Date of birth: 11/23/1963 Place of birth: Olera – Bergamo – Italy Resident in: Olera – Bergamo – Italy Nationality: Italian
Sporting career
1992
Absolute Individual Winner at the Six Days (Australia) World Enduro Champion by Teams at the Six Days (Australia – Spain)
1993
500cc Italian Enduro Champion 500cc World Enduro Champion
1994
250cc World Enduro Champion 250cc Italian Enduro Champion Absolute Italian Enduro Champion World Enduro Champion at the Six Days (USA)
1995
250cc Italian Enduro Champion 250cc World Enduro Champion Absolute Italian Enduro Champion
1996
250cc Italian Enduro Champion Absolute Individual Winner at the Six Days (Finland) Absolute Italian Enduro Champion
1997
250cc Italian Enduro Champion Absolute Individual Winner of the Six Days (Italy) Absolute Italian Enduro Champion World Enduro Champion by Teams at the Six Days (Italy)
1998
17th in the Dakar 250cc Italian Enduro Champion Absolute Italian Enduro Champion Absolute World Enduro Champion Individual Winner of the Six Days (Australia) World Enduro Champion, over 175cc class
1999
250cc Italian Enduro Champion 7th in the Dakar Overall Italian Enduro Champion World Enduro Champion, 400cc 4-stroke
2000
250cc Italian Enduro Champion World Enduro Champion by Teams at the Six Days (Australia – Spain)
2001
14th in the Dakar 250cc Italian Enduro Champion
2002
250cc Italian Enduro Champion 6th in the Dakar
2003
14th in the Dakar Runner-up in the World Enduro Championship by Teams at the Six Days (Brazil) Runner-up Italian Enduro Championship, 250cc 4-stroke
2004
21st World Enduro Championship (8th class II) 8th Absolute Italian Enduro Championship Champion of the 250cc 2-stroke class
2005
4th in the Rally des Pharaons in Egypt 8th in the Dakar
2006
3rd overall in the Lisbon Dakar Rally
Biography
Gio, as everybody calls him, was born in Gorle, in the province of Bergamo, on November 23, 1963. The beginning of his career as a rider was quite curious: although he lived hundred metres from the Farioli Team headquarters, his debut in the world of motorcycling was on a Fantic 125cc motorcycle. His inborn enduro talent took him to win his first championship title in 1981. Then he moved on to motocross where he reached the senior category with some help and a lot of adversity. But, as the proverb says ‘No love like the first love’, in the early 1990s he returned to occasionally race in enduro. In 1991 he finally became part of the official Farioli KTM Team and began his escalation of the world championship title. In eight years, he won a total of 46 races, became five times World Champion and two times runner-up. Gio remembers as the most beautiful moment of his career, the 1997 Six Days Enduro in Lumezzane, where he won the cross test on the last day. The worst moment of his sports career was the defeat in the 1992 Enduro World Championship.
His performance during the 1998 World Championship should not be forgotten either, when Sala won all the races and was voted the fastest Enduro rider in the World Championship. Always in the pursuit for new stimuli, he has also taken part in the adventure of the Dakar. He was protagonist of the 1998 edition, where he obtained a valuable 17th position, overcoming his inexperience and some crashes. The Italian remembers the 1998 season as the most important moment of his sports career; because he won everything he could possibly win. That year he took the absolute and over-175cc World Enduro Championship, the absolute and 250cc Italian Enduro Championship and he won the Six Days in Australia in the over-175cc class.
In the 1999 edition of the Dakar, Giovanni was the protagonist of the official KTM Gauloises Team and took the task of “quick supporter” for fellow-bikers due to team requirements. All the same, he was able to win a stage and finished seventh overall, being first of the Italian participants. 1999 was an important turning point in his sports career. For the first time he competed in the 400cc four-stroke Enduro World Championship, on a bike that was totally different to the 250cc two-stroke machines Sala had always ridden to obtain victory after victory. With friend, rival and team-mate Mario Rinaldi, he took on a thrilling duel to keep all the fans in suspense until the end of the Championship and only at the last race in the Czech Republic, Gio was able to be crowned World Champion of the class.
Gio hasn’t missed a single Dakar since 1998, and of the eighth times he has participated he hasn’t been able to finish in only two occasions: 2000 and 2004. In 2004, while he was fulfilling his task as a squid to Fabrizio Meoni, Sala suffered a strong crash after only six stages. Despite being assisted by young Repsol rider Marc Coma, the Italian was forced to retire from the race, not without first helping Coma to continue in the race, giving him the mechanical piece he needed to move on. Premonitory or not, Giovanni Sala made a new step forward in his sports career signing for the Repsol KTM Team at the end of 2004, contributing with his invaluable experience after Nani Roma’s withdrawal in order to fight for the title of the big African challenge.
The prologue stage of the 2005 Barcelona-Dakar was not a good debut for the Italian rider who had a problem with the clutch at the beach of Castelldefels only a few metres before the finish. His team-mates Esteve and Coma helped him to take the bike to the finish but he was penalised in the overall standings. Sala worked hard and quickly recovered positions, and he would surely had won the leg between Zouerat and Tichit if he hadn’t lost valuable time helping his team-mate Esteve, who had run out of fuel. Only five days later he had to give part of his fuel again, this time to Marc Coma, three kilometres before the finish. With no doubt, the death of his friend Fabrizio Meoni was the biggest shock for Gio at the Dakar. Despite the disaster filling him with deep sadness, just as the other participants, the Italian gathered all his strength to continue and reach the finish in Lake Rose in eighth position. Dedicated to teaching and federative tasks, Sala participated in some enduro races in 2005 and it was not until October when he took a rally motorbike to race the Rally des Pharaons in Egypt finishing in a meritorious fourth place. He rode always at a good pace, close to the leaders and made a magnificent team work. He invaluably collaborated to Marc Coma’s final victory in the last stage, where Marc run out of battery and Gio gave him his, just on time to let Marc reach the finish and keep the top place in the standings.
In 2006, Giovanni Sala faced his ninth Dakar challenge, once again within the structure of the Repsol KTM Team. This cheerful Italian rider doesn’t lack experience, excitement and the will to work, despite knowing that he wasn’t at a 100% yet. He began with care and despite loosing time with navigation problems, crashing and dislocating a finger, he always carried out his job as Marc Coma’s squire in his assault on the final victory perfectly well. In addition to taking a stage victory, his work was rewarded with the third overall position in the Rally. A historical result together with Marc Coma for the Repsol KTM Team, thus culminating a winning project together with this veteran Italian rider.
During the year, Sala has participated in some enduro races but he has never left his physical training to get ready for what will be his ninth Dakar, once again with the Repsol KTM team together with Marc Coma and Jordi Viladoms.
Giovanni Sala, defines himself as an honest and nice man, who dedicates his spare time to enjoying rock and Latin-American music, Italian gastronomy and extreme sports; obviously not forgetting to keep himself in shape, jogging two or three hours a day with his inseparable dog or riding one of his enduro bikes.
