The 2024 UCI Enduro World Cup got underway in Finale Outdoor Region, a region that has become synonymous with Enduro. The best in the world were all set for a five-stage test across 57km of trails, taking in 2570m of descending, deep into the mountains above the Ligurian sea in northern Italy.
STAGE 1: BASE NATO
The opening stage saw the riders take on the Base Nato trail, a flowing 2.6km run, made up of fast lines and small jumps, ideally suited for putting down a marker.
On the women’s side Pivot Factory Racing’s Morgane Charre did just that. The French former UCI Downhill World Champion reached the line in a time of 5:52, which would ultimately prove good enough for 3rd on the stage. Cannondale’s Ella Conolly, who experienced a turbulent 2023, went one place and two seconds better. It was reigning champ Isabeau Courdurier (Lapierre Zipp Collective) who announced herself most vociferously, by setting a time six seconds quicker than that of Connolly and showing to all that she would again take some beating. The fastest local was Nadine Ellecosta (Abettone Ancillotti Victoria Factory Team), whose time of 5:55 was good enough for her to finish in 5th place.
The men’s competition was even closer, with the top five riders finishing the first stage separated by just five seconds. Kasper Woolley (YT Mob) showed how fast it was going to be early on. The American, who suffered a spleen injury a year ago, set off so quickly that he almost caught the rider ahead of him. Despite suffering a crash mid-way through his run Woolley’s compatriot Jesse Melamed (Canyon Collective Factory Enduro Team) did enough to hang on to the top ten.
The home crowd will have been delighted to see two of their countrymen, Mirco Vendemmia and Tommaso Francardo (Abetone Ancillotti Vittoria Factory Team) make the top five, but it was another American who took top honours on the opening stage. Richie Rude (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team), the 2023 UCI Enduro World Cup overall winner, showed he’d lost none of his edge with a smooth run that stopped the clock at 5:07.4. His team-mate Lukasik Slawomir (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) was just three seconds slower and good enough for 4th, just 0.05 down on Vendemmia.
STAGE 2: INGEGNERE
The back-to-back racing continued with Stage 2, which took place on the notorious Ingegnere trail. Purpose-made for this very series back in 2015 Ingenere has been described as “one of the most complete enduro stages ever built.”
Whether it was the course or the heat, something seemed to get to Isabeau Courdurier, whose second timed run of the day struggled to match her opening stage Tour de Force performance. Despite finishing only 4th she had enough time in hand to hang on to the overall lead. Hattie Harnden (Trek Factory Racing) had the opposite result taking her first stage win of the season in a lightning quick time of 9 minutes 18 seconds. Morgane Charre proved herself the most consistent rider of the day so far, moving herself up into second place overall with a 9:20 run.
Richie Rude made it two from two on Ingegnere and made it seem as if his first effort really was just a warm-up. The 29 year-old flew down the 3km of trail in 8 minutes 18 - a full eight seconds quicker than Belgian Martin Maes(Orbea Fox Enduro), Slawomir Lukasik and Vendemmia who all finished within a second of each other’s time. As tight as it was, the Polish rider had done enough to move himself into third. A great run from Specialized’s Charlie Murray saw him displace the second Italian, Francardo, from the top 5.
STAGE 3: SUPERGROPPO
The longer distance of Stage 3's Supergroppo trail was always likely to produce bigger splits in the field, but few expected Harriet Harnden (Trek Factory Racing) to dominate as completely as she did. The British woman covered the 7km course more than 20 seconds quicker than any other rider. Her time of 15:30 was enough to propel the rider from the Malvern Hills to the top of the overall standings, as Courdurier lost her grip on the competition completely. The 33-year-old, who prefers a more technical track, struggled to maintain momentum on the flatter sections, and could only finish 5th.
