The event, held from August 24-29, is widely regarded as the Olympics of off-road motorcycling, drawing more than 600 riders from more than 30 nations.
Blake was joined by Jonty Richards (19, Cromwell), Dylan Huddleston (Cheviot) and Thomas Easton (Ashburton) in the Junior World Trophy category, managed by Tapanui ISDE veteran Kylie Dorr.
They were the only New Zealanders in the competition.
Racing involved five gruelling daily stages of about seven hours on-bike, negotiating hundreds of kilometres of varied terrain, finishing with a motocross showdown on day six.
Italian conditions were extreme, with riders facing both searing heat and days of heavy rain.
"Even when it was p...... down it was stinking hot," New Zealand Overall #2 enduro rider Blake said.
"Everything was different, the soil, the plants ... Here you usually ride against 30-70 others. Over there it was about 600 all at once, which affects the ground differently.
"There, everybody races in teams and the attention and backing is massive ... the scale of it is just a whole other level."
The weather forced organisers to alter routes, sending competitors through busy towns on slick public roads.
Mechanical and logistical challenges, crashes as well as the sheer scale of the racing tested the teenagers’ resilience.
One rider’s disqualification left the team carrying impossibly heavy time penalties, and after a 60kmh-70kmh crash on a boulder-strewn, dry riverbed, Blake battled injuries including a damaged shoulder, elbow, thumb and tongue, yet still pushed through to finish.
By the last day, host nation Italy were the overall and Junior World Trophy champions, while the USA won the Women’s World Trophy.
Ultimately, the New Zealand team placed 17th out of 17 in the Junior World Trophy standings, but for Mrs Dorr and the riders, the focus was broader than this year’s scoreboard.
"You could say it was the first step in a longer campaign to expose our best young riders to world-class competition, while they’re still young," Mrs Dorr said.
"They are extremely talented with huge potential and we hope with that experience we’ll be building towards serious placings in the future."
Blake confirmed he already has his sights set on returning to the ISDE in Portugal next year.
