UCI Enduro World Cup leaders Ella Conolly and Sławomir Łukasik (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) increased their overall margins by taking victories in Val di Fassa – Trentino. Both riders overcame searing temperatures and intense battles with their rivals to take honours after two days of racing in Italy
Meanwhile, overnight leaders Lacey Adams (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) and Melvin Almueis overcame pressure from their opponents to clinch honours in the junior events.
The gruelling setting of the Dolomites – UNESCO World Heritage site resulted in thrills, spills and mechanicals for enduro competitors across the weekend.Riders took on seven stages over two days – consisting of a 60.1-kilometres course featuring 3,057m of descent and 3,316m of ascent.
The first three stages on day one resulted in close racing, with little to separate the riders heading into a long second day.While the opening day posed some unknown and new stages the second day included four firm favourites on the enduro circuit - Titans, Glühwein, Tutti Frutti and Ciasates. The 36.7-kilometre course, also longer than the previous day, started with the three-kilometre Titans stage.
With line selection difficult a technical test faced riders on the stage, which included a steep descent in the Dolomites.
Stage five (Gluewhwin) provided a more physical test with just 150 metres of descending in the 1.2-kilometre stage. nother firm favourite came in the form of Tutti Frutti with riders facing a sandy descent and slated rocks before a steep climb to the finish.
Finally, the day finished with the deciding 1.4-kilometre stage of Ciasates, which saw riders throwing caution to the wind and carrying speed over the roots.
CONOLLY FINDS RYTHM TO WIN ELITE WOMEN’S CATEGORY
The Women’s Elite UCI Enduro World Cup was finely poised following the opening day as Nadine Ellecosta (Abetone Ancillotti Vittoria Factory Racing) had a slender lead over Simona Kuchyňková (CUBE Action Team) and Conolly – as all three riders were separated by a second.
After struggling to find her rhythm the previous day, Conolly hit back on the opening stage of the day - winning Titans by 7.7 seconds and taking the overall lead.
Overnight leader Ellecosta crashed twice and lost 19 seconds on the stage to Conolly and also lost precious seconds to Kuchyňková. Frustrated by her mishaps in the opening stage, Ellecosta hit back going quickest on the short Gluhwein stage but only pulling back a second on rivals Kuchyňková and Conolly.
The notorious Tutti Frutti stage proved pivotal to the weekend of racing as an impressive ride by Conolly saw her go 11 seconds faster than runner-up Ellecosta.
Meanwhile, a slow puncture for Kuchyňková saw the Slovak rider place fourth on the stage and lose 25 seconds on the leader. Ellecosta also suffered a dent to her wheel at beginning of Tutti Frutti, but was able to keep the air in her tyre for the remaining stage.
British rider Conolly wrapped up the overall victory by winning the final stage, while home rider Ellecosta was second and Kuchyňková third on the weekend standings.
“I’m really happy to win here,” said Conolly. “It’s really cool to win in a place where I’ve not been on the podium before. It’s nice to finally have a good race here. On day one I was struggling. There’s not a lot of flow on the trails, so you have to generate speed all the time. I was trying to be patient and carry speed, but obviously it wasn’t attacking enough. “I wasn’t that happy with my riding after day one. I watched some videos last night and saw how riders were attacking and sprinting out of every corner.”
“Every stage today I feel like I found that intensity which has been really nice. It has been super-hot and we’re at altitude so the sun feels really intense as well. Between every stage I was trying to stay on top of eating and drinking.”
ŁUKASIK MAINTAINS PRESSURE AS RIVALS FAULTER
Overall Men’s Elite UCI World Cup series leader Łukasik had a healthy five-second lead following the previous day’s shorter stages over Richard Rude Jr (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team).
Daniel Booker saw his hopes of overall ended the previous day when a rock punctured his tyre and damaged the rim during a demanding third stage. However, the Australian bounced back with a slender victory in the second day’s opening stage - Titans.
