Enduro World Series Round Four: Post Race Analysis

It was supposed to be racing under the shadow of Mont Blanc. The weather had other ideas. Instead of postcard panoramas from the top of the course at 2,600m, we had freezing temperatures, white-outs, hail, rain, wind and snow. Yet that's part of being up in the high mountains, and none of it takes away from what was the star of the show this weekend - the trails. All the way through practice riders were reaching the bottom of the trails with ear-to-ear grins. Come the race days they were coming down broken, tested to the limits of bike handling and fitness. It almost seems like each race is better than the last this year, but actually the reality is probably closer to every race being special and different, but the current one fresher in the mind. This weekend also marked the point where the season passed the halfway point - we're now four races into a seven race season, so how is the racing shaping up so far?


Damien Oton is the breakthrough rider of the season

Coming straight off his second place in Valloire he carried that momentum through to take his maiden win this weekend. While the riders he was running at the fron with in Valloire had a slightly off weekend, he pushed on even harder. Nico Lau cut his tyre wide open on a rock, Jared Graves was running a little way off the pace all weekend and Justin Leov had a child at the start of the week, then flew straight from New Zealand to the race, so was understandably a little off colour this weekend. One year ago he was working full-time as a plumber, now he's establishing himself as a front-runner this year. In his own, simple words, "This is a lot better." Looking at the stages times, he looks to be very complete too, winning the long, physical first stage, then following it up with a win on the shorter, more downhill-orientated second stage.

Tracy Moseley has taken a strong lead in the series

She has now taken three races back-to-back and her performance this weekend was nothing less than impressive. Come Saturday evening she had slipped behind Anne-Caroline Chausson and Cecile Ravanel, but on Sunday morning she showed why she is wearing the champions' band on her jersey, taking the win on the first stage by more than 40 seconds, setting herself up for the win. It's the little details, like the fact she took it easy on the climb up to the start of the stage to both save her legs and keep herself warm. Unfortunately bastards have tarnished her celebrations as her camper was robbed on Sunday night, taking, among other things, a laptop full of irreplaceable photos.


How many front-runners?

Last time out we were blown away by the winning margin at Valloire - the winning margin was a handful of seconds after more than an hour and twenty minutes of racing. This weekend there were an hour and ten minutes of racing and just four seconds covering the top three. What is impressive this weekend is that it is three completely different riders running so closely - Oton, Bally-Maitre and Barnes. Looking at the series as a whole, Leov, Lau, Wildhaber and Graves have been running at the front all year. By that kind of math, we reckon that means there are at least seven riders who have showed race-winning form so far this year. We've had four winners in as many races, and while Jared Graves is series leader and many people's favourite to take the title this year, especially considering that he has publicly said that these first four races were going to be his weakest, it's all too close to call yet.

Cecile Ravanel looks close to a breakthrough ride

Come Saturday evening she was sitting in second place, which is the first time she has been so far up the results sheet with both Anne-Caro and Tracy racing (she got several second place finishes while Anne-Caro was out injured last year). Yet on Sunday it didn't go to plan. Before she'd gone more than a couple of hundred metres on stage four on Sunday morning she slipped on the treacherous rocks at the head of the course, then struggled to get back on track. Through the rest of the day she seemed to struggle to find her form from Saturday, slipping back as far as fourth position on the final stage of the day. But her win on stage two on Saturday morning was a good, clean stage win and hopefully a sign that she's closing the gap to the two at the top.


How much is racing going to change at the next round?

The next round in Colorado is set to be a very different test to anything we have seen so far. For a start there is the altitude - the starting height for the race is about the same as the very summit this weekend, well over 2,500m. If last year is anything to go by, it looks set to be a test more for the legs than outright bike handling, so the question is whether it is going to throw up a different set of riders at the top of the timing sheets, or will the frontrunners adapt to maintain their positions?