enduro news
© Bob Mullins   

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Round 2 in Viverone happened to be a real test of strength and endurance as continuous rain in the days leading up to the race made the ground extremeley muddy.

Came race day the rain stopped but the organisers still had to take out several parts of the loop because the ruts simply got so deep that a lot of riders got stuck. In the end they even had to cut the race short from 4 to 3 laps.

The riders had to complete 3 special tests per lap, two short MX tests and one very long enduro test which was the race decider, as the ruts got so deep that even some of the top riders got stuck in the test.

Joakim felt quite good in these tough conditions as it was almost like back home in Sweden and he likes challenging conditions. Therefore he was not reall happy that the race had to get cut short and part of the loop had to be run on tarmac.

"My riding felt good. I did good times in all of the tests and I was inside the top 5 overall. At the start of the last enduro test I was really motivated and had a good start to the test, but in the middle of the test I caught another rider who was stuck in a difficult uphill. He didn't move and I was not able to pass him so I got stuck myself. I lost at least 30 seconds there and dropped down to 7th overall. For sure I was not the only rider who had problems in this test but it felt bad because normally I'm fast in difficult and tough conditions like this." Joakim explained why he was not so happy about the final result and added "Nevertheless I'm happy with the speed on the other tests so I need to take that with me for the next races. I will be go back to Spain now for a training camp with a lot of other Swedish and Finnish riders to prepare for the start of the EWC next week."