Form Guide: Pinkbike's Predictions for the Châtel EDR World Cup 2023
As riders are getting up to speed for the final showdown in France we have taken a look through the data to give our best guess of who might be the ones to watch this weekend in Châtel. Before the Elite riders head out on Sunday morning here are our thoughts on who could be in the running for a top result at the final stop of the 2023 series.
Who's Fast in 2023?
After starting all the way back in March the 2023 Enduro race season really has flown by as already we are seeing riders take on the final round of racing. The 2023 season has been a rollercoaster of a year for racing with plenty of highs to match some of the difficult low points. While Isabeau Courdurier has been dominant in the Elite Women's racing with four wins the Elite Men's series has amazingly seen a different rider take the win at every round.
Clearly when looking at the Women's field the rider to beat in 2023 is Isabeua Coudurier who incredibly has not dropped outside the top four at any round in 2023 while she has won at four of the six races. Morgane Charre is another rider who has been on impressive form as her worst race result is fifth with one race victory and three second-place finishes. Bex Baraona is the only other Woman to have won in elites this year as she has seen a mixed set of results in 2023. Although she is yet to win in 2023 Hattie Harnden has been another rider laying down consistent finishes as she has only dropped outside of the top five at one race this season.
The Men's racing has seen far less predictable podiums as a different rider has won at every race and only a six riders secured multiple top-five finishes. The riders who have been frequent faces at the top have been the trio of Richie Rude, Alex Rudeau and Jesse Melamed. Of these three only Richie Rude and Jesse Melamed have taken the top step of the podium with Alex Rudeau coming close with two second-place finishes. Interestingly while not ever winning in 2023 Alex Rudeau has never been outside the top three in the races he did make the fastest five riders. A fact that has led him to be just behind overall series leader Richie Rude in the points going into the final race. Charlie Murray and Rhys Verner are also worth a mention with three top-five results. Rhys Verner is also one of the six winning riders in 2023 and is very much in the running for the overall title this weekend.
Round 1 - Maydena
Elite Women
1st. Isabeau Courdurier: 33:15.930
2nd. Morgane Charre: 33:25.510
3rd. Ella Conolly: 33:53.650
4th. Bex Baraona: 33:56.010
5th. Hattie Harnden: 33:59.530
Elite Men
1st. Luke Meier-Smith: 28:55.210
2nd. Dan Booker: 29:01.040
3rd. Connor Fearon: 29:14.450
4th. Rhys Verner: 29:19.780
5th. Troy Brosnan: 29:21.920
Round 2 - Derby
Elite Women
1st. Bex Baraona: 29:52.010
2nd. Hattie Harnden: 30:00.230
3rd. Ella Conolly: 30:17.740
4th. Isabeau Courdurier: 30:40.730
5th. Morgane Charre: 30:41.860
Elite Men
1st. Richie Rude: 25:52.860
2nd. Slawomir Lukasik: 26:00.450
3rd. Jesse Melamed: 26:17.910
4th. Jack Moir: 26:21.420
5th. Martin Maes: 26:24.610
Round 3 - Pietra Ligure
Elite Women
1st. Morgane Charre: 32:22.320
2nd. Gloria Scarsi: 32:35.990
3rd. Isabeau Courdurier: 32:39.080
4th. Raphaela Richter: 32:49.200
5th. Mélanie Pugin: 33:03.640
Elite Men
1st. Jesse Melamed: 28:40.040
2nd. Rhys Verner: 28:45.420
3rd. Alex Rudeau: 28:46.300
4th. Dimitri Tordo: 28:53.840
5th. Charlie Murray: 29:01.480
Round 4 - Leogang
Elite Women
1st. Isabeau Courdurier: 28:35.010
2nd. Gloria Scarsi: 28:49.360
3rd. Morgane Charre: 28:53.570
4th. Raphaela Richter: 29:07.170
5th. Hattie Harnden: 29:09.210
Elite Men
1st. Rhys Verner: 25:08.74
2nd. Richie Rude: 25:11.51
3rd. Alex Rudeau: 25:17.46
4th. Charlie Murray: 25:31.15
5th. Dan Booker: 25:37.61
Round 5 - Val Di Fassa
Elite Women
1st. Isabeau Coudurier: 41:03.360
2nd. Morgane Charre: 41:10.430
3rd. Mélanie Pugin: 41:20.730
4th. Gloria Scarsi: 41:50.530
5th. Hattie Harnden: 41:54.360
Elite Men
1st. Matthew Walker: 35:24.950
2nd. Alex Rudeau: 35:41.540
3rd. Richie Rude: 35:43.280
4th. Charlie Murray: 3:23.980
5th. Jesse Melamed: 35:47.370
Round 6 - Loudenvielle
Elite Women
1st. Isabeau Courdurier: 29:40.880
2nd. Morgane Charre: 30:03.540
3rd. Ella Conolly: 30:13.350
4th. Hattie Harnden: 31:14.330
5th. Noga Korem: 31:16.500
Elite Men
1st. Youn Deniaud: 26:17.670
2nd. Alex Rudeau: 26:18.410
3rd. Louis Jeandel: 26:19.300
4th. Richie Rude: 26:26.150
5th. Jesse Melamed: 26:26.280
Elite Women's Picks
Isabeau Courdurier
After a dominant performance in Loudenvielle and as the holder of four wins in 2023, Isabeau Courdurier continues to be the very best when it comes to Women's Enduro racing. For the final round in Châtel, we expect her to once again be at the top of the results sheet as she will be wanted to secure the first-ever Enduro World Cup overall series title.
