Video and Race Report: Swiss Enduro Cup 2019 - Final Round La Chablatz Enduro

September 14, 2019, Gryon, Switzerland hosted the final round of the Enduro Swiss Cup, the well-named "Chablatz Enduro". The 3rd edition of this race allowed 150 riders to pull the stops on 5 stages crossing the entire Chablais Vaudois.

50km, 1800m of positive, 2200m of negative, a cable car ride, 5 supplies stop and 250 liters of beers were on the program.

This day having decided on the winner of the Swiss Enduro Mountain Bike Cup "BOLD Helveti'cup", a part of the best swiss riders such as Maxime Chapuis (Specialized Racing Team), Patrick Lüthi (Prof Raiffensen CCL), the Swiss Champion Sidonie Jolidon (Liv Cycling Switzerland) or the local hero who is growing on the swiss scene, Mehdi Lorenz (Cyclone Gravity). In addition to this beautiful national line-up, Italian, French, many friends and a beautiful representation of Swiss German pilots were also present to compete in a warm, passionate and simple atmosphere. Values that are close to the hearts of the organisers and which are the foundations of "La Chablatz Enduro".


Bright sunshine and perfect temperatures were the order of the day for this 3rd edition. The route offered a mix of paths and landscapes typical of the Chablais Vaudois. The stages had an average of 450m of negative altitude difference for about 2km long, so there was a slope and a lot of speed. Liaison were crossing little village and old routes in the shadow of the forest.

Stage 1 started on a hill overlooking the village of Villars-Sur-Ollon, its many switchbacks and his Rooty off-cambers made slippery by the morning dew turn it the most technical of the day. The second special stage was much more open and fast with beautiful steep sections, a delight for pilots who love old school downhill runs.

SP3 and SP4 were located on the hill opposite the small hamlet of Panex, this hill has for particularity a Mediterranean micro-climate. So it gives the impression of riding in Finale Ligure rather than in Switzerland. These stages were very fast with many natural terrain movements making them playful and very fun to ride. The final of the SP3 still has a magnificent sequence of 10 very open switchbacks, a delight for nose turn lovers.






The last stage of the Day was located at the top of the Alpe des Chaux cable car (above the village of La Barboleuse) at an altitude of 1800m. This will known local trail offers a festival of roots and off-cambres that forces pilots to release the brakes in order to keep the lines as high and tight as possible. However, the autumn dew had moistened the ground well, so some of the rooty sections were as slippery as an ice rink, the last stage that required a big mind and a lot of commitment to drive it fast. But whoever says last stages, says beers near the hand or near the wheel…(sorry I was forced to do the joke) It is therefore at the arrival of this stage that all the pilots were able to enjoy a delicious beer from the Local brewery "La Mine" as a reward for this beautiful day of effort in the Swiss Chablais.





For both men and women the battle for the podium was close all day long, the frenetic encouragement of the 50 race Marshalls must have had something to do with this priceless battle for the podium. Patrick Lüthi (Prof Raffeisen) won the men's race by beating the local hero, Mehdi Lorenz (Cyclone Gravity) by just six seconds. Igor Müller (Ride.Up) and Colin Favre (Cyclone Gravity) completed the podium by finishing respectively 3rd and 4th. In the women's category, Sidonie Jolidon (BMS - Liv Cycling Switzerland) won the race, ensuring the overall ranking of the Swiss Cup and a perfect season. She is next to Carla Coester for second place and a young local (Gryon resident) for the third place, Ysaline Van Kampen.



The junior podium was won in the men's category by Grégory Gianoli (RideUp.ch) followed by Robin Küchler (RMC Obwalden) and the young Swiss multidisciplinary talent, Liam Seydoux (BOLD Cycles). Ilona Tilleman (BikeHub Enduro Racing) won the junior girls' podium and still finished 6th in the women's scratch ranking.

On the Masters side, it is René Rohrer (RC Steffisburg) who is on the highest step of the podium, followed by Thierry Neau (Conforme Gargage) in 2nd place and Florian Golay (Crossroad cycle - Lapierre) for 3rd place.



This 3rd edition of "La Chablatz Enduro" being also the final round of the Swiss Enduro Mountain Bike Cup "BOLD Helveticup", the podiums of the overall rankings of the 4 rounds of the Swiss Tour were distributed the same evening (results below).


BOLD Helveticup Overall podium results :

Men
1st - Patrick Lüthti (Prof. Raiffeisen)
2nd - Igor Müller (RideUp.ch)
3rd - Mehdi Lorenz (Cyclone Gravity)

Women
1st - Sidonie Jolidon (Liv Cycling Switzerland)
2nd - Carla Coester
3rd - Damiana Gehrig

Junior Men
1st - Robin Küchler (RMC Obwalden)
2nd - Grégory Gianoli (RideUp.ch)
3rd - Liam Seydoux (BOLD Cycles)

Masters
1st - René Rohrer (RC Steffisburg)
2nd - Florian Golay (Crossroad cycle - Lapierre)
3rd - Raphaël Salamin (Cyclone Gravity)


Thanks to all the pilots, volunteers and partners for this great race and see you next year!

Kiss folks !!!

The team of La Chablatz

Complete list of results here : La Chablatz enduro - 2019 results

Website : www.lachablatzenduro.com/

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Racing and Events Enduro Racing