French Enduro Series, Round 1 - Blausasc
This weekend the French national enduro series kicked off in Blausasc in the mountains above Nice. For this year the format for rally-style races in the series, where riders pedal to the stages rather than use lifts as they do in the classic French format, Saturday is now a training day where riders tackle the course they will race over on Sunday. During this practice the stage times are still scheduled, so riders can understand how hard they will need to push during the race. Even though this is a softening of the blind format the sport began with, it is more a pre-ride than a training session - you are not allowed to repeat stages, lines or sections during practice. While this format may be evolving, what is not lost is one of the original core principals of the French series - that you can arrive after finishing work normally on a Friday, race for two days, then be back at work Monday. This may sound obvious, but many of the emerging enduro formats encourage multiple days of practice, which are often not realistic for people who are paying to play...
 |
 Blausasc lies in the mountains just behind the Cote D'Azur, although they are geographically not far, it is a world away from the glamour and fast-paced lifestyle that the Riviera is known for. |
 |
| On Friday evening the weather was looking ominous, but come Saturday and Sunday it was back to the usual sunshine the French Riviera is used to. |
 |
| He may be one of Italys top enduro racers, but Nicola Casadei is alone here this weekend - not only in the pits to wrench on his own bike, but despite the Italian border being just 15km from here, he was the only elite Italian male racing this weekend. |
 |
| As Fabien lives in Blausasc itself, he decided it would be better for him to open the course rather than compete on his home trails. |
 |
| In French Cup races the frame, fork and wheels are tagged to make sure riders complete the weekend on the same kit they started with. |
 |
| Nico Vouilloz has always obsessed over the little details. This weekend he knew it was going to be a hot race, so he shaved his head on Friday. |
 |
| As course sweeper and the defending series champion, respectively, Fabien Barel and Florian Nicolai rode the whole course together today. |
 |
| Although the course was only around the 35km mark, it was a tough one, especially under the scorching sun, with some painful pushes right from the very start. |
 |
| It was little relief to anyone on the hot, dusty transfers to know that the cooling water of the Mediterrean were only a few, kilometres away. |
 |
| Sebastian Claquin on stage one. |
 |
| Nico Vouilloz started the day with a win on stage one. |
 |
| Cecile Ravanel started the day as she meant to go on, winning stage one. |
 |
| Having spent the winter in Canada, Isabeau Courdurier has only ridden her bike once this year, at the EWS in Rotorua, a second place finish finish was a fitting result for her second ride of the year. |
 |
| Florian Nicolai pushed Nico Vouilloz all the way to the line today, splitting the stage wins at two a piece. |
 |
| This course was tough on wheels and tyres. Florian Nicolai opted to run donwhill casings and wider rims for safety today. Jordan Regnier didn't and this is how his day ended. |
 |
| Dmitri Tordo started the day in fine form, running at the front with Nico Vouilloz and Florian Nicolai, but double flats on stage three were the end of his podium hopes. |
 |
| Cecile Ravanels yellow kit seems tailor-made for the gorse flowers on stage three - it was a clean sweep for her today, winning every stage to take a comfortable win. |
 |
| The upper section of stage three was above the village of Peillon, running down from the high scrub into the olive groves, before on to the valley below. |
 |
| Florian Nicolai pushed Nico Vouilloz all the way, but he pulled more than 20 seconds on his young rival on the third stage, which was enough to deliver him the victory. |
 |
| The fourth and final stage finished with a sprint through the streets of Blausasc. |
 |
| It was a flatout sprint to the finish line outside the mayor's building. |
 |
| After 40km it was just a few, painful pedal strokes before it was all over. |
 |
| The hometown boy, powering across the plazas of his village. |
 |
| Fabien was one of the first to congratulate his former neighbour on a hard-fought win today. |
Author Info:
Member since Oct 29, 2006
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
My wife is already punching me for that.
2. Vouilloz + Barel = local heroes + two of the best ambassadors of our sport (it would be fun to find a similar pic from 2000s ! ^^).
3. Please guys, it's Blausasc, not Ballsac, except if you admit that Barel's ones are bigger than yours (although I definitely think he's "simply" more gifted and trained).
It's not like aluminum rims are expensive at ALL these days. Why would you get something not designed for what you use it for?
For this particular race, it was under French Federation ruling and as a rally format (when you pedal to all stages), you are allowed to pick whichever helmet you feel more comfortable with as you are not allowed to carry a second one (for safety reason).