The toughest test of the UCI Enduro World Cup so far produced two intense battles for Elite victory as Jesse Melamed (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) and Ella Conolly proved worthy winners in Austria’s largest Bike Region Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn Trails.
A contender for the most challenging course of the year was made even more troublesome by heavy rain after riders had made their one-and-only practice runs in the dry on Friday, with a winter cycle having swept away a lot of dirt from last season leaving more exposed roots and rocks to give riders an extra challenge.
And that was reflected in the closer Elite leaderboards as neither Melamed nor Conolly could open up a comfortable gap to the chasing pack while Lacey Adams (Yeti / FOX Factory Race Team) and Melvin Almueis took their second and third victories of the season in the Juniors.
MELAMED EDGES COMPETITIVE MEN’S RACE
Jesse Melamed overcame an inauspicious start to triumph in the men’s Elite race, finishing fourth on a long stage one that had looked capable of immediately separating the pack but only produced minor time gaps in the end.
The dangerous Bergstadl Trail was followed by the equally daunting (and even longer) X Trail featuring some perilous rutted turns at the bottom and while Melamed claimed the stage, it was only by a tenth of a second meaning Charles Murray remained in the overall lead for Specialized Gravity.
The Canadian made a bigger difference on a diverse stage three that finally establish a running order as Murray dropped five seconds and Sławomir Łukasik (Yeti / FOX Factory Race Team) and Jack Moir (YT MOB) slipped further back in a race where one mistake could mark a rider out of the running.
William Brodie took a surprise stage four win as all of the favourites came unstuck, but Melamed lost the least time to cement his advantage - now into double figures. The Canadian was fastest again on the Knappen Trail so staying on his bike was the priority on a stage six that ran along a bonafide downhill trail, and he did just that finishing sixth but only a second behind Daniel Booker.
That capped the end of a disappointing overall day for the Australian who ceded more ground to Łukasik in the overall race, the Men Elite UCI Enduro World Cup leader was third in Austria and now enjoys a 290-point advantage while Melamed jumps into the top five, level on points with Moir but ahead courtesy of winning a round.
“Honestly it was quite smooth and steady which is saying a lot for how tricky this course is,” Melamed said.“It obviously poured down rain on race day but I was kind of wanting it because these trails are fast and tech at speed so I wanted to be slower.
“It just went smooth, I made one mistake, one crash on stage four but other than that it was really clean, so I was hoping for a good overall result just for that so to win is amazing because I just felt like I was riding my bike well.”
CONOLLY REMAINS WOMAN TO BEAT BUT KUCHYŇKOVÁ IS COMING
Simona Kuchyňková (CUBE Factory Racing) has lived up to the billing so far in 2025 after stepping up to Elite racing and mounted her closest challenge yet to Ella Conolly, though couldn’t prevent the Brit taking her second round of the season.
It all seemed to be plain sailing for Conolly when she opened up a 38-second gap on Kuchyňková in the opening three stages, with Nadine Ellacosta (Abetone Ancillotti Vittoria Factory Team) and Winni Goldsbury the only other riders within a minute.
However, an uncharacteristic off-stage on the arguably less challenging Hangman 1 brought Kuchyňková and the rest of the field right back into contention, as Conolly fell and lost 20 seconds to her closest rival although Goldsbury and Ellacosta couldn’t capitalise as well.
That advantage was whittled down still further when Kuchyňková claimed her second successive stage on a Knappen Trail that made sticking to the right line almost impossible. So Conolly entered the final stage with an advantage of 16 seconds knowing she likely couldn’t be overhauled with a clean run, but any mistakes could hand the round to the Slovakian.
But the Brit produced a champion’s response by refusing to lessen her commitment and claiming the stage and the round, while opening up an almost 500-point lead over Kuchyňková in the overall standings at the halfway point of the season.
“It was a really really eventful race, I had a good few crashes, made a bit of a lead then lost time on stage four, a couple more crashes, said Conolly. “Even if I slide out, something happened I was just trying to move on all the time and thankfully held onto the win, but it got tight.
"The mud was crazy on the last three stages, big roots that came out that were super slippery and just kept catch you off guard.”
JUNIOR RACES PRODUCE CONTRASTING RESULTS
The men’s Junior race was the closest-fought of all in Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland as Melvin Almueis clinched his third victory from four rounds in 2025 by seven seconds from Cooper Millwood.
Almueis made up over half his eventual margin of victory on stage one, but he’d only win one of the five remaining stages and suffered a scare on the decider as he lost three seconds.
Millwood led by four seconds after stage three but hit trouble on Hangman 1 and hemorrhaged 12 decisive seconds to Almueis, who showed consistency is key in enduro and now has a three-figure overall lead.
"Today was really hard for me because I don’t really like to ride in rainy conditions but I kept my flow, and don’t crash,” Almueis said afterwards.
And Lacey Adams made it two wins on the bounce with the most dominant performance of the day, taking victory by 25 seconds from Lucile Metge.
Adams claimed the opening two stages but ironically it was the first one she failed to win that proved most decisive, with Chloe Bear (Yeti / FOX Factory Race Team) fastest on the Matzalm Trail while Adams trailed by seven seconds, yet put almost double that margin into Metge.
The Frenchwoman took time back on stage four but another heavy loss on the Knappen Trail proved the final nail in her coffin as Adams extends her advantage at the top of the overall standings to 150 points.
“Last week was super dry and fast, this race was muddy and very crazy, I just tried to keep it upright on every stage, keep it smooth so really stoked,” Adams said.
“The course changed a lot, practice was relatively dry then today was just a mudfest, it was very wet and slippery.”
The enduro field get two weekends off before returning to action at Val di Fassa – Trentino (Italy) but that doesn’t mean the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series action lets up elsewhere.
After starring in a thrilling weekend of all-round drama in Saalfelden Leogang - Salzburgerland, cross-country and downhill riders will once again take centre stage in Val di Sole – Trentino (Italy) from June 20-22.