Rude Jr finished second and clawed back over a second on leader Łukasik. The American increased the pressure on the series leader by winning the Gluhwein stage and reducing his overall deficit to Łukasik to 1.6 seconds heading into the final two stages.
Charles Murray (Specialized Gravity) held third overall and had an 11-second buffer over Jesse Melamed (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team).
The notorious Tutti Frutti high up in the Dolomites had a big impact in the weekend’s final standings. Third place overall Murray suffered a puncture at the top of the stage resulting in a long ride on a flat tyre resulting in him losing 33 seconds on the stage and a frantic ride back to the pits.
Canadian rider Melamed took full advantage winning the stage and pulling himself into the final podium position.
Rude suffered a similar fate on Tutti Frutti puncturing and losing 12.9 seconds on the stage and finishing six seconds behind Łukasik. Honours in the final stage went to Dutch rider Tristan Botteram (Simplon Trailblazers) who mastered the gruelling Ciasates stage.
A third-place finish on the stage for Łukasik secured him the overall victory. Despite crashing on the final stage Rude finished second overall 13.8 seconds back and Melamed completed the podium positions.
“I was super-happy after the first day,” said Łukasik. “I felt that I could push really hard and it was a smooth day. I then struggled to sleep and I was really tired in the morning. I tried to push as hard as the day before, but it was really hard with the heat and also the track was sketchy at times.”
“I had fun riding so I tried to stay smooth and had good momentum through the whole day. The altitude wasn’t the big issue, the bigger issue was the heat and it was a really hard day.
ALMUEIS AND ADAMS SURVIVE SCARES IN JUNIOR CATEGORIES
Men’s Junior UCI World Cup overall leader Almueis held a slender overnight lead after an intense first day of riding.
Slovenian rider Maks Struna sat just 3.6 seconds back from the leader overall after the first day and looked to overturn his deficit on the longer stages. Struna turned the tables on his rival gaining 3.3 seconds on his way to winning the opening stage of the day (Titans).
Gluhwein provided a close contest between the top riders but Struna again took victory to take the overall lead. However, disaster struck for the leader on the notorious Tutti Frutti stage with Struna losing almost two minutes on his rivals and his overall challenge was over.
Frenchman Almueis regained the overall lead by winning the stage by 9.7 seconds ahead of Hungarian Áron Babó.
Almueis had a commanding 21-second lead over Babó heading into the final stage of the weekend and Canadian Rhys Blair held third. Overall leader Almueis also triumphed in the final stage to secure victory. A strong second day for Babó secured his second position overall and Blair took third.
“It was a really hot conditions, today with the weather,” said Almueis. “I’m really happy to win in Val di Fassa – Trentino, the guys behind me were really fast. I kept pushing on these two days and I’m really happy because it’s really hard.”
In the Women’s Junior UCI Enduro World Cup overnight leader Adams had a healthy lead of 14 seconds heading into Sunday.
French rider Lucile Metge was her closest challenger and increased the pressure by winning her first stage of the weekend at Titans.
As Adams struggled to find her form from the previous day, American Chloe Bear (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) took a slender win on the subsequent Gluhwein stage and Metge pulled back to eight seconds behind overall leader Adams.
Tutti Frutti turned the race on its head as Metge triumphed by 7.6 seconds and was just 0.4 of a second behind Adams overall going into the final stage.
On the final stage Adams did enough to win the stage by a second and the overall from a valiant Metge.
“I’m super stoked,” said Adams.“It was definitely a hard day on the bike. I had a bit of a slow start on stage four and five, but got the flow on the last two stages, so I was pretty happy with that.”
“It was a bit of a slow start, but I brought it back which was nice. The trails were in an awesome condition. There was a couple of loose sections on Tutti Frutti, it was pretty dry out there. The last stage was really fun, rough on my hands but fun.”
The WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series gravity events continue next weekend at the alpine ski town of La Thuile – Valle d’Aosta (Italy) when enduro and downhill riders will take to the slopes in search of glory.
