Enduro of Nations, Round One - Sauze D'Oulx
The world championships of enduro. That's the simplest way to describe the Enduro of Nations. Forget all the technicalities of whether the UCI sanction the race (they don't) and what will happen next year when the UCI becomes involved in enduro, world championships are about athletes coming from across the world to compete in their given discipline. That's exactly what this is. Nico Vouilloz, Jerome Clementz, Remy Absalom, Andrea Bruno, Davide Sottocornola, Dan Atherton, Al Stock and Joe Barnes are just some of the big names here to race this weekend and you won't find a lineup like that at any other enduro race this year. The single disappointment is that there are no USA or Canadian teams here for the competition.
The Enduro of Nations' Italian debut went so well last year that this year the event is split in two. Italys Superenduro host the race this weekend in Sauze D'Oulx, and next week the action shifts across the border to France with Tribe Events putting on the second leg at Valloire. Sitting high above the Susa vally, Sauze D'Oulx has the highest peaks of any Superenduro race this year, with the top of the stages at well over 2,000m. As the mountains are so tall, the format has been adapted slightly and there will be eight special stages and a Supermountain mass-start stage on Sunday that will mostly be reached by chairlift (usually there are four or five special stages). Over the two days riders will climb just 550m this weekend, less than half that of a normal Superenduro PRO race. Don't think that makes this race any less physical though, some of the stages look set to be a solid twenty minutes long and to keep riding fast over that kind of distance is a real challenge.
www.superenduromtb.com
The Enduro of Nations' Italian debut went so well last year that this year the event is split in two. Italys Superenduro host the race this weekend in Sauze D'Oulx, and next week the action shifts across the border to France with Tribe Events putting on the second leg at Valloire. Sitting high above the Susa vally, Sauze D'Oulx has the highest peaks of any Superenduro race this year, with the top of the stages at well over 2,000m. As the mountains are so tall, the format has been adapted slightly and there will be eight special stages and a Supermountain mass-start stage on Sunday that will mostly be reached by chairlift (usually there are four or five special stages). Over the two days riders will climb just 550m this weekend, less than half that of a normal Superenduro PRO race. Don't think that makes this race any less physical though, some of the stages look set to be a solid twenty minutes long and to keep riding fast over that kind of distance is a real challenge.
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 Many riders made their way here earlier in the week to enjoy this beautiful resort and get some practice laps in. One evening we headed up with Joe Flanagan and Mark Scott to get the best of the perfect sunsets over these high, alpine meadows. Here Joe Flanagan gives it some abuse over a natural table. |
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| As the sun dipped towards the horizon we headed back down towards the town. Mark Scott rails one of the last berms as the sun finally meets those mountains. |
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| This is what you call steez. Rolling round town this morning, this fella had the answer to how to take a call with a fullfacer on. |
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| "I don't mind if they've lost my entry, I just want the lift pass so I can go and ride." Jerome Clementz is here in town and he makes it easy to forget that he will be looking for the top step of the podium come Sunday. He is so relaxed about the whole weekend and clearly just having a huge amount of fun. Out on the trail this morning he was tearing up everything he could find. Here I just asked him to rail the bank, but he launched into it, laid it pretty much flat and then exploded the trail below when he reached it. |
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| Jerome's better half, Pauline Diefenthaler, came with him to race this weekend and was having just as much fun in the dust. |
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| After a winning Enduro of Nations here last year and a summer of racing and riding enduro here in Europe, Anka Martin wasn't going to miss this race. |
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| With this much dust on the ground and Jerome's style on the bike, it's almost too easy to get photos like this. |
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| Unfortunately, one man can't be a team, so Jamie Nicholl is representing New Zealand solo. He has made the long trip over to come make the most of Europe's riding, starting off with a top ten at the French Enduro round in Samones, as far as we can tell he is just getting faster and faster. It'll be interesting to see how he goes on Sunday. |
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| Ali Parkin has no luck. Ruining his shoulder in the day before his European roadtrip, he decided he was still going to come along with his road bike. From Sauze he set out up the valley, but punctured an hour away on the French border. The boy scouts would be proud of his repair job. |
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| Joe Barnes is one third of Team GB this year and will be looking for a good result. Today was a more chilled day though and we caught up with him dicking about with Ali Parkin on his scooter. |
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| THAT is what you call a sock line. A sure sign of good times. |
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| It wouldn't be a 2012 Superenduro without rain. This heavy shower about five barely even scratched the surface though and unless something dramatic happens through the night, the trails will be just as dusty tomorrow. |
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| They may look a bit dull, but getting to carry one of these boards is one of the biggest honours in enduro as you represent your country and there's nothing dull about that. |
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| The team presentation was this evening when riders got to carry those boards held high. Although the women's field is still small, it is definitely growing and that is a very good sign for our sport. |
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| That sunset again. There is no prologue, no foreplay, no faff tomorrow. It's straight to the hill for racing and we can't wait... |
www.superenduromtb.com
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now lets straighten something else...its i - n - v - o - l - v - e - d.
Correcting someone's spelling is trite at the best of times. Correcting someone's spelling after failing to construct a grammatically sound paragraph yourself is just plain FU@KING RETARDED.