team For the third time in its history, the Trial of Nations, the FIM national team event that since 1984 has put an end to the international outdoor season, is visiting Andorra. A regular venue in recent years of the Natural Trial World Championship, and this year even of the Spanish Championship (CET), Sant Julià de Lòria had already hosted the great event of the speciality before.
In 1994, when the competition for women did not yet exist, and just six years ago, in 2008. Precisely in that edition , the Spanish team, formed by Laia Sanz, Sandra Gómez and Mireia Conde, ended up winning the third of its six ToN in this category.
In this third visit to Andorra, however, Spain has been on the verge of climbing back to the top of the podium. Sandra Gómez (Ossa), Mireia Conde (Beta) and Elisabet Solera (Gas Gas), who has taken Sanz’s place in the national team since 2013, have given their all and more, and for a good part of the race they have even commanded it. But as was the case last season, the three representatives of Great Britain have ended up, in the end, claiming first place.
Although on this occasion the English triumph has been decided in the tiebreaker by zeros, since the Spaniards and British have finished the two regulation laps of the 18 zones marked by the FMA with the same result: 15 points. However, Great Britain has accumulated a total of 74 sections without penalties, while Spain has added one less, 73. For its part, Germany, with a total of 24 points, completed the podium, as it did a year ago.
runner-up is the fifth second place in history for Spain in women’s competition since it started in 2000, after those achieved in 2001, 2006, 2009 and 2013.
RFME / Photos: JC Vázquez
Sandra Gomez: “In my opinion we had a very good race, we worked as a team from the three of us to our team manager Pol Tarres and our backpackers. I think the only way to win this World Cup is to work as a team, to motivate each other. This is what Laia did when we won with her and that’s how she taught us how to run the TDN. How close we have come to the top of the podium makes it clear that we have done so. The three of us have had some failures and the other two colleagues have done their best to make up for the failure. We almost made it, we’re there, next year we’ll fight again.”
