Josep Garcia secures another double overall victory at round three of the 2026 Spanish Enduro Championship in Antas, winning both Saturday and Sunday ahead of Antoine Magain and Marc Sans.

Staged on a tough and dusty course, typical of the demanding Almería terrain, Antas tested the riders with one of those classic courses: 50 hard, dry, dusty kilometres with three laps per day to separate the contenders from the survivors.

Once again, it was Josep García setting the pace with the KTM rider winning both days at the Andalusian event, adding another double overall victory and continuing his winning streak in the Spanish Enduro Championship.

Day 1: Garcia pushes from the start 

Saturday's stage confirmed what had already begun to emerge the previous day: Josep García was a step ahead of the rest in Antas. The KTM rider set the fastest time in eight of the day's nine special stages, despite a minor crash in the second cross test, and took the overall win by 15 seconds over Antoine Magain, who was riding very strongly.

Marc Sans was solid once again and secured another podium finish with a third place, although now almost a minute behind the winner. Behind them, Albin Elowson inherited fourth position after Sergio Navarro's disqualification for tampering with his bike, while Jaume Betriu rounded out the top five. Yago Martínez, Àlex Puey, Alejandro Navarro, Aleix Saumell, and Yago Domínguez completed the top ten.

García acknowledged it wasn't a perfect day, but it was a hard-fought one: “I was very happy with how the race went on Saturday, even though I struggled all day. I felt very comfortable on the time trial and the extreme section, but the cross test was more difficult and I had a crash.” Even so, the Catalan rider once again turned adversity into victory, taking both the overall win and the Enduro1 title.

In the categories, García led E1 ahead of Magain, while Sans triumphed in Enduro2 with Albin Elowson second and Àlex Puey third after Sergio Navarro's exclusion by the technical stewards. In E3, Jaume Betriu secured another victory, with Julio Pando second and Jorge Paradelo third.

Aleix Saumell also made his mark, surprising everyone in Junior Open by beating the season's dominant rider and taking a significant victory. In Junior 125cc 2T, Sigvard Lifvendahl dominated; Santiago Hernández won the Junior National Trophy; and in the Women's category, Mireia Rabionet was once again the best, ahead of Aitana Peña and María San Miguel.

Day 2: More broken, more dust, same winner but Magain pushing hard

If Saturday had already been tough, Sunday in Antas was even rougher. The volume of the riders left the test more damaged, with rocks hidden under the dust, broken tracks, and several crashes throughout the day. Predictably Garcia once again made the difference to secure his second victory of the weekend and his sixth consecutive day win in the championship.

But it wasn’t an easy victory with the margin over Antoine Magain just 14 seconds, with Marc Sans also repeating his third-place finish overall. Sergio Navarro was able to finish fourth this time, with Jaume Betriu again in fifth. Following them were Alejandro Navarro, Álex Puey, Yago Martínez, Albin Elowson, and Yago Domínguez.

“We’re fighting”

Garcia acknowledged once again that he had to fight hard to secure the double victory: “Today, Sunday, was similar: very good on the time trial, very good on the extreme section, but on the second lap of the cross test, I suffered another crash. I couldn't find my rhythm all day, especially with the front wheel. But beyond that, I'm happy. In the end, we won both days and we're going home with a double victory.”

He also offered an interesting takeaway from the weekend: “Antoine has taken a step forward, and now we're both fighting. He's upped his game and closer, but that's good for both of us to keep improving.”

In Enduro1, the same script was repeated, with García ahead of Magain and Yago Martínez in third position. In Enduro2, Marc Sans took the victory again, this time by just 11 seconds over Sergio Navarro, while Alejandro Navarro completed the podium. In Enduro3, Jaume Betriu repeated his triumph with Julio Pando second and Jorge Paradelo third, in a category where only three riders finished.

Betriu also came away from a very solid weekend feeling strong: “The overall assessment is positive. I felt even better than yesterday. I felt comfortable. Perhaps I still lack a bit of speed and also that strength you have when you train daily, but the truth is that I felt very good.” The KTM rider added that the result tastes even sweeter because of the type of race Antas was: “It was a technical and physical race, very explosive, with very broken lap times and a cross-country test where it was very difficult to find the best line.”

In the junior categories, Álex Saumell again won Junior Open after a nail-biting finish with Albert Fontova, separated by just a tenth of a second, with Jordi Galera in third. In Junior 125, Sigvard Lifvendahl won again, this time by only five seconds over Pol Guerrero. Santiago Hernández repeated his victory in the Junior National Trophy, and in the Women's category, Ana González took the win ahead of María San Miguel and Aitana Peña.

Antas Enduro Scratch Classification - Day 1:

Antas Enduro Scratch Classification - Day 2:

Complete results: www.rfme.com

The Spanish Enduro Championship now takes a long summer break before resuming the second part of the season on the weekend of September 19 and 20 in La Torre d’Oristà, Barcelona, ​​the next stop on the national calendar.

Photo Credit: Nicki Martínez | Enduro21