War of Attrition - Enduro World Series, Round 3 - Valloire
Brutal is the only word for the racing today. Crashes, punctures and bruised egos were the cost of racing. The riders sitting atop the timing sheet this evening aren't only the ones who went fastest, they are also those who survived the punishment dished out by the mountains here in Valloire. We saw the leaderboard shaken up time and again, with every kind of problem you can imagine. So who were the victors in this war of attrition?
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 Mr Nico Lau's fork getting some love the day before the racing starts at Valloire. |
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| Looking good: the number one plate. |
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| The question before a French Enduro is what tracks do you walk? These races are so physically demanding, and there's no practice. Rather riders can only walk the tracks the day before. But when the stages are 15 minutes long at race pace, hiking all that real estate is NOT the thing to do the day before going full tilt... So T-Mo taking some time to figure out exactly what stages to scout. |
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| The morning started pretty early; riders were on the chair at 8am and on track shortly thereafter. But again, at 15 miunutes long on track one, and with the timed run starting at 10 am, riders had scant time to review go pro footage before having to give 'er. Essentially, the riders were racing almost blind - the snap shot run before the timed run on a 15 minute stage is simply not enough to do much more than impart a general sense of the flow of the track. |
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| Rene Wildhaber checks out the start of stage one as the women take their first run of the day. |
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| Winner last time out in Tweedlove, Nico Lau placed seventh on the first stage to put himself in touch with the leaders, but he lost around three minutes on the second stage, meaning his weekend was over before it had barely even started. |
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| It was a good start for Francois Bailly-Maitre this morning, taking the win on the first stage. |
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| Why should you come and race enduro in Europe? Well it depends if you like the idea of tearing at full speed down fine ribbons of singletrack in the big mountains... |
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| Justin Leov opened his account with third on the first stage this morning, but he was just getting up to speed... |
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| It must be awkward in the Scott camp tonight. The team was put together by Remy Absalon, but it is his young teammate, Thomas Lapeyrie, sitting ahead in the standings and inside the top ten this evening. |
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| Gustav Wildhaber doesn't seem to have much luck. This is his first race back from injury and he was smashing his way up to a top ten placing. But it wasn't to be, he went down hard on stage three, doing some major damage to his knee, and ending his season after just two and a half race stages. |
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| It was a solid return to racing for Nico Vouilloz, with respectable times on the first two stages, but suffering problems on the final stage, dropping him back to 31st this evening. |
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| Justin Leov and Tracy Moseley contemplate the snow at the head of stage two and three (they ran the same stage twice on the clock). Many riders lost time here, like Rene Wildhaber who was thrown out the front while his bike somersaulted on ahead of him. |
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| With more than a little spare time on our hands between stages we made good use of the snow that is still hanging around up high. |
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| Tracy's pace through the technical sections was apparent. |
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| Jared Graves had some trouble on stage two today, crashing in the snow near the start. He finished twelfth on stage two, and finished stage three in third. |
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| Rene Wildhaber is hitting his stride. He finished stage three in second today. |
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| Richie Rude flatted on stage one today, then decided it was time for a new plan of attack- all out attack. It worked out well for him. third and fifth on stages two and three. |
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| Damien Oton followed up his form at Tweedlove with another solid performance today. He was fourth in the overall. |
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| Martin Maes was running strong early in the day finishing third on the first stage. His luck would change late in the day, and he now has what seems like an insurmountable amount of time to make up. |
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| On the lower parts of the stages riders were flying through the flower-filled meadows. |
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| Anneke Beerten was on a tear today. She pulled into second overall. She may have had less of a time gap had she not been stuck behind riders on stage three. |
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| T-Mo on cruise control in stage two. But it was stage three where she turned on the gas, nearly catching Anne Caro. |
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| Anne Caro getting chased hard by Tracy Moseley on stage three of the day. Anne Caro was expected by many to dominate here in Valloire, but is instead sitting in third - a minute and ten seconds behind Moseley (Anneke Beerten is sitting second, some six seconds ahead of Chausson. |
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| Try as she may, ACC just couldn't keep up with Moseley's pace today. She finished the day one minute ten seconds behind Moseley. |
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| Justin Leov burying his Fox 36 legs into a corner midway down stage three... Leov was amazingly consistent and avoided any mechanicals in taking the first day... Can he hold on and take the first win tomorrow? |
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| How much did stage three hurt? About this much. All that pain could only net him a fourth on the final stage though. |
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| Holding the lead after stage two, this dropped chain on stage three took more than a minute off Francois Bailly-Maitre and propelled him back through the classification. |
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| Martin Maes hopes of victory ended with this. He clearly wasn't a happy man this evening as he had been within striking distance of the lead, but this puncture on stage three was murder she wrote for his hopes of a good result this weekend. |
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| Exhausted, bloody and smiling. Ben Cruz has good reason to be cheerful this evening, not only is the top American, but he is sixth overall and it's the first time this season we've seen the kind of pace we know he has in him. |
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| Fred Horny working over a battered wheel in the Mavic Pits following day one's racing. "For sure, we saw a few wheels after the racing today... But not too many... maybe 15?" |
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| Say what you will about whether or not Richie Rude should be racing Enduro, today he proved he could hold his own against the big boys. |
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| Leov and Mosely do a bit of refueling after todays stages. The two are now solidly in first place after day one. |
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| That's day one in the books. Until tomorrow from Valloire. |
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oh poor force 27.5 ...
If the trails are fast and rough (Alpine stuff) use the Sanction ( as it is a mini Fury )
If the trails are tight, twisty and pedally, Force is your ' go to ' option.