Saturday, 3 June, PORTO CESAREO (Italy): Defending World Champion Emma-Nellie Ortendahl needed four laps before stamping her authority in the opening Moto of the year at the UIM-ABP Aquabike Grand Prix of Italy to eventually run out a comfortable winner by 21.65s.

In a highly entertaining Moto it was Kylie Ellmers on her new ski who grabbed the early advantage to lead from Estelle Poret, with an unusually slow starting Ortendahl in third.

Ortendahl moved into second spot after a mistake by Poret on lap 2 and a lap later overhauled Ellmers and going on to take a comfortable victory. “I was a little cautious at the start and the on the long run I got squeezed a little and lost ground,” said Ortendahl. “But I soon got into my rhythm and was able to make up places and get to the front.”

Despite losing the lead Ellmers' performance, on a relatively untried Ski was impressive and was unchallenged in second and went on to take her best result on the UIM-ABP tour.

Poret’s tumble saw her drop to fourth behind Sofie Borgstrom, but she regained the place to secure third spot when Borgstrom also went down momentarily, then hanging on to finish ahead of her elder sister Jonna by just over a second, with UIM-ABP debutant Krista Uzare coming home in sixth.

For full classifications: www.aquabike.net/results