Vibram Enduro of Nations, Day Three - Results and photos

Racing got underway for the Vibram Enduro of Nations today in Sauze D’Oulx. More than 250 riders took to the hill this morning, mostly to have fun and get back to the roots of mountain biking. But for some the weekend has a more serious side as Europe’s top enduro riders compete for the top prize in enduro racing.


Out of the gate French legends and Nico Voullioz and Karim Amour took an early lead, with Nico leading Karim by two seconds. Unfortunately both of them had problems on the second stage, Karim had a technical problem and a simple flat left Nico lying in 156th position overall after the stage. The big winner from this was Jerome Clementz, who was just two seconds back on the first stage and after the two front runners fell right back was left with a commanding lead. Jerome’s smooth style was enough to give him a 50 second lead at the end of the day.


Italy’s Andrea Bruno pushed him all the way and he’s sitting fairly comfortable in second. We also need to mention the UK’s Alex Stock, who has more or less come out of nowhere and is sitting in fourth overall this evening. But, you have to ask how far ahead Nico would have been if he hadn't had that puncture today? He's won four out of the five stages today. From dropping back that far back he finishes the day in 29th and if you were going to put your money on any one rider coming back from that kind of gap...


With the women it’s hard to tell right now as the results sheet doesn’t have categories for all the riders. What we are sure of is that Anka Martin is smashing it apart. Word is that she’s overtaking riders who started a full three minutes ahead of her on some stages.


Racing starts again at 8 am tomorrow with two more stages for the regular riders and a mass start, epic stage for the riders on the international teams in the afternoon. You need to thank Simon Cittati for firing us over these incredible pictures from today.


You can check out the full results. If you're Italian isn't too hot, all you need to know is that Prova Speciale roughly translates to special stage (prova is to try or test from the verb provare and speciale, well you can probably work that one out, right?).

For more information about the Vibram Enduro of Nations, head on over to www.superenduromtb.com.