France’s Haute-Savoie department is hosting back-to-back weekends of UCI World Cup racing, with all six WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series formats competing over three venues and two jam-packed race weekends between Friday, June 28 and Sunday, July 7.
The first weekend (June 28-30) sees the UCI Cross-country Marathon (XCM) Endurance format take to the trails of Megève on Saturday, while there will also be Gravity action setting off from the neighbouring village of Combloux on Friday and Sunday – Mont Blanc’s extensive trail network playing host to the fourth round of the UCI Enduro (EDR) and E-Enduro (E-EDR) World Cups’ six-round series.
While Richie Rude (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team), Isabeau Courdurier (Lapierre Zipp Collective), Manuel Soares José Borges (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) and Flo Herreros (Orbea Fox Enduro Team) lead their respective series, it’s still all to play for with this weekend set to be an intriguing contest.
Demanding, elevation-packed course
While the Haute-Savoie region has become a steadfast host of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series this is the first time that Combloux will host the UCI Enduro and E-Enduro World Cups.
This means that, like May’s Bielsko-Biała round, it will be the first time that many athletes will have raced on the trail network. Unlike Poland though, this corner of France has a world-renowned reputation, so it’s likely that it won’t be riders first visits to the region.
The UCI Enduro World Cup will see athletes take on six stages during a 39.2km course featuring 2,530 m descent and 1,685m of total elevation gain (including liaisons), while the UCI E-Enduro World Cup has ten stages across a 57km course with 3,039m descent and 2,480m of total elevation gain (including liaisons).
Open racers in both enduro and e-enduro will take on a similar course to the elite professionals.
Rude and Courdurier not having it all their own way
If you look at the standings, last year’s overall series winners Richie Rude and Isabeau Courdurier appear to be in commanding form at the top of their respective enduro tables. But neither have truly dominated any of the three races this year, even if both have secured two wins from three.
Courdurier’s biggest challenger has been Harriet Harden (Trek Factory Racing Gravity), and the 23-year-old Brit has pushed the Frenchwoman at every single race, narrowly missing out on first place in Bielsko-Biała and Saalfelden Leogang. Another Brit, Ella Conolly, has also been incredibly consistent, recording a podium finish in each of the first three rounds, while there’s surely more to come from last year’s overall series runner-up Morgane Charre (Pivot Factory Racing).
Rude meanwhile has faced stiff competition from his teammate Slawomir Lukasik (Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team) and Charles Murray (Specialized Enduro Team), while Jesse Melamed (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Enduro Team) has been the most consistent rider outside of the top three – even if the Canadian has only managed one podium.
Other riders to look out for are Alex Rudeau (Commencal Enduro Project), who is on an upward trajectory with results of 18th, 9th and 2nd, and Jack Moir (YT Mob) – the 2021 Enduro World Champion’s season yet to truly catch alight.
Gilchrist and Borges resume their title fight, and can anyone stop Herreros?
Saalfelden Leogang witnessed a switch up at the top of the Men’s Elite e-enduro competition – Manuel Soares José Borges finishing fifth to leapfrog Ryan Gilchrist (Yeti/Fox Factory Racing) after the latter slipped to 24th on the day. The pair have been the most in-form riders to date, with one-off entrants Lukasik and Martin (Orbea Fox Enduro Team) keeping the regular e-enduro athletes off the podium top spots in Bielsko-Biała and Saalfelden Leogang. Expect Borges and Gilchrist to resume their battle for supremacy in Combloux’s draining, 10-stage UCI E-Enduro World Cup race.
Despite her dominance to date, Herreros struggled by her high standards in Saalfelden Leogang – the Chilean only winning four out of nine stages. But with her closest competitor Tracy Moseley not on the start list and the rest of the field unable to put together consistent performances stage after stage, few would bet against Herreros making it four wins from four.
How to watch the Enduro action unfold
There will be several ways to watch the action unfold at the first of France’s two UCI Enduro and E-Enduro World Cups of the 2024 Series. For Friday’s Enduro and Sunday’s E-Enduro racing, there will be live timings on the official WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series website and highlights on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series’ Instagram and Facebook channels, with top stories from the race weekend to be published on the YouTube channel, before Monday, July 1.
