Photo Epic: Race Day - EWS Val di Fassa 2021 Race 1
A beautiful day and four incredible stages greeted racers as they kicked off the 2021 Enduro World Series in Canazei Italy. A day that would see close racing across all categories including battles for podium positions and wins that would come go right down to the wire.
In the women's race, Isabeau Courdurier took two stage wins, including the all-important Queen Stage, to win the race by nearly 14 seconds. A comfortable margin, but one that will keep her honest going into round 2 on Saturday. Morgane Charre carried her form over from 2020 to place second and Melanie Pugin completed the all-French podium to take third. Fourth would go to Andreane Lanthier Nadeau who, with that result, would make her best ever season debut. And keep your eyes on Harriet Harnden who took her first stage win on stage three in her first-ever elite women's race.
In the men’s competition, Richie Rude dominated from right out the gate, just edging the win from three-time defending champ Sam Hill on the first stage of the day. From here his lead only extended, winning stage two ahead of Jack Moir while Hill would begin to slide back. Charlie Murray who turned heads in 2020 did so once again by winning stage three. But the final stage of the day, the all-important Queen Stage and the longest of the day would be where things got interesting. A herculean effort from Moir saw him set the fastest time to push Rude him right to the wire in a nail bitter of a finish with Rude only taking the overall race win by less than half a second. Moir was forced to settle for second, whilst a consistent ride from Jesse Melamed saw him round out the podium in third. Matt Walker and Zakarias Johansen would take 4th and 5th respectively, and the Canyon Collective would dominate the overall team results with riders in 2nd, 6th, and 7th.
The stoke was high to finally be back racing. All sorts of characters showed up to make some noise.
Wyn Masters starting the day as you do in Italy
McKay Vezina getting in the zone
Bike prep and final checks before a long day. With riders unable to return to the pits at this race, it is imperative that equipment is set up just right and that riders have all the tools they need for minor repairs.
Shawn Hughes getting Richie Rude's suspension just right.
What a day for the Canyon Collective with three riders in the top 10 and 1st in the team overall.
Stormy weather was on the forecast buy luckily it held off until long after racing was through.
Richie Rude won here by nearly 18 seconds in 2019 and backed that up with another win in 2021, but only by a scant 0.4 seconds this time.
On top once again in the women's race was Isabeau Courdurier.
6th for Dmitri Tordo to make in three Canyon riders in the top 7.
Zakarias Johansen with his best ever result came 5th.
Sam Hill and Richie Rude were super tight in times heading into the final stage. Unfortunately for Hill, something had gone wrong late in the day and had him loose a whole lot of time.
What a ride for Matt Walker to take 4th.
Melanie Pugin finishing in the same second as Charre. Another incredibly tight result to start the season.
The racing was extremely tight at the top of the men's field. Jack Moir managed to pull back enough time on the fourth stage to barely miss out on the win over Rude.
Fifth place for Noga Korem.
7th for Jose Borges from Portugal.
Big result yesterday from Caro Gehrig, cracking the top ten, into seventh place.
Hugo Pigeon drifting the loose off camber and into 26th on the day.
One wheel on the grass for traction and the other in the marbles to let in slide was there preferred technique.
Maybe a little rain would be a good thing as the lack of moisture means the tracks will start to break apart rapidly through the day.
9th for youngster Antoine Vidal.
Shawn Neer was headed for the top 10 until two successive crashed on stage 4 cost him a huge amount of time.
French Champ, Theo Galay.
Bex Baraona on stage 4
Harriet Harnden got herself a stage win and a ninth place finish.
Second place finish for Morgane Charre, just edging out Pugin who finished third.
Rae Morrison would round out the women's top 10.
Jesse Melamed adapting to the ever-changing loose rocks at the top of stage 4.
Lots of fast racing through the tight trees in Canazei.
Eighth for Robin Wallner.
Full speed down the exposed ridge and trying not to get blown off line by the wind.
Sam Hill, off the ridgeline and into the woods on stage 4.
4th for Andreane Lanthier Nadeau, and her best-ever start to an EWS season.
Fourth but looking for more, ALN is set to charge this weekend.
Jack Moir and that look when you here you came second but missed the win by just 0.4 of a second.
Richie Rude backed up his win here from 2019 and starts the year off with a bang.
Richie Rude, Jack Moir and Jesse Melamed are your top three in Canazei for round 1.
Your women's podium: 1st Isabeau Courdurier, 2nd Morgane Charre, 3rd Melanie Pugin.
Job done! Courdurier took round one. She gets to do it all over again this weekend.
It was all about those afternoon champagne showers today rather than the usual thunderstorms.
We'll will be back for more with round 2 on Saturday
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Nice marketing sideline though.