Châtel crowns the first UCI Enduro World Cup winners
The seventh and final round of the inaugural UCI Enduro World Cup, part of the UCI Mountain Bike World Series Festival Haute-Savoie, tested the riders on a mammoth seven-stage course that included almost 60 kilometers of trails in the famous Portes du Soleil region.
In the elite women's race, the overall victory of the series was reserved for Isabeau Courdurier. The Lapierre Zipp Collective rider only had to produce a conservative performance to lift the new trophy. Morgane Charre (Pivot Factory Racer) was the only rider theoretically capable of challenging the two-time overall winner of the Enduro World Series for the title. And despite Charre's heroic effort, the race win was not enough to take the overall victory away from Courdurier.
Charre won today's race by six seconds ahead of Courdurier in second place, while Harriet Harnden (Trek Factory Racing Gravity) finished third. In the overall series standings, the same three find themselves on the podium, but with Courdurier on the top step and Charre and Harnden in second and third.
In the elite men's race, series leader Richie Rude (Yeti/Fox Factory Racing) got off to a shaky start and finished sixth on the first stage, while his main rival Jesse Melamed (Canyon CLLCTV) took the win. Melamed's performance was a masterclass in consistency, as the reigning overall Enduro World Series champion won four of the seven stages. The Canadian's performance was rewarded with the race win. Alex Rudeau (Commencal Enduro Project) finished second and Rude reached the third step of the podium.
Rude's third place would earn him his first UCI Enduro World Cup overall trophy, in addition to the two Enduro World Series overall trophies he has earned in the past. Melamed finished second overall, while Alex Rudeau took third place.
In the women's U21 race, Slovakia's Simona Kuchynkova and Great Britain's Emily Carrick-Anderson fought a close race throughout the day, which Kuchynkova won by just one hundredth of a second. Behind Carrick-Anderson came Switzerland's Delia Da Mocogno, who beat regular podium rider Emmy Lan, who won the overall U21 Women's World Cup. It was Da Mocogno's first Enduro World Cup race.
The U23 World Cup podium with Emily Carrick-Anderson, Simona Kuchynkova and Delia Da Mocogno. Carina Cappellari
In the U21 men's race, Raphael Giambi (Specialized Enduro Team) was the fastest of the day, with Lisandru Bertini (Lapierre Zipp Collective) second and Lief Rodgers from Canada third. Bertini's impressive record this year secured him the overall victory, while Giambi finished second and Australian Sascha Kim third.
The UCI Enduro World Cup returns next spring, while the UCI Mountain Bike World Series continues in two weeks' time in Snowshoe, West Virginia in the USA with the penultimate rounds of the UCI Cross-Country and Downhill World Cups.
Note: This content has been automatically translated from German. Please report any incorrect translations.