Enduro World Series Round Two: Val D'Allos, Saturday Racing
For round two of the Enduro World Series the racing has gone up and back. Upwards to the high mountains of Val D'Allos and back to the spot where the discipline was first born. For this year, each round of the circuit will use the local rules, so here in France the racing is with a modern variation of the original French format. That means 11,000m of descending for riders over two days, more than an hour of timed stages and no practice before race day. Until this year the races were run completely blind, you showed up and raced against the clock down whatever the organisers had laid out for you. This year, after riders' representatives asked for some practice, the format has changed so that you have one run down a track without the clock to see the track and then immediately after you hit it again with the clock running...
Talking to Josh Carlsen this evening, he made it clear that this is a very different sport to what he has been racing in Oregon recently. This is much more full-on in every way, tougher, longer tracks and the level of competition is much higher. He said "I was reaching the bottom feeling like I'd gone well and then I found out I was thirty seconds off the pace on each stage, but I love it, I just want to come back and do more of this..."
Talking to Josh Carlsen this evening, he made it clear that this is a very different sport to what he has been racing in Oregon recently. This is much more full-on in every way, tougher, longer tracks and the level of competition is much higher. He said "I was reaching the bottom feeling like I'd gone well and then I found out I was thirty seconds off the pace on each stage, but I love it, I just want to come back and do more of this..."
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 This was the site that greeted everyone this morning, bluebird skies and little fluffy clouds, fanned out by the winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere. |
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| Here in France racing starts early. First runs were at 8.15, which meant getting on the lift for about 7.30. If, like Greg Callaghan, you wanted a quick tyre change or to tweak your bike slightly, it was the crack of dawn for you. |
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| Ok, it's not as big as the World Cup, but that's a pretty impressive pit area for the first year of the series. |
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| Those 7:30 lifts we mentioned, unfortunately everyone needed to be up there too... |
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| This was the site that greeted everyone this morning, bluebird skies and little fluffy clouds, fanned out by the winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere. |
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| Fabian Barel doesn't do anything by halves and this morning he looked deep in thought, as if the series leaders number one plate was weighing on him. |
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| This is the start for all five of the stages. There's no messing about here, riders leave at ten or twenty second intervals, depending where they are in the seeding, just enough time to get steady, cock a pedal and you're off. |
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| As the holder of that number one plate, Fabian was the first man to take to the track and get things underway. |
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| Ben Cruz looked to be flying on his practice run on stage one. |
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| Lars Sternberg opted to bust out the flannel to keep warm during the damn chilly morning practice. |
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| Trust Cedric to start popping wheelies on the insanely high speed section at the top of the course. By the end of the day he was sitting in a solid seventh place, so there's speed there as well as style. |
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| Justin Leov missed the first Enduro World Series round at Punta Ala, so this weekend was his debut. As this is his first French enduro it must have felt a lot like being thrown in at the deep end. By end of play today he was in tenth, so he can't be struggling too much. |
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| Leov's old Trek teammate, Tracy Moseley, on the other hand is very familiar with this format, coming into this weekend off a win at the previous round of the French Cup at Samoens last weekend. |
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| Anneke Beerten is one of the growing group of riders who have made the switch over to enduro from other disciplines. She's looking markedly quicker than she did earlier in the season and ended today in second to show for it. |
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| Cecile Ravanelle probably isn't a name that is too well-known outside France, yet today she stormed to second in the women's race. That said, none of the French riders seem surprised by that... |
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| The one run sneak peak--one run on a 14 minute track is not really a practice run, any way you slice it--must have done some good for Lars n' Bars as he edges past another racer on stage one. |
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| Stage two was around nine minutes long. Second and third-placed Nico Vouilloz (pictured here) and Jerome Clementz were split by two hundreths of a second. Just work back through that for a moment, to have two riders pushing on the limit for that long and to come down in such similar times is unreal. |
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| Second on SS One for Nico Vouilloz was not the result he was looking for, but not unexpected, either. "I am looking to find my rhythm," he explained. "There is always a rhythm in racing. Second in stage one is not so bad, but I know if I find that rhythm, I will do better." |
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| Adam Craig kicking up dust in the turns. He's always one of the frontrunner back home in the States, but here in Europe he's obviously finding the racing much tougher, this evening he is in currently in 46th. Chatting to him, he doesn't seem to care too much as he's having so much fun right now. |
