Home favourite Nadine Ellecosta (Abetone Ancillotti Vittoria Factory Racing) and Sławomir Łukasik (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) hold the overnight leads in the UCI Enduro World Cup after a gruelling day of action in Val di Fassa – Trentino (Italy).
Ellecosta leads a three-way fight in the Women’s Elite UCI Enduro World Cup - with a single second separating the Italian from Simona Kuchyňková (CUBE Action Team) and Ella Conolly.
Łukasik was also put under pressure in the Men’s Elite UCI Enduro World Cup and the overall series leader has a five-second lead heading into a daunting second day.
Meanwhile, series challenger Daniel Booker saw his hopes of glory in Val di Fassa – Trentino ended when a rock punctured his tyre and damaged the rim during a demanding third stage of the day.
Lacey Adams (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) has a healthy lead in the Women Junior UCI World Cup after a dominant day which saw the Australian win every stage.
Meanwhile, Men’s Junior UCI World Cup overall leader Melvin Almueis battled to take a slender overnight lead in that category.
Val di Fassa – Trentino has become a home for enduro events and held the first ever UCI Mountain Bike Enduro and E-Enduro World Championships last year.
The beautiful setting of the Dolomites – UNESCO World Heritage site are hosting seven stages over two days – consisting of a 60.1-kilometres course featuring 3,057m of descent and 3,316m of pedal ascent.
The opening day’s course consisted of 23.4 kilometres with three testing stages. The Pecedac and Fassa and Furious set the scene at 1-kilometre and 1.4-kilometre long respectively. Concluding the day was the 9.90 stage (3.5km with 37m ascent and 621m descent).
A tough climb at altitude started the day’s final stage which was followed by a steep and physically demanding descent.
ELLECOSTA DELIGHTS HOME FANS TO TAKE LEAD INTO DAY TWO
The Dolomites was the scene of an enthralling day of action in the Women’s Elite UCI Enduro World Cup action.
German rider Raphaela Richter got her weekend off to a perfect start by winning the opening stage in the women’s category. Richter finished fourth in the opening round at Pietra Ligure, Finale Outdoor Region (Italy) before missing the subsequent rounds.
However, Richter returned to the series with a bang as her time of 2:30.3 was an impressive 1.9 seconds faster than home rider Ellecosta.
The second stage contained a short but technical wooded section which prevented riders finding their flow and including a section requiring pedalling at the bottom.
Overall series leader Conolly won the previous two rounds and was looking to extend her overall lead further.The British rider showed her power in the second stage to win the sector by 2.9 seconds ahead of Ellecosta and Kuchyňková (was a close third).
The longest stage of the day saw an intense battle for the overnight lead with Kuchyňková winning the sector - finishing just 0.47 of a second faster than Ellecosta and Conolly was third.
Italian home favourite Ellecosta has the overnight lead but is just 0.8 ahead of Kuchyňková and Conolly is also poised just one second behind the leader.
“It was so awesome,” said Ellecosta. “I had a really good day out there. I had so much fun in this race. The love all the trails. “I know that tomorrow is going to be a bigger day. I’m already keen for it. I’ll go home for some rest, eating and sleeping and then hopefully I can recharge the batteries for tomorrow. “Tomorrow is going to be really hard, really physical, there are some really long stages, but I’m looking forward to it.”
ŁUKASIK REMAINS CONSISTENT TO TOP OVERNIGHT STANDINGS
After four UCI Enduro World Cup rounds the Men Elite riders descended on Val di Fassa – Trentino looking to show their strength in the Dolomites terrain.
Australian Jack Moir (YT Mob) sat fifth overall after a consistent start to the season but missed the round due to injury.
After testing himself in downhill action in recent weeks Richard Rude Jr (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) returned to Enduro bike action.The American was pushing at the top of a close leaderboard during an intense opening stage but had to settle for second as Australian Booker went three seconds faster.
Meanwhile, Men’s Elite UCI Enduro World Cup series leader Łukasik was fourth on the opening stage. However, the Polish rider cut his deficit to win the second stage by 0.7 of a second from Rude Jr as Booker placed third.
Łukasik then stamped his authority on the longest stage of the day to win the sector by 2.7 seconds ahead of Charles Murray (Specialized Gravity) and Rude Jr in third (5.02 seconds back).
A flat tyre and broken wheel for Booker after hitting a rock on the third stage ended his overall chances going into the second day.
Consistent riding throughout the day by Łukasik gives him a 5.2-second overall lead ahead of Rude Jr and Murray is 9.9 seconds back.
“It was pretty fun,” said Łukasik. “It was really good conditions and I felt like I could push way faster and harder on each stage. “I tried to keep the flow, it was a really good day. I’m looking forward to tomorrow when I expect it to be harder with two big stages.”
ADAMS AND ALMUEIS TAKE JUNIOR LEADS INTO SECOND DAY
Adams dominated the Women’s Junior category at both Loudenvielle – Peyragudes (France) and Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland (Austria)
The Australian was in a determined mood once again as she took an early lead on the opening stage. However, she was pushed all the way on the one-kilometre stage by French rider Lucile Metge who was just 0.4 seconds behind and American Chloe Bear (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) was also in close contention.
Adams then blew her rivals away in the second stage to continue her winning run and extend her overall lead over Metge to 2.5 seconds, while Bear had cemented her third place. The Australian also triumphed on the toughest stage of the day with her time over the 3.5-kilometre stage 12 seconds quicker than Metge.
Coming into tomorrow’s stages Adams has a healthy 14-second lead over Metge, while Bear sits 33 seconds back.
“It was a short first stage to start off and it was perfect conditions out there,” said Adams. “The second stage was a bit longer, but the conditions were amazing and it was super fun.“The third stage was pretty long, I was pretty fatigued halfway through but I just kept pushing through. I’m stoked to be leading.”
Meanwhile, Almueis has work to do in the Men’s Junior UCI World Cup category to extend his overnight advantage tomorrow.
Swiss rider Noé Forlin was a surprise early leader after posting an impressive time of 2:14 on the short opening stage. However, series leader Almueis was in close pursuit and sat just 0.4 of a second back.
Forlin then dominated his opposition in the second stage with his time five seconds faster than his opposition. Almueis finished fourth on the stage following a close competition for the top three positions.
However, mistakes on the final stage for Forlin saw him finish 14th on the sector and drop down the overall. Almueis took advantage winning the 3.5-kilometre stage by just 0.7 of a second from Maks Struna and Canadian Rhys Blair was third (6.9 seconds back).
Competition is tight going into the second day as Almueis has a 3.6-second overall lead ahead of Slovenian rider Struna and the pair of Blair and Áron Babó are nicely placed 10 seconds back on overall.
“Today was a really good day for me in dry conditions,” said Almueis. “Yesterday during practice I didn’t like the first stage, but today was a very good result. The second stage was quite difficult for me with many pedalling at the bottom of the stage. “The third stage I tried to do my best and managed to finish second. Tomorrow, let’s see what we can do.”
The WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series continues on Sunday when the UCI Enduro World Cup competitors will take to the hills surrounding Val di Fassa – Trentino once again. With four stages and a course length of 36.7 kilometres all could change and everything is still up for grabs.
