Pichon breaks through in Fafe as Garcia extends EnduroGP lead

Round Four – EnduroGP of Portugal

The first of two consecutive EnduroGP weekends in Fafe delivered two different outright winners, a strengthened championship lead for Josep Garcia, and a breakthrough Sunday victory for Zach Pichon.

Garcia struck first for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing on Saturday, winning day one in hot, dry and dusty conditions, before TM MOTO Boano Factory Enduro Team’s Pichon turned the tables on Sunday to claim his first EnduroGP victory of the season.

Across the two days, Garcia was again the benchmark in Enduro1, keeping his perfect E1 scorecard intact for 2026, while Pichon doubled up in Enduro2.

Steve Holcombe’s weekend went from final-test heartbreak on Saturday to Enduro3 victory and an outright podium on Sunday, while Rachel Gutish completed a double in Women’s Enduro and Triumph Factory Racing celebrated its first EnduroGP World Championship victory courtesy of Leo Joyon in Junior.

Akrapovic SuperTest

The weekend began on Friday evening with the Akrapovic SuperTest in the centre of Fafe, where Garcia immediately set the tone by claiming his third SuperTest win of the season.

Pichon pushed him hard, finishing just 0.12 seconds adrift, with Holcombe third as the top three were split by only four-tenths of a second. Max Ahlin made a strong start for Honda Racing RedMoto in fourth, with Morgan Lesiardo fifth on the Triumph.

Josep Garcia launched the Fafe weekend in style by winning Friday night’s Akrapovic SuperTest.

In Junior, Leo Joyon topped the SuperTest for Triumph ahead of Clement Clauzier and Manuel Verzeroli. Pietro Scardina was the clear winner in Youth, while Canadian wildcard Shelby Turner made an instant impression in Women’s Enduro by taking the SuperTest win ahead of Rachel Gutish and Rosie Rowett.

EnduroGP

Garcia controls Saturday

Saturday brought three laps of a 50-kilometre course made up of the Expotrade Cross Test, Polisport Extreme Test and Gmoto Enduro Test, with dry and dusty conditions making the opening full day particularly demanding.

Josep Garcia works through the rocky Fafe terrain on his way to another Enduro1 victory.

Garcia carried his SuperTest form into the first lap, winning the opening Gmoto Enduro Test before Holcombe answered in the Polisport Extreme Test. Garcia then topped the Expotrade Cross Test to complete the opening lap with a narrow lead over Holcombe, while Andrea Verona, Zach Pichon and Hamish Macdonald remained close behind.

The second lap remained tight, with Garcia, Macdonald and Verona all taking test wins, but the order at the front stayed largely unchanged. Holcombe was still in the fight for the podium late in the day before mechanical trouble on the final test ended his Saturday.

Andrea Verona maintained his Enduro2 championship lead with runner-up finishes in class on both days in Fafe.

Garcia held firm to win the day by 13.64 seconds from Pichon, who was fastest on all three tests of the final lap. Verona completed the outright podium in third, with Macdonald fourth and Theo Espinasse fifth.

Pichon answers on Sunday

After Saturday’s scorching conditions, overnight rain helped settle the dust for the start of day two, but the course soon dried and developed big holes and deep ruts.

Pichon made the early running on Sunday, winning the opening Gmoto Enduro Test by more than three seconds from Garcia before also taking the first Expotrade Cross Test. That gave the Frenchman the lead after lap one, with Garcia second and Verona third.

As the terrain became rougher, Pichon stretched his margin to almost 10 seconds, but Garcia refused to let the race go. By the final lap, the KTM rider had reduced the gap to around three seconds heading into the last test of the weekend.

Pichon then produced the decisive ride of the day, winning the final Expotrade Cross Test by five seconds to seal the EnduroGP victory by 10.15 seconds. Garcia finished second, while Holcombe rebounded from his Saturday non-score to take third outright. Brad Freeman was fourth, with Verona fifth, less than one second behind Freeman after a late mistake.

