Once the great Swiss enduro hope, Gusti Wildhaber never quite lived up to his potential. He seemed to remain the eternal talent - until this weekend. Wildhaber rises like a phoenix from the ashes from the deep dust of Lo Barnechea in Chile. On the very first day of the Enduro World Series opening race, the Swiss Cube rider put the pedal to the metal and finished in eleventh place.

Unlike in previous years, Wildhaber is able to maintain his focus on the second day of the race and probably also play to his physical strengths: The stage starts are up to 3,600 meters above sea level, and the thin air saps the strength of all participants. In the first downhill stage on Sunday, the Walenstadter set the third-fastest time on the leaderboard, followed by a sixth and fifth stage time. Fourth place in the final standings. This is not only the best Swiss result in the men's race for years, but also Gusti Wildhaber's career best.

"I already realized during the training runs that I was doing very well. Unlike most of the participants, I decided to ride on the softest tires available. Although they were a disadvantage on the pedal-heavy stages, they were a clear advantage on the many loose downhill sections. I'm just super happy that everything worked out so well," says the audibly relieved Gusti Wildhaber.

Fastest last year's winner

The fastest on the first stage is two-time overall World Series winner Richie Rude. He also set the fastest time on the third stage, then the fifth, tenth and finally the second fastest stage time - the Yeti rider could have taken the win - he could have! But on the second and also the longest stage, of all stages, the US-American suffers a tire defect and falls far behind. He finishes the race in 53rd place.

This means that there will be no hot duel between the overall winner of 2015 and 2016 and last year's overall winner Sam Hill. But with three second and three fastest stage times, the Australian showed the most consistent race and won by 36 seconds ahead of Belgian Martin Maes and Swede Robin Wallner, who also celebrated his best World Series result.


Maxime Chapuis finished 28th after a mixed race, with the two other Swiss riders Alois von Wurstemberger and Timothee Oppliger in 73rd and 82nd place respectively.

Luck in misfortune

In the women's race, the podium contenders crystallize on the first day of the race: last year's overall winner Cecile Ravanel sets three fastest times and clearly outdistances Isabeau Courdurier by almost a minute. Katy Winton is in third place. The twins Anita and Carolin Gehrig start the race cautiously and are in sixth and eighth place after the first day of racing. However, with a second and a fifth place on each stage, the two Norco riders are far from finished.

However, the second day did not start particularly well - at least not for Anita Gehrig. The race is over for her after the first downhill. "On the first stage, I entered a rocky section far too quickly and then had probably the worst crash of my life. Apart from numerous bruises and a cut in my hand, fortunately nothing happened to me," she describes the incident.

Carolin Gehrig, on the other hand, is getting better and better in the race. She started the day in fifth place, rode the eighth fastest time on the fifth stage and finished the last stage in fourth place. She is very satisfied with her fifth place at the end of the season: "Overall, it went quite well and I'm happy that I was able to really turn it up a few times."

Meanwhile, nothing changed at the top. Only Ravanel brought some excitement to the race when she lost almost her entire lead due to a puncture. But the remaining two stages gave the Frenchwoman a big time cushion again, which brought her another victory.

Breathless through Latin America

In the thin air of Chile, the World Series athletes barely had enough oxygen to be able to deliver their usual performances. However, there is no longer any time to recover, as the second race of the Enduro World Series continues next weekend in Manizales, Colombia.

Rankings EWS #1, Lo Barnechea, Chile
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