Australian Rae Morrison (Liv Factory Racing), who had managed respectable top ten rides in the opening stages, put the power down in the third to achieve a 2nd place finish that saw her nudging the top 5 overall. Had she not sustained a crash from which she was nevertheless able to recover, Morrison might have even come close to Harnden’s time. Ella Connolly made it two Brits in the top 5 and returned to her silver medal spot with a time three hundredths of a second slower than Morrison.
Supergroppo produced smaller gaps between the top men’s riders with the top five on the stage separated by less than ten seconds. Although he couldn’t make it three wins out of three, Richie Rude was still just about inside that quintet. The poorer result also cost him the overall lead but the blow will have been somewhat softened by the fact that it was his own team-mate, Slawomir Lukasik, who took it from him. Lukasik accelerated hard out of the corners and found some serious rhythm to deliver a third victory of the day for Yeti/Fox racing.
Belgian Martin Maes had, by his own high standards, a bit of a stinker. 8th place and 19 seconds down on the winner saw him slip to 5th place in the overall standings. In contrast, another strong ride from New Zealander Charlie Murray (Specialized Enduro Team) for second kept him climbing the standings, even while speeding downhill. Going into the final round Murray was just seven seconds off the pace set by the Yeti/Fox duo, who were in turn separated by just 14 thousandths.
It had to be the final stage because, unfortunately, Stage 4 was forced to be cancelled due to an earlier incident on the Rocche Gianche course.
STAGE 5: DH MEN
If Rocche Gianche was unlikely to present many opportunities to make up time, DH Men trail (also known as DH Uomini) offered even less. The legendary trail which appears to launch riders right into the Ligurian sea itself drops a near-vertical 260m over less than 1.5km of horizontal.
After a delay, racing resumed with Courdurier returning to winning ways. The 33-year-old took every chance on the short course, seizing every opportunity and pulling back fractions of seconds across the run. The margin of her impressive second victory from four was not sufficiently large to put her back on top of the overall standings, however. Despite her supremacy she remains winless in the Finale Outdoor Region.
For her part Harriet Harnden, with plenty of time in hand, played it safe, doing enough to retain the lead, even as she slipped to 5th place on the stage. Morganne Charre made it a French 1-2, in the process cementing her 4th place overall. A second consecutive 3rd for Ella Connolly marked her out as easily the most consistent rider of the day, while ensuring she ended the round in the same position.
On his final run Richie Rude proved unequivocally that the shorter, faster, more technical course is where he is most at home, and where he is almost unstoppable. Rude recorded his third win of the day and was the only rider to go under four and a half minutes on the course, ensuring he finished atop the overall standings. There was disappointment for his team-mate Lukasik, however. The Polish rider went from 1st to 5th overall due to a front flat tyre that cost him 28.742 seconds and caused him to come in 41 places and 29 seconds down on Rude. Solid rides from Murray and Maes secured them both podium places for the round, with the Kiwi’s consistency throughout the afternoon earning him second spot.
For Richie Rude, “getting that first stage win really put that confidence in me to know I could do well on these tracks.” With temperatures into the high twenties, it was, he added, “really hard out there.” A buoyant Harriet Harnden admitted afterwards to harboring pre-race doubts about how well she would ride. To take the win, she said, “feels amazing. I didn’t think this was going to happen.”
PLANQUART AND CHRISTIE DOMINATE THE UNDER-21 EVENTS
France’s Lily Planquart (Lapierre Zipp Collective) dominated the women’s under-21s, claiming four out of four stages and winning the overall by more than 40 seconds. Second place was Elly Hoskin of Canada.
The men’s under-21 event was won by Australian Bailey Christie (Theory Racing) with a solid set of results that included one stage win out of five, on the Insegnere trail, and finish inside the top four on each one.
In the open racing categories 125 amateurs raced four of the same stages as the professionals.
Sunday is the turn of the E-Enduro riders with the start list featuring luminaries of the sport such as Britain’s Tracy Moseley, Florencia Espiñeira (Orbea Fox Enduro Team) and Florian Nicolai (C-Lab Fulgur Bike Product), who finished third here a year ago.
