The enduro riders enjoyed prime conditions for the five stage epic, with racing brought forward a day in order to miss a storm due to roll into the French venue late on Saturday afternoon. And if anyone made the most of the dry weather, it was the host nation, who dominated the top spots on four of the six podiums that were up for grabs.
Series leader Isabeau Courdurier (Lapierre Zipp Collective) cemented her series lead with another dominant performance in the women’s category, finishing the race with an incredible 22 second lead. Fellow Frenchwoman Morgane Charre (Pivot Factory Racing) would claim second place, with Scotland’s Ella Conolly (Cannondale Enduro Team) rounding out the top three.
The French proved equally strong in the men’s race, with Youn Deniaud (Giant Factory Off-Road Team - EDR) taking his first UCI Enduro World Cup win in front of his home crowd. Joining him on an all French podium would be last year’s Loudenvielle winner Alex Rudeau (Commencal Enduro Project), who was less than one second back in second place. Rudeau’s Commencal teammate Louis Jeandel posted his best Elite result to date to take third.
In the U21 Women it was Canada’s Emmy Lan (Forbidden Synthesis Team) who took the win by the slimmest of margins, beating Scotland’s Emily Carrick-Anderson by less than a second. Lily Planquart (Lapierre Zipp Collective) took third. Meanwhile, in the U21 Men, Planqaurt’s teammate Lisandru Bertini (Lapierre Zipp Collective) took his third win of the season, whilst Raphael Giambi (Specialized Enduro Team) came second, with Sascha Kim (Raw Racing Team) in third.
Over in the E-EDR category, reigning series champion Flo Espineira (Orbea Fox Enduro Team) won four of the seven stages to add another e-bike victory to her impressive roster. The UK’s Tracy Moseley put on a strong performance to take second, with Laura Charles (Miranda Factory Team) finishing in third. Espineira leads the overall standings with one race to go.
In the men’s E-EDR race it was France’s Fabien Barel who claimed the top spot, after a hard fought battle with Alex Marin (GASGAS SRAM Factory Racing). After seven incredibly physical stages, Barel would finish ahead of Marin by just seven seconds. Alexandre Cure (Canyon CLLCTV Dainese) was third. Barel leads the series points heading into the last race of the season.
Team of the day went to Commencal Enduro Project, but it’s still Yeti/Fox Factory Racing who lead the overall points.
With just one enduro race left this year, next weekend’s showdown at the UCI Mountain Bike World Series Festival Haute-Savoie, which takes place in Les Gets, Morzine-Avoriaz and Chatel is shaping up to be an epic battle.
Richie Rude (Yeti/Fox Factory Racing) leads the men’s overall series points, whilst it’s today’s winner Isabeau Courdurier who leads the women’s title fight. They’ll be back in action on September 17, when the first ever UCI Enduro World Cup Series Champions will be crowned in Chatel.