Enduro1

Garcia was dominant in Enduro1 across both days, winning the class by 1m44.88s on Saturday and by 1m01.18s on Sunday.

Josep Garcia charged to day-one EnduroGP victory in the dry and dusty Fafe conditions.

The Spaniard has now won all eight Enduro1 race days so far in 2026 and leaves the opening Fafe weekend with a commanding 37-point lead in the class championship.

Josep Garcia topped the Enduro1 podium on day one in Fafe ahead of Morgan Lesiardo and Jeremy Sydow.

Triumph had a strong weekend in E1. Morgan Lesiardo finished second on Saturday ahead of Triumph Factory Racing’s Jeremy Sydow, before Sydow improved again on Sunday to take second in class and seventh outright, his best results of the season so far. Lesiardo completed the Sunday E1 podium in third.

Jeremy Sydow was the fastest Triumph rider on Sunday in Fafe, finishing seventh outright and second in Enduro1.

Enduro2

Pichon was the standout in Enduro2, winning the class on both days. Saturday’s E2 victory came by 31.54 seconds over Verona, with Macdonald third.

On Sunday, Pichon was even stronger, taking the E2 win by 50.56 seconds over Verona. Macdonald again completed the E2 podium, giving the New Zealander a pair of class podiums from the weekend.

Verona’s weekend was still a valuable one in championship terms. The Italian was third outright and second in E2 on Saturday, then fifth outright and second in E2 on Sunday, maintaining his lead in the Enduro2 standings.

Australian Kyron Bacon had a mixed weekend on the Kawasaki. He retired from Saturday’s contest after S.T.6, but returned on Sunday to finish eighth in E2 and 19th outright.

Enduro3

Enduro3 produced one of the weekend’s more dramatic turnarounds.

Holcombe looked set for a major day-one result before final-test mechanical trouble ended his Saturday. That opened the door for Espinasse to claim his first Enduro3 win of the season for Fantic, ahead of Julien Roussaly and Albin Norrbin.

Holcombe responded in the best possible fashion on Sunday, winning E3 by 6.94 seconds over Freeman. Norrbin completed the podium in third, ahead of Roussaly and Saturday winner Espinasse.

Despite missing the Saturday score, Holcombe’s Sunday win kept him in the E3 championship hunt, although Freeman now leads the class on 128 points from Norrbin on 123 and Holcombe on 114.

Junior

Alberto Elgari returned to the top of the Junior podium on Saturday for TM MOTO Boano Factory Enduro Team, winning by 23.98 seconds from Joyon. Thibault Giraudon was third for Fantic, but only just, with Australian William Dennett fourth and Kevin Cristino fifth after the trio were covered by less than one-and-a-half seconds.

Sunday was a major milestone for Triumph Factory Racing, with Joyon taking his first overall Junior victory and delivering the brand’s first EnduroGP World Championship win.

Leo Joyon threads his Triumph through the rocky Extreme Test on his way to a breakthrough Junior victory in Fafe.

Joyon took control late on lap one, then strengthened his advantage through lap two before managing the final lap to win by 20.27 seconds from Cristino. Manuel Verzeroli was third, with Giraudon fourth and Dennett fifth.

Dennett’s weekend was another strong one, the Australian finishing fourth overall in Junior and second in J2 on Saturday, then fifth overall and fourth in J2 on Sunday.

Youth

Pietro Scardina dominated the Putoline Oil Youth Enduro category in Fafe, completing a perfect weekend.

The TM MOTO Costa Ligure rider won Saturday by 65 seconds after rebounding from his costly non-score on day two in Finland. Valentin Mersin finished second, with Simone Cagnoni third, six seconds clear of Yago Dominguez.

Scardina backed that up on Sunday with another commanding victory, this time by 52 seconds. Mersin again finished second, while Dominguez completed the day-two podium in third.

