Race Day Photo Epic: Loudenvielle EDR World Cup 2023
The enduro riders enjoyed prime conditions for the five stage epic, with racing brought forward a day in order to miss a storm due to roll into the French venue late on Saturday afternoon. And if anyone made the most of the dry weather, it was the host nation, who dominated the top spots on three of the four podiums that were up for grabs.
Series leader Isabeau Courdurier cemented her series lead with another dominant performance in the women’s category, finishing the race with an incredible 22-second lead. Fellow Frenchwoman Morgane Charre would claim second place, with Scotland’s Ella Conolly rounding out the top three.
The French proved equally strong in the men’s race, with Youn Deniaud taking his first UCI Enduro World Cup win in front of his home crowd. Joining him on an all-French podium would be last year’s Loudenvielle winner Alex Rudeau, who was less than one second back in second place. Rudeau’s teammate Louis Jeandel posted his best Elite result to date to take third.
In the U21 Women it was Canada’s Emmy Lan who took the win by the slimmest of margins, beating Scotland’s Emily Carrick-Anderson by less than a second. Lily Planquart took third. Meanwhile, in the U21 Men, Planqaurt’s teammate Lisandru Bertini took his third win of the season, whilst Raphael Giambi came second, with Sascha Kim in third. Richie Rude leads the men’s overall series points, whilst it’s today’s winner Isabeau Courdurier who leads the women’s title fight. They’ll be back in action on September 17, when the first-ever UCI Enduro World Cup Series Champions will be crowned in Chatel.
Welcome to the Pyrenees
Harriett Harnden on the top of the very scenic Stage 3
Light and shadow in the Loudenvielle forest
A little bike park section to relax on Stage 2 between the steep, natural bits of track
Hugo Pigeon on his prototype Scott on Stage 3
ALN in 9th
Alex Storr was in the top 15 all day until a massive crash on Stage 5
Unfortunately Raphaela Richter crashed hard in training and was forced to sit out the race in Loudenvielle
Last year's winner here, Alex Rudeau was looking like the one to beat in training
Jesse Melamed took a stage or two to get up to speed, and would battle to within a few seconds of the podium by day's end
With massive electrical storms in the forecast the race was pushed up a day, much to the rider's liking
Morning mist on race day
A little dew was the only moisture that fell overnight, and by the end of stage 1 the conditions were perfect
Race day... Time to burn up some brake rotors
Series leader Richie Rude started the day strong but would lose time on Stage 2 to finish just off the podium in 4th
Dan Booker rounding out the top 10
7th for Martin Maes
An unfortunate front flat on the longest stage saw Bex Baraona pushed down to 16th
Zakarias Johansen in 12th
Rhys Verner had a disastrous Stage 5 to tumble down the order to 15th
Another dominant day for Isabeau Courdurier to take the win by 20 seconds
2nd for Morgane Charre
Back from injury and back on pace, Ella Conolly would come 3rd
A long overdue win for Youn Deniaud, and a French sweep of the podium at home
Louis Jeandel rounded out the all-French podium in 3rd
Alex Rudeau was fourth going into the final stage of the day but would be pushed up to 2nd just under 1 second
4th for Richie Rude
Jesse Melamed would end the day in 5th
Jack Moir was leading into the last stage before an off-track excursion through some broken tape saw him fall down to 6th
Charlie Murray 8th
5th for Noga Korem despite a flat tire and crash
Top 10 for Slawomir Lukasik
A hard day in the office for everyone out there
Harriet Harnden's new high pivot Trek in 4th
A big crash on the final stage couldn't keep Ella Conolly off the podium
Teammate Josh Carlson with first-time winner, Youn Deniaud
Alex Rudeau and Loius Jeandel celebrate their podium finishes with team owner Max Commencal
Richie Rude holds onto the overall series lead with one round to go
Isabeau Courdurier, Morgane Charre, and Ella Conolly celebrate on the Elite Women's podium
A French podium sweep with Youn Deniad, Alex Rudeau, and Louis Jeandel
Yeti Factory leads the team overall
Merci Beacoup, Loudenvielle
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You are highly involved with the pics and media of these events. You can't believe that post-event pics and wyn TV are the only options for media coverage here....
Its not said enough, this is great content!
Really appreciate it
Bet there have been a few ‘accidental’ deletes of footage after this race.
But always a good day to see a gratuitous flat pedal close-up in an Enduro race. Good on ya Morgane!
Side note, why was whistler removed from the calendar????