Morgane Charre
Morgane Charre will be another French rider looking to go fast on home soil as she has the tough task of trying to close the 212-point deficit to Isabeau Courdurier in the overall and take the 2023 title. As the only rider who can now dethrone Isabeau Morgane will have a tough task but as one of only two other race winners this season she has shown she has the speed to do it.
Gloria Scarsi
Our final main pick for the Elite Women's racing is Gloria Scarsi who is not only performing very well at Enduro this year but is hot off a 5th place finish at last weekend's downhill racing in Les Gets. Gloria came very close to becoming the first non French or British EWS/EDR winner in both Pietra Ligure and Leogang with 2nd-place finishes. With one round left and the potential of taking 3rd place in the overall standings, we think Gloria will be a real threat for the race win.
Elite Men's Picks
Jack Moir
If it hadn't been for a spot of bad course marking we could have seen the return of Jack Moir to the top of the podium in Loudenvielle. While Jack still managed to secure 6th place he was very much in the running for something more as he led into the final stage. Hopefully, Jack can put that past him and show why he is one of the strongest riders with a big result on Sunday.
Alex Rudeau
With four top-five finishes and two 2nd-place results in a row, Alex Rudeau is ending the season in strong form. As we head into another French round we think Alex Rudeau will be one to watch on the live timing as he is one of four riders tied up in the overall points battle. Alex currently sits 2nd and is closest to knocking Richie Rude off the top so we could be in for a wild ride as he goes all-out in the hunt for points.
Jesse Melamed
Our final main pick for this weekend's racing is Jesse Melamed who so far has remained fairly consistent throughout the season with one win and four top-five finishes. Currently sitting third in the overall standings Jesse has a lot of work to claw back the 280-point gap but he will have to do something big if he wants to back up his 2022 EWS overall title with this year's World Cup title.
Honourable Mentions
While we have made our main predictions for potential winners above there were other riders who we should mention as potential top performers this weekend.
Ella Conolly
Ella Conolly had an amazing return to the top in Loudenvielle as she came back from injury to take 3rd. With no worries about overall standings Ella can just focus on securing the best result possible and with her coming off a top-three result, there could be another podium spot for her on Sunday.
Richie Rude
There's no doubt that Richie Rude is among the fastest riders this year but he has a very tough task this weekend as raw speed won't necessarily help him with the overall win. With three riders right behind him in the points and with the potential to steal the title from him, Richie will need to play a smart race and not risk a low point scoring round. We expect Richie will still be right up there in the result but we may see him hold a little something back to make sure he leaves Châtel with the 2023 World Cup title. We believe that Richie just needs fifth to take the overall.
Who Would You Pick?
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would lift it; the footage is dreadful with the same few sections shown ad infinitum with the split screening pointless over a 50m section and its hard to even find it to watch. we paid for Eurosport to see it this year and the bbc coverage of the worlds dh and xc was much better. same with the T de F which is far superior on Channel 4. i’d speculate that the issue is budget. if eurosport etc can’t have cameras on the whole dh course then theres no chance they can on 5 similar length enduro tracks and without that it’s too bitty. I also think it makes no sense that after joining the uci that there was no EDR worlds this year. But all of the above is new ground in regards coverage so hopefully they’ll learn from the feedback that the coverage has been dreadful. am
still at a loss what the ‘D’ in edr means? is it for ‘downhill?’ if so, why? as enduro involved traverses and climbs and if a rider misses those also timed sectiins they’re disqualified.
Also dunno why Redbull doesn't just grab the f*cking horns on EWS, yes EWS, and DH (and XC tho UCI can have that, who cares) - and just run their own World Cup.
He'll I'd pay $100 / whatever a year to watch weekly races on the 1199 and see how that goes, much less anything else non Euro-Centric as if that's all there is for DH / enduro, let privateers flourish, and "bring downhill and enduro to the world". This is what Bugs Bunny & Elmer Fudd at Warner Bros SAID they wanted to do, but have done the exact opposite of.
If I was wanting to "take over" I'd prolly let it fail a bit longer, makes the purchase price a bit more reasonable...
Must frig you guys right off when the 7th comment is some clown who cant be bothered to look at the overall points, and do some mental math....some peoples kids
Every interesting feature has been taped out leaving only the chicken lines ..
Have you seen the clips the MTB World Series Instagram have been posting of riders trying to figure the tracks out, and how hard they were to ride in the dry let alone in the rain forecast? Have you seen Jack Moir's vlog where the riders are talking about how good the stages are? Have you seen the positive feedback on social media for riders?
This fully has shades of all the commenters saying the Loudenvielle DH track looked bad and/or easy before all the racers got there and said it was one of the best tracks in years.