Spanish women take second title in a row

For the second year in a row the Spanish Women's team rode to victory in the Women's Cup of the FIM Trial des Nations. Although demoted to second place after the first lap, Laia Sanz - Repsol Montesa, Sandra Gomez - Gas Gas and Mireia Conde - Beta produced a brilliant recovery to overcome their long standing rivals Great Britain, who again came home as runners-up after a tense day of competition in the Italian mountains.

The leading two teams - namely Spain and Great Britain - were in a class of their own and both came well clear of Germany who completed the exact same podium twelve months ago in Poland. The German squad of Rosita Leotta - Gas Gas, Ina Wilde - Sherco and Jessica Wulf - Beta came under early pressure from the French team that included Marilyne Journet - Beta, Sandrine Juffet - Gas Gas and Pauline Masanes - Gas Gas, but eventually secured third spot thanks to a solid closing lap.

Conditions out on the course were hot and sunny for the second day running, with just a few modifications having been made to the sections overnight following yesterday's FIM Women's Trial World Championship deciding event. Only during the very late stages of today's Trial did the temperature begin to fall, as the wind and rain predicted for tomorrow's competition threatened to roll into town earlier than expected.

The three British girls - Emma Bristow - Ossa, Rebekah Cook - Sherco and the newly recruited Hannah Styles - Gas Gas - started the day knowing that a win would put them level on four victories each with the Spanish team and provided them with the extra motivation to reverse last year's result. Great Britain appeared to be in luck as Spain picked up an early penalty, when Sanz's minder was given a yellow card and five marks for entering the section without invitation.

This gave the 2009 champions - Great Britain a two mark advantage over last year's victors Spain at the end of a tight opening lap. At the same point Germany were also six marks ahead of France with Italy completing the top five at this stage. If history was anything to go by, then all was setting for a close finish once again, as the two dominant forces in Women's Trial went head to head for yet another year.

However on this occasion there was no nail biting climax as Spain delivered a devastating final lap, dropping a mere five marks in total compared to Great Britain's intermediate tally of twelve marks, to take the win by a relatively comfortable five mark gap. Germany resisted France's challenge to take the last rostrum position, as the host nation Italy ended up in fifth spot.

Each Women's team result is determined by the best two scores in each section, with the worst score being dropped. A similar system whereby the best three from four riders' scores in each hazard will be used to calculate the winners in tomorrow's men competition, when Spain will start as clear favourites and are looking to emulate their female counterparts as they fight for an eighth straight win.

2011 Women's Cup

1: Spain 18
2: Britain 23
3: Germany 48
4: France 66
5: Italy 102
6: Norway 115
7: USA 125
8: Australia 196
9: Sweden 217
10: Finland 257

Previous winners

2000 – Spain
2001 – Norway
2002 – Spain
2003 – Germany
2004 – France
2005 – Germany
2006 – Great Britain
2007 – Great Britain
2008 – Spain
2009 – Great Britain
2010 - Spain