the MX test after was hard work. It had gotten very slippery but I pushed hard and made the best time 6:52:61 beating the second fastest Renet by nearly 4 seconds. Cervantes was 13 seconds slower and made me more relaxed again. The Xtrem was timed and I didn't risk jumping down the huge drop- off for a muddy landing right after the start but was still able to score third best time 1:49:53 while only two French riders Renet and Planet were faster. Renet had the best time which was three seconds faster though!

The last lap started with the Enduro test which was very tricky with all the slippery off cambers and my time 12:48:47 was about 11 seconds slower than the French duo Renet- Planet. Also Oldrati was faster but Cervantes was about 13 seconds slower than me again! The last lap's long stony uphill went better than ever and I felt good coming to the last MX test. Before I arrived I had some scary moments though. I was going down a trail in the woods when I suddenly had a deep hole in front of me! I wheelied over it and avoided flying over the handlebars but popping a wheelie downhill increased the speed and I went off the line of other riders... The next thing I knew was a fallen tree in a nasty angle in front of my front wheel and I had only time to pop another wheelie which made my speed increase even more! The back wheel kicked sideways and I was totally out of control storming down the rocky trail with my feet off the foot pegs... in a fraction of a second I saw myself crashing hard getting injured and losing the world title... but somehow miraculously I managed to touch the back brake enough to take it under control and prevent myself to crash against the trees surrounding this old mule road!!! I swallowed my heart that had jumped up to my throat in panic and realized how easy it is to lose a "sure" thing for a little mistake that leads to a big disaster! Arriving to the MX test the rain had soaked already slippery soil and some places felt like riding on ice! The wheel spin was uncontrollable with the weared out tire and after slipping and sliding in the corner you just opened the throttle full and shifted gears sometimes up to 5th trying to put all your weight on the back tire to find some grip and get some speed!! I had a good ride doing 7:21:69 but French Kawasaki rider Nicolas Paganon did a freak time beating me by nine seconds! Fabien Planet who was doing the race of his life and going for the overall victory of the day remained on this special test with a broken engine! Too bad for he was really on the gas. I had only some trail and the last Xtrem test to go... The stone section had got really bad with slippery mud all over it and nasty gaps between the stones but I managed to struggle through it and ended up doing 1:50:14 which was only about one second slower than the best time done by Renet. The celebration started at the end of the Xtrem before I even realized that I had actually won the race and claimed the world title! Coming to the paddock to change the tires all the team were on a party mode including myself and 15min of service time wasn't enough to change the tires! Suddenly everybody was in panic and I just couldn't get the big swollen mousse on the rim! Rather than risking the penalty for being late I ended up putting on just the tire without the mousse. I had one minute to spare when I finally put the bike in parc ferme so I was safe. Even with one minute penalty I would have been safe but it was better not to push it!! When I got back to the team's truck whole team was wearing curly blond wigs in attempt to look like me and wearing same red world title celebration t-shirts while a huge air arc was being inflated... Champagne bottles were popping and people cheering. Only the sun wasn't shining with us! It was raining a little during the prize giving of the day and it was very cold but I didn't care for the hard and nerve wrecking day was done! My crazy team of curly blond wigs joined me on the podium and even the Enduro World Championship promoter Alain Blanchard was wearing a wig and a fake goatee beard which made it unforgettable podium!

I didn't start Sunday morning after some speculations whether I should or not try to fix the mousse inside the tire. Me and my team manager Franco decided that I shouldn't even try for it was impossible task without proper tools. There was one thing we had missed though. There are also the manufacturer world titles in each class and if KTM rider was going to win on Sunday some Honda rider should finish in top five in order to bring the manufacturer title to Honda!! I wasn't riding and HM Honda's boss Alfredo Ciresa was not happy about it!! Not happy at all. I told him that he shouldn't worry for Oscar Balletti would do the job for us. Everybody had doubts for Oscar finished 9th on Saturday but I knew he could do much better. I concentrated on couching Oscar and I psyched him to ride like all the hounds of hell were after him!! On the first Enduro test Oscar was indeed on the gas doing the second fastest time after Renet! It was almost scary to watch Oscar to ride the MX test for he was definitely on the edge! He did again the second fastest time being only 1,3s slower than Renet! There was no time to see the Xtrem test and I couldn’t believe it when I saw the results after the Xtrem and second lap's Enduro test: Oscar was only sixth!! Damn! He had lost half a minute on the Xtrem and 15 seconds on Enduro test!! I was getting desperate. Second lap's MX Oscar did good again but on the Xtrem he lost another 15 seconds! The manufacturer world title was gonna go to KTM... No way!!! Only on the last lap Oscar managed to pull himself together and do all three special tests with no problems while many riders got stuck on the stones of the last Xtrem that had gotten really gnarly. Oscar finished the race 4th and brought the manufacturer title to Honda!!! Great job!!!! Our team had another title to celebrate Sunday evening and everyone was happy!! Me, Oscar and Alfredo Ciresa of HM Honda toasted for Oscar's ability to finish the job of bringing home the manufacturer title! When the race was finished I visited Husqvarna's truck where they had a big party going on for Antoine Meo who had just claimed his first world title! I was happy to congratulate my friend Antoine and knew how he felt for I had claimed my first world title in this same town three years before!!

The prize giving ceremony of the championship was held Sunday night at the Casino of Noiretable. We had dinner at intervals with the ceremony and it was funny to watch David Knight claim his Husqvarna Xtrem award which was a new BMW- Husqvarna 450. Quite ironic that he rejected the bike last year when he was official BMW factory rider and now he gets it as a prize! David won the E3 title for KTM even though he wasn't in the official factory team. But without David KTM would have had very little to celebrate. They got only the manufacturer titles both in E1 and E3 as well as the Junior title. Two of the three main titles however went to another teams: E1 title went to Husqvarna rider Antoine Meo and E2 title to me and the E2 manufacturer title to Honda. I have to say that this championship was good for the sport having three different nationalities and three different brands as World Champions! The party continued after the ceremony and we had a toast together with Meo with the red wine from his mega bottle. Later our team tried our luck at the roulette but it turned out only lucky one was my mechanic Luca!

We went to Paris with Luca and his girlfriend Ambra and we had so time for sightseeing before catching our return flights. Champagne at the tower of Eiffel was not bad and even the cloudy weather couldn't bring us down and stop us for having our pique nique on the grass of the park!


Paris is a magical city and places like Notre Dame at night are truly magnificient!

Here's one video from the last GP showing different special tests and risks that might ruin one's championship at the last GP! You can click and see also other videos from France and other this season's races on the same site.

One more thing: Big thanks for Marco Campelli and Dario Agrati for great race photos!!