Crankworx Les Deux Alpes: Enduro World Series Round 3 - Finals
The first weekend of European Crankworx at Les Deux Alpes has come to an exhilarating close with a French victor in the men's and a Brit at the top in the women's. Four extremely dusty, steep and technical stages have finally released their torturous grip on the world's most skillful and tenacious riders... most leaving perhaps surprisingly thirsty for more. And it was all quite a spectacle...
"During the stages, many times you have to push at the maximum... sometimes you have to sprint hard. The only thing that is not similar with downhill is if it is a long stage you cannot be flat out. To put everything into one run you will be feeling short the rest of the day on the other stages. "
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 As much as the terrain here is unfriendly, it seems riders should be grateful for any solid ground to ride over. Megavalanche is only a week away in the next valley and right now you're best chances would be on a toboggan. |
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| Filip Polc carries his rubber in style. It's take steps or blow it and pay the price of the entire weekend. |
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| Either there's a shortage of alpine babysitters or there's a new trend for superfans to offer Cedric their babies for photos. Could the Andorran's 174k strong Facebook fans be reaching dangerous levels of infatuation? Whatever the case, the little guy ain't the fruit of Gracia's loins. Later requests saw him cradling infants, shirtless and in blue denim... a scene so sickly we refused to photograph. |
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| Keene, "Flat pedals man.. It's just very DH'ish out there, really loose. I feel a lot more confident on them. I like clips, but I attack more on a track that I don't know as well with the flats on.. " |
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| Ever felt fresh like standing at the top of a mountain? There's no finer place to feel the wind up your shorts than Les Deux Alpes. |
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| The lift up is nothing short of epic. |
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| Full Speed Ahead... Not sure if this is the best idea in the fastest section of stage 2, but party on... Callaghan |
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| The short gaps before the pro class saw a lot of riders in hot pursuit of their predecessors and often looking for an opportune overtake. It's a game of cat and mouse that probably spurs both parties along, assuming pedals can be kept away from spokes when it's time for the better racer to give the other the slip. |
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| Competitors weren't just stalked by rivals, but also a mobile media mob on two wheels. |
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| Stage 1 was about pacing yourself and breathing that mountain air deep. Most contenders had nearly coughed up a lung before the halfway point. |
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| Jared Graves pinned in the second stage. Not as much of a pedaling course as he would have hoped for; the steep technical descents challenged many of the riders. |
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| The 6 time Megavalanche massacrist, Wildhaber, looked ready to dish out more pain this weekend, but 8 potential victims got away from him in the end. |
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| Mick Hannah on the attack high up on the grueling stage 1. The third was his best effort with an 8th, placing 14th on the day overall. |
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| A GT mechanic, putting the last touches onto Dan Atherton's bike before the 3rd stage. The rules state that riders can only get their bikes worked on properly in the pits and not on the course. |
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| There are plenty of riders pushing the envelope on the enduro circuit, but Dan remains one of the most exciting to watch. Second place in the last two stages is proof he's not just for show, however. Here he takes the straight line over the boulders into... well, other boulders. |
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| Jerome Clementz rallying his way on the upper part of the 4th stage to his win. There were a few lines in this area, however most riders took the open grass option to get a better line into an extremely tight corner. |
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| Bruni shreds the fully ragged chutes of the third stage to come out on top. However, a mechanical on the first of the day saw off his threat this weekend. |
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| Blenkinsop stormed it today, bettering his 7th at Punta Ala and upstaging team mate Bruni. He couldn't quite bring down Lapierre's most senior, however, perhaps just gracefully respecting his elders. |
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| Val D'Allos winner, Vouilloz, almost did it again this afternoon, but a 9th in one stage is enough to upset your chances. He looked formidable everywhere, but came out on top for stage 2, arguably the most technically challenging quarter. |
"During the stages, many times you have to push at the maximum... sometimes you have to sprint hard. The only thing that is not similar with downhill is if it is a long stage you cannot be flat out. To put everything into one run you will be feeling short the rest of the day on the other stages. "
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| Yet another flying Frenchman pulled a top ten today. |
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| There was a small threat of rain today which would have made this upper section treacherous. Off camber grass turns and steep chutes would have turned into a pure mudslide. Luckily, it was still tacky enough for Michael Scharer to rip through it. |
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| The hunter can easily become the hunted in this game. |
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| Andrea Bruno blasting down the mech-risking wooden steps to round out the stage. |
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| Braaappppp. Dan Atherton rallying the grass into the steep chute. |
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| Give them an inch... and the keen racers will take several meters off the course length... whether or not it means punching the odd sapling square in the chest. In fact taping was quite a controversy at the close of today's racing - many concurred it had not been thorough enough this time. |
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| Rene Wildhaber saw no debate on the taping, "The course was clear, so no discussions about shortcuts and the organizers did a really good job of laying everything out." |
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| The enduro nightmare in progress... Chiara Pastore drags her dreams back to base above the rocks chutes on stage 3. |
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| Curtis Keene went OTB in stage two today and ended up in 9th. He'll have to wait until the next round to make a comeback. |
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| And on to the valley below... |
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| Adam Craig |
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| Anne Caro rides with a truly unprecedented aggression in the women's class. She cleaned up on the final stage and stomped her foot into 4th overall on the day. |
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| And the clouds parted. Not too much done to this photo other than desaturation. The clouds broke way in such that the light divided nearly evenly with the French Alps glowing in the background. |
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| Jared Graves corners on the upper part of the last stage. Jerome Clementz in sight but too far away to gain any time. |
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| Giant Factory Racing's 10th place finisher, Kelli Emmett, watering the pretty flowers but not stopping for a sniff. |
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| Sam Blenkinsop had a great day... "It's a good new sport, especially for the guys who used to race downhill. It's good for us, as it's kinda a back up plan. " Editor's note - Notice the gloves, not a sight you see too often with Blinky. World Enduro rules would disqualify a rider from not having the proper protection. |
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| Fabien tried to rekindle that sweet Punta Ala feeling from two month previous, tackling most of the stages like the downhill champ he once was. The Canyon bikes purveyor would have vastly improved on 13th place if it wasn't for a flat on stage 2. |
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| Double derail, double determination. Florian Nicolai escorts his worse-for-wear Yeti down to line, still making 49th in the final stage! |
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| Not everything Jared Graves was hoping for today either. |
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| Tracy Moseley dominated the women's field by 15+ seconds, which happened to be a tighter gap than the men's field. Unlike DH, enduro allows for some mistakes that riders can make up for in the other stages. While the men's field has had different winners each race, Tracy has completely dominated all three races and goes to show she is unstoppable. |
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| Cecile Ravanel and Emmeline Ragot stay out of harm's way, while Moseley offers it to the crowd... presumably for health reasons. It would be unsafe for anybody's liver to process the volume of champagne she keeps winning on their own. |
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| A 1st, followed by a 5th and two 6ths across the stages was what it would take for Clementz to pilot his Cannondale up to the top of the box. |
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| Your Crankworx Enduro World Series Round 3 champions: Clementz, Vouilloz and Blenkinsop. |
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| Congratulations to Jerome Clementz, taking the win under the pressure of a good deal of expectation and rounding out a butt-kicking first weekend at Crankworx Les Deux Alpes! |
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word....nice one Rene
Keep the no hander going (ironic ain't it)
Off-track betting (or OTB; in British English, off-course betting) refers to sanctioned gambling on horse racing outside a race track.