 | Meet the new boss, same as the old boss... |
After all of the uncertainty and excitement about form coming into this weekend, it could almost feel like an anti-climax to see Jerome Clementz and Anne-Caroline Chausson sitting atop the timing sheets tonight. But that sells short the drama of what happened today. In the men's race there were five winners in seven stages, with frontrunners falling by the wayside as the day went on and the man standing on the third step of the podium has never even raced an EWS before. In the women's race Tracy Moseley and Anne-Caroline Chausson showed that the knife-edge battle for the title we saw last year isn't looking like it will cool in the slightest this year. So while the result may be familiar the road there is anything but as the first ever EWS race in New Zealand proved itself a thorough test of body and bike for riders all the way through the field.
It was an early start this morning, with the first amateurs heading off in the dark at 7am.
Anne-Caroline Chausson searching for a moment of calm before the day ahead of her.
While Tracy Moseley looked slightly more apprehensive ahead of the start.
Before the pro men took to the course there was a performance of the Haka to set the mood for the day.
Starting off amidst the steaming geothermal vents at Te Puia. It is a truly magical place to hold an enduro.
Jerome's custom one off jersey for the New Zealand EWS
Wyn Masters may want us to think its all fun and games all of the time, but we know he has been doing some serious training this off season.
Joe Barnes had a crash on stage one that he just never seemed to recover from, but he came across the finish line looking damn fast.
Bryan Regnier is dwarfed by the ferns.
Cecile Ravanel has the most aggressive style of the whole women's field and it propelled her to yet another third place finish today. On the finish line there was some timing confusion and the announcers gave her the win, only for it to be taken away from her when the times were corrected later.
Sarah Leishman, aka Leishner's day didn't end too well, she dislocated her shoulder on stage six.
"I did one f**k of a ride." Those were Fabien's words about his performance on stages six and seven. He was a little off the pace early in the day, but finished strongly to claim the second spot.
Nico Quere taming the endless roots.
Joe Barnes was less than pleased with himself this evening, 19th place is not what he is aiming for these days. Especially as he felt the technical, tight nature of these tracks would play to his strengths.
Anka Martin was the first rider to come through and make this tricky knot of roots look manageable.
The tracks in Rotorua started to dry out by the end of the day, and speeds picked up. There was even a bit of roost from time to time.
Yoann Barelli didn't have a good day in the office today; his times weren't where he hoped they would be early on, then on stage four he had a nasty incident that lead to a torn calf muscle.
Somehow Damien Oton managed to hold this. We have no idea how. An eighth today isn't a bad start to his 2015 campaign, but we would wager he was hoping for more.
Fast, consistent. The more DH-oriented nature of many of the tracks here in Rotorua clearly played to Anne-Caroline Chaussons strengths.
It was a creditable 17th today for Brook Macdonald.
Jerome Clementz was not just going for stage wins, but liaison domination too today.
While there are some DH riders who are a bit down on enduro, Sam Hill isn't one of them and apparently he has been keen to have a go at some enduro racing for a while now. Crossing the finish line he still seemed pretty fresh, asking Enrico Guala if they could have more stages next time... And on the final, more DH-style stage he smoked everyone on his signature flat pedals.
Martin Maes is making steady gains. He left off last season with some very solid results, and has come into this season looking better than ever.
Things didn't go to plan for Curtis Keene today and in the end he retired before stage seven.
Lorraine Truong seems to be taking to her new, factory team well this year, posting a solid eighth place today.
Adam Craig foot out and... mostly flat out on his way to twelfth.
This trail side snack will have you thinking the world is all rainbows and unicorns, and then you'll be rather ill.
Maes has been looking fast all week, but he could only convert that pace to eighteenth on the day.
Nico Vouilloz, ET, the only man who can ride flatout with his eyes closed... He was happy with a solid sixth place today.
Jesse Melamed has been all business all week, not more sketchy hucking for the cameras, it seems. Over the winter he has been putting in the work on his fitness and he narrowly missed out on a top 20 today.
Rosara Joseph was unlucky to only get seventh today, issues on stage three hurt her chances of a top five finish on her home soil.
Florian Nicolai was charging hard all day. We pegged him for top five or better today, and he bagged fifth... If he didn't flat on the final stage it could have been even better. He's definitely one to watch this season.
According to Iago Garay, hucking is the new enduro.
Dan Atherton was pushing hard through the dark woods of stage one this morning.
Anybody who follows the DH World Cup knows how fast Wyn Masters is, even if he has maybe never quite had the results his talent deserves. When downhillers cross over to enduro they tend to have no shortage of raw pace, but struggle on the overalls on sheer fitness. Wyn shattered that mold today, and maybe also shattered the freewheeling image he has built for himself. Quite simply, to put in a result like this you need to be seriously fit - smashing out a few downhill laps then heading for a beer won't get you to this end of the field. And for the home fans in New Zealand, to see one of their own on the podium is a big deal. He says he will be back racing the EWS at round three - after today there will be a lot of people excited to see what he can do.
