Partenza - EWS 7/Superenduro 6 in Finale Ligure
Partenza
 | Partenza: Start noun, Italian |
I still miss the beeps of the 4X gate. Riders ready... Watch the gate... And then the world disappeared. All the stress, the nerves, the anticipation of racing were gone as soon as you heard that beep and felt the gate begin to tip away from you. All that was ahead was the competition, the race. For that perfect moment victory, defeat and injury didn't exist. Just turn the pedals and dive in.
Of course there are no gated starts in enduro, but maybe someone should consider introducing them for the drama, for that extra bit of tension. Although it would be something of anti-climax going from that tension to the reality that you have an hour or so on the pedals ahead of you before you reach the stage, the bit that really matters. Metaphorically, the last two days were the warning before the gate drop, the preamble, the foreplay. At 8.30am this morning the real business began in earnest as Jerome Clementz, 2013 Enduro World Series Champion, headed out towards the race track.
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 It was clear skies this morning, the meteorological storm brewing yesterday seems to have passed, but the one on the trails here is finally upon us. |
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| Kevin Joly, shown here working on Bryan Regnier's bike, was one of the first mechanics on the job this morning, arriving at 6.30am. |
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| Martin Maes poses with his girlfriend, his brother, his parents and grand-parents. All his family came from Belgium to support him for the weekend. |
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| Fabien Barel had time to sit down for a pre-race interview before racing started. |
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| Dubbed by Chris Ball as The Pope of Enduro, Enrico Guala presided over this morning's proceedings from the stage. |
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| Media, tourists and fans surround the start area. |
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| The first climb on the way to stage 1 for the two best enduro riders in the World - Jerome Clementz and Jared Graves. |
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| Jerome Clementz on the gas. Over the course of around 13 minutes racing today, just 0.1 seconds separates him and Jared Graves. |
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| Jerome Clementz is so fast he is just a blur tearing past the spectators. |
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| Nico Lau drifts into the steep section at the bottom of stage one. |
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| He was riding fast and loose here in Finale and by the mid-point of the day had pulled out a healthy lead over Graves and Clementz. |
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| There was no bigger cheer on stage one that when Andrea Bruno came through. His season-long shoulder woes have continued and he says he's just here to enjoy the race this weekend before he gets surgery this winter. |
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| Maxi Dickerhoff hucks the terraces on stage one. |
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| Although his luck changed later on when a blown tire force Dickerhoff to make his way down by foot. |
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| Tracy Moseley hit the first stage hard this morning to take the stage win over Anne-Caroline Chausson, but as the day wore on she slipped back a bit and this evening sits with a five second deficit to make up tomorrow. |
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| A flat tyre for Anneke Beerten on stage two burst her hopes for a good result. |
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| Anne-Caroline Chausson took stages two and three away from Tracy Moseley, putting her in the lead for tomorrow. |
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| Jamie Nicoll, the winner of this year's Mountain of Hell event, finished the day 10th place. |
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| Damien Oton rolls his Caminade up to the start of stage 3. The day went well for him, with a sixth place finish putting him just over 25 seconds behind Jared Graves. |
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| Cedric Gracia chats with Remy Absalon at the beginning of stage 3. |
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| Nino Schurter racing an enduro, surely this is something many people have wanted to see for a while. Something clearly went wrong on one of the stages today, because he's a way back this evening, but looking at the individual stage times, when he has a good run he's around the second as riders like Steve Peat and Cedric Gracia. |
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| Josh Bryceland charming the Italian media. Apparently on the team calendar this race is ticked on the "attend" column, rather than the "win" one, so they have clearly been making the most of the Italian Riviera's hospitality since they got here. |
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| Remy Absalon heads back out onto the course after the time check. |
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| Curtis Keene speeding through the bush coming into the city of Noli. |
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| A puncture in stage one caused Keene to lose time while repairing his wheel, placing him well down in the standings. |
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| Rene Wildhaber makes his way through another rocky section of the track. |
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| The moment the race was lost for Nico Lau... It may not much like much, but this is him missing his time check at the halfway point by one minute. An offence that carries a one minute penalty and turns a ten second lead over Jared Graves into a 50 second deficit, one that it will be impossible to make up. It's a crying shame, because, we'd dare to say, the way he's been riding he deserves the win this weekend. We are sure the race officials handed out the penalty with a heavy heart, but you can't start making exceptions, no matter how well someone is riding. |
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| Martin Maes spraying sealant at the bottom of stage 2. |
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| Martin Maes is incredible. He had the fastest time in stage 1, punctured in stage 2 and crashed in stage 3 and still managed to be 4th overall at the end of the day. Impressive. |
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| Manuel Ducci checks the live standings before heading back out onto the course. Right now his is five seconds and one position behind his series rival Davide Sottocornola, which would be enough to give him the title. We doubt he'll sleep much tonight, this close to the big victory... |
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| Fabien Barel rounded out the top three for the day, still within striking distance for the win. |
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| If you look closely, you can just make out the vomit in Mark Scott's mouthpiece... He claims it isn't alcohol related, but because he's Scottish we're dubious. Still, he's sitting in a solid 40th this evening despite it. |
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| Devinci Global Racing's Gianluca Vernassa should be hiding his face, he's hanging around in the pits, when he should be out on course racing! |
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| A few people have been asking in the comments about Jesse Melamed this weekend. Well this is your answer to how his day went. A separated shoulder on stage one spelt the end of his race, but he seemed in good spirits at least. |
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| The race has definitely been keeping the hospital busy this weekend. Another shoulder for the list. |
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| Jared Graves making his way around a tight corner without dabbing or scrubbing speed. He's currently in the lead by the narrowest of margins - one tenth of a second. |
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| Sadly, the stage every photographer was looking forward to shoot was canceled due to a delay caused by an injury earlier in the day. Next year, next year! |
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| In his post race interview, Cedric said he had stopped for a beer between stages three and four, and barely made it to four. "Then stage four was cancelled, I was pretty relieved. I was kinda spent." |
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| Steve Peat and Cedric Gracia seem to be on the same hydration program, although at the end of the day Peaty ended up one place in front of CG. |
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| Jerome Clementz during a post-race autograph signing session. |
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| Enduro racing is serious business. Tomorrow is the final day of racing, and the conclusion to the Enduro World Series' inaugural season. Stay tuned. |
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But for example a C.O. can also be a reason for judges and referees to make important decisions on the race, whereas the stop becomes a way to collect the impressions even by competitors, that could not be done only between one stage and another.
Another reason (and this is pretty much the main one) is to allow the teams of timekeepers to move from a stage to another, leaving a gap of time needed to travel and be prepared to the first rider.
About the "transfer times", currently in Superenduro is used a system of timekeeping based on a start time A, and a imposed time of transfer that creates a start time B, if you do not arrive on time to B, your race time starts anyway, and at the end of your stage is added the delay.
To calculate the time between C and D must be added the travel time of the stage, and so equal between E and F, G and H, etcetera ...
We hope that sooner or later they can use a transponder system, to simplify the timing!
Sorry for this complicated interference, it was simply to explain that Lau was not late to a Stage start ;-)
Luca