Laia Sanz facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Laia Sanz
Nationality	Spanish
Born	Laia Sanz Pla-Giribert (1985-12-11) 11 December 1985 (age 39) Corbera de Llobregat, Barcelona
Current team	Gas Gas
Championship titles
2000–2006, 2008–2013	International Trial World Champion

Laia Sanz Pla-Giribert (born on December 11, 1985), known as Laia Sanz, is a famous Spanish sportswoman. She is an amazing motorcycle rider. Laia has won the Women's Trial World Championship fourteen times. She also won the Women's Trial European Championship ten times. These wins were in outdoor motorcycle trials competitions.

She was also part of the Spanish Female Team in the Trial des Nations. She helped her team win this event five times. These wins were in 2000, 2002, 2008, 2010, and 2011.

In 2010, Laia started competing in the Women's Enduro World Championship. A year later, in 2011, she raced in the tough Dakar Rally for the first time. She won the Female motorcycle category. She also finished 39th overall among all riders, which was a great achievement. She repeated this overall position in 2012.

About Laia Sanz

Her Early Years in Racing

Laia Sanz was born in 1985. She learned to ride a bicycle when she was just four years old. She first experienced motorbikes at the same age. Her dad would let her sit on his bike's petrol tank while he rode. By age five, she loved motorbikes even more. She secretly started riding her older brother Joan's Montesa Cota 25 cc bike. Joan also loved motorbikes.

In 1992, when Laia was seven, her mother encouraged her to join a race. It was a Catalan Junior Championship race happening in her village. She finished eighth and last, but she wanted to race again. The next year, she joined the championship from the very first race. By doing this, she entered a sport mostly for boys. There were no championships just for girls at that time.

In 1997, Laia won her first race in a boys' championship. She was riding an 80 cc bike. That year, she also took part in an international female Trial competition for the first time. In 1998, she competed in the first Women's Trial European Championship. This championship was not yet official. Laia won it! She was only twelve years old. She was racing against older, more experienced riders. This made many fans and professional teams notice her. Because of this great win, she started thinking about becoming a professional rider. She also raced in the Spanish Trial Championship that year. She was the only female rider there.

Becoming an International Star

In 2000, Laia Sanz won the Spanish Cadet Championship. Again, she was the only female rider. She says this is one of her most satisfying wins. This year was also special because it was the first official Women's Trial European Championship and Women's Trial World Championship. Laia raced in both. She won her first World title and came in second in the European Championship. She also joined the Spanish team for the first Female Trial Des Nations. And they won!

After that, Laia won many more titles in international female competitions. She won the Women's Trial World Championship seven times in a row from 2000 to 2006. She also won it again in 2021. She even competed in male championships and did very well.

She used to race for Beta. But in 2004, she joined the official Montesa team. She won World, European, and Spanish titles with both brands. Her teammates at Montesa-HRT were Toni Bou and Takahisa Fujinami until 2011. For the 2012 season, she raced for Gas Gas.

The Dakar Rally and Enduro Racing

In 2010, Laia finally got the chance to train for the Dakar Rally. This had been her dream since she was a child. She trained with the Dakar legend Jordi Arcarons, which was another dream come true. She also raced in the Women’s Enduro World Championship. This was part of her training for the Dakar. She finished third, even though she only raced in two of the three events. She also kept competing in observed trials. She won World, European, and Spanish championships, and the Trial des Nations that year.

In 2011, she raced in the Dakar Rally on a Honda CRF450X. She was part of Team Arcarons RST KH-7, with Arcarons helping her. She won the Female class. She also had a strong performance overall, finishing 39th. In the Women’s Enduro World Championship, she raced in all events and finished second.

For the 2012 Dakar Rally, Laia joined the Gas Gas team. It was their first time officially racing in the rally. Marc Guasch was her helper. Laia had an accident during the fourth stage. She hurt her hand and damaged her Gas Gas 450 cc bike's petrol tank. But she kept going and finished the stage. Even though she had to ride "solo" for the rest of the rally, Laia finished 39th again. She was the only woman to complete the rally raid on a motorbike in the Female class.

In 2015, Laia achieved her best finish ever at the Dakar. She also set the record for the best finish for a female rider. She took 9th place in the motorbike class while riding a Honda.

In the 2016 Dakar Rally, Laia raced for KTM. She finished 15th in the motorbike general ranking.

In the 2020 Dakar Rally, Laia finished 25th overall.

Car Racing Adventures

Laia Sanz has also raced cars. She has appeared several times at her home race in the 24H series. This race is called the 24 Hours of Barcelona. She won her class in 2011. She also made special guest appearances in the SEAT León Eurocup in 2014 and 2015.

Images for kids

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  Laia Sanz driving for KH7 - Monlau in a Seat León Cup Racer.

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  Laia Sanz's Seat León Cup Racer on the starting grid.

Laia's Racing Titles

Laia Sanz has won many championships throughout her career. Here are some of her main titles:

This table shows her position with the Spanish National Team.

Extreme E Racing Results

Laia Sanz also competes in Extreme E, which is an off-road electric SUV racing series. Here are her results: (key)

^* The 2024 season is still happening.

See also

In Spanish: Laia Sanz para niños