Justin Leov started strongly this morning, winning stage two.
Jerome Clementz noticed that we weren't too sure about his chances in yesterday's article. Talking about his winter form he explained that he had been putting in a lot of fitness work, so was racing fatigued. This week he was fresh and ready though, and proved beyond doubt that last years injury is behind him and he knows better than anybody else how to win enduro races.
Vouilloz and Barelli have a chat before the transfer between stages four and five.
While things may not quite have gone Tracy Moseley's way today, she was swapping seconds with Anne-Caroline all day in a race that she felt didn't suit her too well and the next two rounds in Ireland and Scotland look set to be more her cup of tea.
Fabien Barrel came back this year with a bang. "For me, this track is much different than what I'm used to. I come from a place that is dry, and rocky. I didn't expect to do well here, but I think because I kept lucidity, and was mindful not to make mistakes, it made all the difference for me. Then on stages six and seven, I could go full gas."
Anneke Beerten finished today in what must be a familiar-feeling fourth place.
Clementz wasn't leaving anything on the table as he dropped towards the line on the lower section of the DH track.
Fabien Barel signs autographs for young fans.
Ever the sportsman, Justin Leov congratulates Jerome on his win. It was fourth today for Justin, but his consistency is clearly there once more with front-running times in six of the seven stages, and were it not for the 16 seconds he dropped on stage five he would have right up at the sharp end come podium time.
After a long road back to good health, Jerome Clementz had plenty to smile about at the end of the day.
It was a long, tough day today - there is only one righteous type of refreshment for that sort of situation.
We're back, and it's good to be here. While we didn't ride the stages today for coverage, the media camaraderie is like no place else here in the EWS. It's good to roll with such a merry band of pirates.
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Hill, MacDonald, and...?
Are there any XC guys racing Enduro? And I do mean currently active on the XC circuit, much like the DH guys above...
At stage 1, whenever a rider has fallen, he would be counted 1 to 10, shouted "Get Up Mate!", or played a happy birthday tune from a megaphone.
At one point, when 2 riders are coming, one went down, everyone is cheering with all hands and fists waving, ALL IN UTTER SILENCE you can only hear the tires and crickets! Only when the rider asked "Where's the noise people?" that everyone started shouting! Hahaha!
Stoked to see Sam Hill in the top 10, regardless of pedals.
Fabian awesome
Curtis got his arse handed to him eh,
Wyns a dam legend
SamHill wanted more a said it before dam shame they dropped the lower section of the EWS track of Rocky Horror as he and Fabian who was missing his home of rock would have ate it up, some of the steepest and narliest rock going, very Canadian bacon like, my fav section in whole forest too, Sam would have had his wish!
Id like some closer looks a tire choices, just seeing how some struggled on Stage 1 Kataore, Hatupatu stage and EWS, Id say to lower profile, these guys gals are insanely skilled and I've ridden those all in the wet clipped in, abeit not at theyre pace, I wish.
Still piccs are amazing!
Racers will use a tyre that they think will give them an advantage or at least put them on the same performance/grip level as their peers even if it means potentially ruffling sponsors feathers by running another manufacturers tyre with logo blacked out. This has been going on as long as there has been racing.
Having run both Shortys and all of Specialized newest tyres I can see why Curtis Keene chose to go with Maxxis. It was definitely a course for Shortys but unfortunately as you said it didn't seem to help him much anyway!
Oh and the "putting a donk on it" was reference to a classic/cultish/awful British techno tune from the late 2000's. Obscure I know! I've got to put a link in to it now: youtu.be/ckMvj1piK58
GC got 10th!! dan 37th jasus, not bad for a kid ;o)
www.enduroworldseries.com/downloads/results/2015/New%20Zealand%20-%20Giant%20Toa%20Enduro.pdf
Well, you know what? You were actually acting like you know those guys who ride $10,000 bike by saying this shit, "Ah I love seeing people eat shit when riding 10 000$ bikes just proves no matter what bike you ride it doesnt amount to skill."
They are professional riders, they ride everyday not just 'YAY! WEEKEND HOBBY RIDING!' like you and they probably have ridden more than 18 years everyday, and it brings a huge gap between you and those guys PRO and AMATEUR.
Don't you think they deserve much better bikes than your crap? bud just saying
Want's to know how someone that doesn't know him could make the statement, "These guys could wreck 10 times on their 10k bikes and still be miles ahead of you... just sayin' ", apparently forgets anybody that wants to can go to his profile and see the videos he's posted of himself dead sailoring off 3 foot drops. Rides hard every weekend though...and that kind of dedication is how all those pro racers get so fast. Why, I'll bet if any of those guys that are finishing outside of the top twenty could sneak in a ride or two mid-week, they'd find themselves up on that podium in no time.
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