Karim Amour Repeats as EWS Masters World Champion

José "Zé" Borges on his way to fifth overall in the 2018 EWS

Portuguese racer, José “Zé” Borges, finished fifth overall in the 2018 EnduroWorld Series after finishing the eighth and final round of this internationallyrenowned competition, which took place in Finale Ligure, Italy. Miranda RacingTeam's elite rider scored his best ever race result, which — along with histhree French colleagues, who all posted excellent performances to close outthis season’s EWS, put the Miranda Racing Team in second place overall in theteam classification.

"The season’s done and we are very happy with the results," said teamleader, Karim Amour, who successfully defended his Masters championship titlein this year’s series. Elite racer, Alex Cure, finished the series honorably in6th place, immediately following teammate, José Borges, and to completeMiranda’s run for the podium, Frenchwoman, Mélanie Pugin, finished her debutseason with the Miranda Racing Team with a 16th place in the 2018 EWS.

José Borges, who was hoping to reach the podium in the final EWS round inItaly, was frustrated to miss his target "by only six seconds.” He washowever "quite happy and satisfied" with the final result.

"It's very gratifying to reach the top 5 for theseries overall — this is an achievement that I have been working toward for along time. I can only thank all the sponsors and the entire team staff. Theywere relentless."

Karim Amour, Miranda Racing Team mentor, ends the season with a sense of pride.The team finished in 2nd place in the overall standings with phenomenal resultsby Zé Manel Borges in 5th, and Alexandre Cure in 6th in the elite category.

“I finished 4th in this weekend’s race in theMasters category, but I claimed first place overall in the end," Amoursaid. Mélanie Pugin didn’t compete due to a crash in the penultimate race, which lefther with an injured finger.

“We wish her a speedy recovery and we congratulate herfor her 16th place overall. There are no words to explain this feeling!"concluded Amour, who gave special thanks to the team’s partners for theirsupport and made a request to "Always believe in the races!"

As for the second place Miranda Racing Team, it is a ranking that honors Miranda& Irmão Lda., the title sponsor for 2018. This Portuguese brand, based inÁgueda (Aveiro district), Portugal specializes in the manufacturing highquality parts for bicycles, with an emphasis on E-Bikes (electric).Miranda & Irmão equipped the team bicycles with the singular Miranda XMOD® crankset,a unique and innovative product that earned a 2018 Design & InnovationAward in the component category.