The seventh and final round of the inaugural UCI Enduro World Cup, part of the UCI Mountain Bike World Series Festival Haute-Savoie, tested riders over a mammoth seven stage course that covered nearly 60km of trails in the famous Portes du Soleil area.
In the women’s competition, the overall series win was Isabeau Courdurier’s to lose. The Lapierre Zipp Collective racer only needed to put in a conservative effort in order to lift the new trophy, with Morgane Charre (Pivot Factory Racer) the lone rider who was theoretically capable of depriving the two times Enduro World Series overall winner the title. And despite Charre’s heroic efforts, the race win was not enough to stop Courdurier from securing the overall title.
Charre won today’s race by six seconds ahead of Courdurier in second place, while Harriet Harnden (Trek Factory Racing Gravity) took third place. The same three would find themselves on the overall series podium, but with Courdurier on the top step and Charre and Harnden in second and third respectively.
In the men’s race, series leader Richie Rude (Yeti/Fox Factory Racing) got off to a shaky start, with sixth place on the first stage whilst main series rival Jesse Melamed (Canyon CLLCTV) took the win. Melamed’s performance was a masterclass in consistency, with the reigning Enduro World Series overall winner taking four of the seven stages. The Canadian rider’s performance was awarded with the race win, with Alex Rudeau (Commencal Enduro Project) claiming second and Rude awarded the third step of the podium.
Rude’s third place would hand him his first UCI Enduro World Cup overall trophy to sit alongside the two Enduro World Series overall ones he’s garnered in the past. Melamed would take second in the overall, whilst Alex Rudeau would claim third.
In the U21 Women, the closest race in the category to date raged all day between Slovakia’s Simona Kuchynkova and Great Britain’s Emily Carrick-Anderson - with Kuchynkova clinching the win by just one hundredth of a second. Behind Carrick-Anderson was Switzerland’s Delia Da Mocogno.
However a strong season meant Emmy Lan (Forbidden Synthesis Team) won the overall title, with Elly Hoskin in second and Lily Planquart (Lapierre Zipp Collective) in third.
In the U21 Men it was Raphael Giambi (Specialized Enduro Team) who was fastest on the day, with Lisandru Bertini (Lapierre Zipp Collective) in second and Lief Rodgers of Canada in third. Bertini’s impressive record this year secured him the overall title, with Giambi in second and Australia’s Sascha Kim in third place.
Rude’s win would secure Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team the win in the team competition.
Full results and rankings after today’s race are available here.
The UCI Enduro World Cup returns next spring, while the UCI Mountain Bike World Series resumes in two weeks time in Snowshoe, West Virginia in the USA for the penultimate rounds of the UCI Cross-country and Downhill World Cups.
