Fresh from taking the podium top step at only her second EnduroGP appearance, Enduro21 caught up with Shelby Turner to discuss racing Europe's best, learning the GP ropes, and what it all means heading towards the ISDE later this summer – as well as the prospect of future world domination...

The seven-time EnduroCross champion travelled to Portugal for rounds four and five of the 2026 Women's Enduro World Championship, looking to gain valuable experience ahead of the upcoming 100th ISDE in Grândola.

After rounding out her debut weekend runner-up to Rachel Gutish, Turner struck back to claim victory at round five. The win coincided with Gutish securing the overall championship title, marking back-to-back world championship victories for the American.

As Gutish celebrated, Turner enjoyed a milestone of her own, becoming the first person from her country to stand atop an EnduroGP podium. Here's what she had to say about the experience:

Congratulations on the double victory this weekend. You must be happy with that?

I’m super excited. I made a few mistakes last weekend, but we cleaned it up. We had the bike a little more settled and I knew the format a little better. But man, it was nasty out there. The tests all got so destroyed with everything being that dry. But all in all, it was an awesome weekend, and I had a lot of fun here.

Coming into EnduroGP for the first time, what expectations did you have?

I think there comes a time when you don't really come with expectations, you have goals. I always wanted to come here and do one and obviously I wanted to do well.

After last weekend and seeing how close my times were, I knew that if I could just clean some things up that Rachel [Gutish] and I would be really close.

Honestly, it was amazing to be up there on top of the box. It's something that Canada has never done before, so I'm happy to be the first person to ever do it.

Winding back to the Super Test. That's something you don't normally do. What are your thoughts on that, and did your performances surprise you?

Honestly, the Super Test was something that I was most excited for. I'm a seven-time EnduroCross champion back home, so I knew that was going to be my strong suit for sure. That was probably the most comfortable I've felt in any of the tests.

You've got a lot of domestic titles to your name. P2 last weekend, winning this weekend – is a full championship here next year something we might see?

I mean, never say never, right? You just don't know what kind of opportunities come up. The entire Triumph crew has been amazing. For them to just allow me to come here, we got a bike set up and they treated me just like back at home. It was really awesome.

Hopefully, if we can't do the full series, we'll be able to do another round again next year. We'll see.

Just to build on that a little bit, are you at the peak of your career now, or is there room to grow (pending world titles aside...)?

I think I've pretty much raced everything under the sun at this point. I've been to nine ISDEs and this is my first world enduro, but I've raced everything in the States and I've raced everything in Canada. I have motocross titles, extreme titles, and I'm definitely at the peak.

I'm just trying to continue on as long as possible. Honestly, I just love riding my dirt bike and that's what brings me all over the world. I didn't know as a little girl that I'd be able to be over here in Portugal racing and riding and meeting all the people that I've met, and seeing all the other countries that I've been to. I can't complain at all.

Looking at EnduroGP specifically, what do you think the championship could do to attract more riders from Canada, the US, and outside Europe?

I think there are a lot of people that could do it, but financially and logistically it's a big thing to work out.

Rachel's been over here and done it, so I've had to ask her a lot of questions. We had to have connections just to be able to get over here and those aren’t easy to make.

With the Six Days coming back here in a few months' time, what do you think of the Portuguese special tests, and does that give you confidence going into the ISDE?

Yeah, for sure. This bike is going to be the bike that I ride at Six Days. Just having that much seat time on it and being comfortable with it is going to be a big game changer for me.

Usually, I show up and spend the first half of it trying to figure out a completely different new motorcycle. This time everything's going to be the exact same. I'm not going to have to work on it myself and do all the prep, which I’d normally need to do when renting a KTM.

This bike's going to show up ready to go, so I think that's going to be a big game changer for me this year. Usually, it takes me a little while to settle in and get used to things, but I'm happy and excited.

What's the biggest lesson you've taken away from these two weeks that you'll take into the Six Days?

Honestly, the biggest lesson I've learned here is just how gnarly these girls are over here. It's insane that there's 10 to 15 women that can ride this stuff and perform and do so well at it.

I feel like they don't get enough credit for how hard it truly is out here. We don't have anything, unless you're riding specifically hard enduro, that's this hard or this long. Props to all the girls over here. No wonder they're always so strong at the ISDE.

This year is obviously the 100th Six Days, if there's ever a year to do well, it's this one. What is it about the ISDE that's so important for you, and how important would a good result be for both yourself and Team Canada?

I've been doing them a long time. I love doing the ISDE. Being here now and getting to experience this again, I'm going to be a little bit ahead of the game.

I've never podiumed at an ISDE individually. Team Canada did make the podium in Argentina in 2014 – we were second overall – but that was the only time I've been on a team podium.

I've been working hard to get my test times up. That's always my goal. I want to be on the podium at the Six Days, but I haven't quite had that one yet.

Canada was seventh in the women's classification last year. Looking at this year's team, do you think there's potential to improve on that, and what would be a successful result for you personally?

I think we can get up to fifth and I think that would be a good result. It's tough for us to get girls that want to do the Six Days. It's very hard and demanding, even though it's easier than this. The format is so foreign and just getting people to commit is hard.

We don't have a lot of support from the country, so we have to pay our own way to go over there, which makes it tough. I haven't had the same team twice, which, again, makes it hard too because you're constantly trying to teach somebody how to do the event.

Finally, tell us a little bit about Enduro Engineering and the support system around you.

Enduro Engineering is my primary sponsor and the team I ride for back in America. They're awesome.

They have my bike support and they help me get to all the rounds in America because I live in Canada, so they help me fly down there.

They were a huge part of getting me over here as well. They had the connections with Fast Eddy, which is where my bike came from.

Enduro Engineering helps out a lot with accommodations and travel for all my events. They make it easy for me to come racing. I honestly couldn't thank them enough for all the support they've given me. This is my third year on the team. We made the switch to Triumph this year and honestly I haven't regretted it one bit.

Photo credit: Future7Media | Andrea Belluschi