Verstappen face à la légende du WMX Fontanesi à Bibione

Currently riding high at the top of the Moto Women class of the 2024 FIM Sand Races World Cup, twenty-five-year-old Amandine Verstappen – Yamaha boasts a one-hundred per cent record so far this season with three wins from three starts, but she knows she is potentially facing her biggest challenge so far this weekend (1-3 November) at the Bibione Sand Storm.
 
With victories this year at the Enduropale du Touquet Pas-de-Calais in France, the Enduro del Verano in Argentina and, most recently, last weekend’s Ronde des Sables de Loon-Plage in France, Verstappen leads defending champion Mathilde Denis – Honda by thirty-five points, though she will have to face an old rival in Italy this weekend.
 
The Belgian has competed in the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship every year since 2014 and while she is a proven GP winner who has twice finished fourth in the series, at the Bibione Sand Storm she will line up against six-time FIM World Champion Kiara Fontanesi – GASGAS.
 
With the fourth round of the FIM Sand Races World Cup being staged on her home soil, or rather home sand, thirty-year-old Fontanesi will line up on the Adriatic coast intent on making her presence felt. However, after Denis DNF’d the previous round, Verstappen is in command at the halfway mark and is keeping her focus fixed firmly on the bigger picture.
 
“For this weekend, of course I want to win but I know it will be difficult with Fontanesi,” she said, “but I’ll give my best, try to win or try to follow Kiara as much as possible. I’m coming in with not a lot of pressure because Mathilde didn’t pass the finish line last weekend so I have to do a smart race for the championship.”
 
Verstappen is not just unbeaten in the series this year, she also won every race she started in 2023, but ultimately paid the price for sitting out the second round in Argentina.
 
“Yeah, last year we made a mistake and we didn’t go to Argentina because we thought Mathilde would not line up there. So this year we didn’t make the same mistake and it was an amazing experience – it’s like Le Touquet but more like a holiday with the sun and I was happy to win!”
 
At Ronde des Sables de Loon-Plage she showed her fighting spirit after getting caught up in the chaos of the opening turn before charging to a storming seventieth overall out of more than three-hundred starters, despite not having a functional front brake for the full two-and-a-half-hour race duration.
 
“I crashed in the first turn twice so, yeah, I made life difficult for myself because I also broke my front brake. I was really, really far behind, but I kept calm and did a good race to take the win. The track was really heavy so it felt like a very long race!” 
 
Racing in the FIM Sand Races World Cup gets under way on Saturday (2 November) at 10:00 and on Sunday (3 November) at 10:30 (both local time).
 
Followers of the FIM Sand Races World Cup can stay completely up to date with all the latest news through FIM social media platforms on Facebook and Instagram and via the Sportity app using the password FIMSandRaces.
 
By using the tag #FIMSandRaces, fans will also be able to interact on social media with riders and like-minded enthusiasts.
 
To view the full 2024 FIM Sand Races World Cup calendar along with more information click here.