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| Giant's Kellie Emmett keeping it tucked through the long grass of the high alpine meadows. |
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| This pretty much sums up the majority of the trails today, singletrack winding through grass and pine trees... |
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| We couldn't resist a gratuitous dust shot - it's something we haven't seen enough of yet this year. |
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| Jerome Clementz on the last, steep chute of his race run on stage two. He went down to a front flat on stage three and lost the overall lead, but tomorrow is a long day and he sounds positive about his chances. |
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| Ratboy on the rocks of stage two. |
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| The most common phrase uttered by the English speaking crowd as they rolled this slot with the exposed exit corner was "Holy Shit!" Remy Absalon, however, was deadly silent. But then again, technical exposed terrain like this is has been his bread and butter for nearly a decade. "My brother (Julien Absalon, currently ranked #2 in the UCI XC World Cup Series) found Cross-Country racing. For me I could never decide: DH or XC. Then I discovered Enduro, and found my discipline." |
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| Greg Minnaar showing his true stripes. The inaugural EWS race saw the South African rider far down on the results sheet. Taking third on the day here at Val d'Allos shows that Minnaar has the depth to compete in this racing format. |
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| Jerome Clementz on the last, steep chute of his race run on stage two. He went down to a front flat on stage three and lost the overall lead, but tomorrow is a long day and he sounds positive about his chances. |
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| Dan Atherton getting loose on the second stage. He was running well, but stage three also claimed him, a front flat ejected him over the bars and he limped down the piste, which is effectively his weekend over. |
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| Hannah Barnes seems to have a perpetual smile stretched across her lips. The more so after sampling the twisting turns of SS Three. |
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| Maurian Marnay on the lower part of stage two. |
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| Tracy Moseley carried her form over from last weekend, sweeping three out of three stages today. With Anne-Caroline Chausson still ruled out with the injury she sustained in Punta Ala, she's staked her claim as the woman to beat. |
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| Innes Thoma only just missed out on a post in the top three, but it's very close and we wouldn't be surprised to see her on the podium come tomorrow evening. |
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| Anka Martin, flatout through the lower meadows. |
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| Ben Cruz didn't have much luck today. At the start of stage one he clipped a pedal on the high speed section and had a brutal crash that knocked him out and snapped his spine board in two. He's lucky to be about and walking this evening, it's one of those times when missing out on a weekend of racing isn't that important. |
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| Nico Lau, gangstering it up on the lifts. |
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| Would it be a European enduro article with an full aero tuck? We didn't think so either. |
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| Stage three claimed Jerome Clementz, Fabien Barel and Dan Atherton with flats and crashed. Jared Graves made the most of it to grab the lead going into tomorrow. |
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| Despite Barel's front flat near the top of the stage taking him out of contention for this EWS race, the event is considered to be part of the French Enduro series, and in that series, tomorrow is a brand new race. |
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| As Ben Cruz couldn't race any more, we passed him a camera to catch riders dropping into the finish area. Here is Jared Graves on his way to the finish of stage three and the race lead. Cheers Ben! |
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| Graves giving the "W" on the day a big thumbs up. But it's another big day tomorrow, and as Clementz, Barel, and Dan Atherton flatting out of contention showed, pretty much anything can happen. |
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(Ehem.)
It's cool to see Maurian Marnay on a pinkike picture because I taught this guy how to ride in downhill 6 or 7 years ago. Now he's teaching me how ro ride
Wouldn't it be "without a full aero tuck"? Doesn't make much sense.
Great coverage Matt and Colin!
We have a great enduro series here in Ireland and what it has done is found out weaknesses in riders from both XC and DH.
Typically the xc lads for carrying speed on the down and the dh riders for fitness and endurance.
The guys who win here would stand on podiums for both disciplines on a regular basis.
You also have to remember they do climb between the stages and have a set time to do it in before time penalties apply.
Enduro is enduro nothing else. Not XC not DH not Maraton, it's racing as close to what your average all mountain joe does weekend after weekend.
Peddle up, bomb down.
Also I'd have to doubt that the top DH riders could jump into the highest level XC race and do well. If the focused on it sure, I'm sure they many could get to that level, but no way could top World Cup DH racers could just jump into the highest level XC race, like say an XC world Cup, mid season like this and do well like they are doing with enduro. They do well are enduro because its heavily biased toward downhill.
Keep it coming!!!
A podium was impossible for him!!!