Women

Rachel Gutish left Fafe with a perfect score from the Expotrade Women’s Enduro class, winning both days for Rieju Factory Team.

On Saturday, Gutish turned the tables on SuperTest winner Shelby Turner to take victory by 36.79 seconds. Turner impressed on her first EnduroGP appearance, finishing second after winning all three Expotrade Cross Tests, while Rosie Rowett completed the podium in third.

Gutish was even more decisive on Sunday, winning the opening Gmoto Enduro Test and Polisport Extreme Test to build an early advantage. Turner again showed strong pace in the Cross Tests, but Gutish controlled the day to win by 46.94 seconds.

Turner finished runner-up for the second day in succession, while Marine Lemoine beat Nieve Holmes to the final step of the Sunday podium. Rowett rounded out the top five.

Lorna Lafont was the best Junior Women’s rider on both days, finishing seventh outright in Women on Saturday and ninth outright on Sunday.

EnduroGP Day One Top Ten

PosRiderBikeTime/Gap

1	Josep Garcia	KTM	1h01m56.78
2	Zach Pichon	TM MOTO	+13.64
3	Andrea Verona	KTM	+45.18
4	Hamish Macdonald	Sherco	+59.81
5	Theo Espinasse	Fantic	+1m27.89
6	Morgan Lesiardo	Triumph	+1m44.88
7	Julien Roussaly	Sherco	+1m48.73
8	Max Ahlin	Honda	+1m49.36
9	Albin Norrbin	Husqvarna	+2m05.95
10	Jeremy Sydow	Triumph	+2m13.27

EnduroGP Day Two Top Ten

PosRiderBikeTime/Gap

1	Zach Pichon	TM MOTO	1h01m14.61
2	Josep Garcia	KTM	+10.15
3	Steve Holcombe	Sherco	+42.63
4	Brad Freeman	Beta	+49.57
5	Andrea Verona	KTM	+50.56
6	Hamish Macdonald	Sherco	+1m10.40
7	Jeremy Sydow	Triumph	+1m11.33
8	Albin Norrbin	Husqvarna	+1m20.84
9	Julien Roussaly	Sherco	+1m29.07
10	Max Ahlin	Honda	+1m32.68

Class Podiums – Day One

Class1st2nd3rd

Enduro1	Josep Garcia	Morgan Lesiardo	Jeremy Sydow
Enduro2	Zach Pichon	Andrea Verona	Hamish Macdonald
Enduro3	Theo Espinasse	Julien Roussaly	Albin Norrbin
Junior	Alberto Elgari	Leo Joyon	Thibault Giraudon
Women	Rachel Gutish	Shelby Turner	Rosie Rowett

Class Podiums – Day Two

Class

1st	2nd	3rd
Enduro1	Josep Garcia	Jeremy Sydow	Morgan Lesiardo
Enduro2	Zach Pichon	Andrea Verona	Hamish Macdonald
Enduro3	Steve Holcombe	Brad Freeman	Albin Norrbin
Junior	Leo Joyon	Kevin Cristino	Manuel Verzeroli
Women	Rachel Gutish	Shelby Turner	Marine Lemoine

Championship Standings After Round Four

ClassLeaderSecondThird

EnduroGP	Josep Garcia – 149	Andrea Verona – 127	Zach Pichon – 108
Enduro1	Josep Garcia – 160	Morgan Lesiardo – 123	Antoine Magain – 114
Enduro2	Andrea Verona – 151	Zach Pichon – 138	Hamish Macdonald – 117
Enduro3	Brad Freeman – 128	Albin Norrbin – 123	Steve Holcombe – 114
Junior	Alberto Elgari – 131	Romain Dagna – 123	Kevin Cristino – 114
Women	Rachel Gutish – 107	Nieve Holmes – 79	Rosie Rowett – 77

The championship remains in Fafe next weekend for the GP of Portugal II, scheduled for June 19-21.