Pinkbike Primer: Everything You Need to Know Ahead of the Châtel EDR World Cup 2023

After five rounds of racing the 2023 EDR race series reaches its conclusion in France. Ahead of the final round in Châtel here is Pinkbike's Primer to get you up to speed ahead ahead of the racing this weekend.

---

Race Briefing

Coming two weeks after the last round in Loudenvielle, France, the first EDR Enduro World Cup season is coming to a close with a fresh venue in Châtel. The race forms a part of the larger UCI Mountain Bike World Series Festival Haute-Savoie, an event which aims to combine 20 World Cup races over the space of 10 days. Last weekend saw the DH and XC racers take to the slopes of Les Gets before this week brings the XC Marathon in Morzine-Avoriaz followed by the final EDR race in Châtel. Not only will this be the final Enduro World Cup race of 2023 but it is the final European World Cup event before the DH and XC racing crosses over to North America at the end of the month.

With a fresh venue to decide the overall titles, we are in for some incredible racing as the Elite titles go down to the wire. We will be providing a more detailed breakdown later this week of the overall point stats but for now, the overall titles are split between Isbaeau Courdurier and Morgane Charre in the Women's with a four-way battle between Richie Rude, Alex Rudeau, Jesse Melamed and Rhys Verner for the Elite Men's overall. Coming off a dominant French performance in Loudenvielle Alex Rudeau could be Richie Rude's biggest threat if we see a repeat performance this weekend.

One of the biggest stories heading into the final round in Châtel is Katy Winton's announcement that the future of a full-time racing career is looking uncertain for her going into the off-season. Katy is not alone in this as with brands tightening budgets and with rumours swirling of teams shrinking for 2024 riders will want to put in one last impressive performance this weekend in the hope of securing some level of certainty for next year.

While most riders were out resting and preparing for the final round over the break since Loudenvielle, Gloria Scarsi and Emmy Lan decided to have a go at racing downhill in Les Gets. Emmy Lan managed to make it through to the semi-finals and secured 16th place, Gloria Scarsi proceeded through to the main event and took an impressive 5th-place finish. The Italian talent has been having a great season in 2023 and has come very close to taking the first-ever Enduro win (EWS or EDR) as a rider not from France or the UK.

One rider we will be missing between the tape this weekend is Ed Masters who broke his knuckle on stage 1 at the last round. We wish him all the best with his recovery and hope he will be trackside continuing to provide some of the best World Cup YouTube content.

We hope that helps get you prepped for this weekend's racing and keep scrolling to gather more details to get you ready for the final round of EDR racing in Châtel.

---

What Happened at the Last Round?

After a long summer break, Loudenvielle saw the return of EDR racing with the Sixth round of the 2023 Enduro World Cup.

After a full day of racing Lisandru Bertini topped the U21 Men's standings as he just pulled ahead of Raphaël Giambi by 1.5 seconds. No other rider would be within 29 seconds of the leading French pair with Sascha Kim ending the day 29.62 seconds back in third. Emmy Lan took another win in 2023 as she just went ahead of a charging Emily Carrick-Anderson by 0.52 seconds. Lily Planquart ended the day in third after dropping back on the final stage.

Isabeau Courdurier laid down a dominant performance on home soil as she stormed across the finish line with a huge 22.66-second lead. Making it a French one-two was Morgane Charre who jumped ahead of Ella Conolly in the final stage. Ella Conolly showed a great return to form here as she wrapped up the top three and incredibly was the only other rider with a minute and a half of the race winner.

The French riders continued to impress in the Elite Men's racing as after the final stage we saw a complete take-over of the overall top three with Youn Deniaud going into first followed by Alex Rudeau securing second place and Louis Jeandel in third. The French have clearly proven dominant at the first of two home races closing out the season.


Results:



You can view the full results here.

---

Who is Leading the Overall?

With one round remaining, it is still Isabeau Courdurier, Richie Rude, Emmy Lan and Lisandru Bertini who are leading the overall standings heading into this weekend's racing. Stay tuned for a breakdown of who can still win the overall coming later this week.

---

Elite Women

---

---

Elite Men

---

---

U21 Women

---

---

U21 Men

---

---

When and What Racing is Happening this Weekend?

Here is a look at what you can expect to find happening this weekend.

All times CEST

Thursday, September 14
• 9:00-17:00 // Practice

Saturday, September 16
• 9:00-17:00 // Practice

Sunday, September 17
• 09:00 // Race Start
• 17:30 // Race Finish

Note: All times are local and subject to change by the UCI/event organizer.

---

What are the Stages?

Falco Trail: 1.4km / 325m descent - Stage 1

Barboss: 2.8km / 430m descent - Stage 2

Foret Du Saix: 1.8km / 410m descent - Stage 3

Hattock/Da Trail: 2km / 295m descent - Stage 4

Coupe De France: 2km / 317m descent - Stage 5

Haute Tension: 1.9km / 380m descent - Stage 6

Komatrautrail: 1.5km / 250m descent - Stage 7

---

Who's on the Entry List?

The entry lists were correct as of September 11 according to the organisers.

---

What's the Weather Expected to be?

It looks like we are in for a dry final round of racing as thunderstorms clear for Sunday with a day of clouds and sunshine predicted.

Thursday, September 14

Milder; a thundershower in spots later this morning followed by a couple of thundershowers this afternoon // 16°C // 70% probability of precipitation // wind 11km/h

Saturday, September 16

Cloudy with a thundershower in one or two spots in the afternoon // 18°C // 46% probability of precipitation // wind 7km/h

Sunday, September 17

Delightful with intervals of clouds and sunshine // 21°C // 2% probability of precipitation // wind 7km/h


Weather forecast as of Thursday, September 14 from Accuweather.

---

How to Follow the Racing?

As with the EWS racing you can follow live timing on the UCI Mtb World Series site or with Pinkbike's own and hopefully coherent live results and updates. We expect racing to kick off at 9:00 local time on Sunday, September 17 (8:00 BST // 0:00 PDT). Highlights are expected to be released on the UCI Mtb World Series YouTube channel.

We also have Polygon Factory Racing's Dan Wolfe once again providing trackside updates on our Instagram account. Stay tuned for more coverage, photo epics and race analysis on the site across the weekend.

---

Posted In:
Racing and Events Enduro Racing Pinkbike Primer World Cup Enduro EDR Châtel 2023