It may only have been the second Enduro World Series of the year, but Petzen-Jamnica may well be in the running for one of the toughest of the season.
The five stage, 40km course was bookended by the aptly named Thriller, a savage test of body and bike that encompassed over 1000m of descent. Proceedings kicked off with the Pro Stage on Saturday night, where Jesse Melamed and Isabeau Courdurier took control of this race from the second they left the start gate.
Courdurier won the Pro Stage comfortably, meaning she would start Sunday’s four stages with a nearly ten-second lead over Morgane Charre in second place. The trend would continue on Sunday, with Courdurier dropping just one stage win, but never losing the lead of the race. She finished the day with an impressive 20-second lead, forcing Charre to settle for second place. Ella Conolly backed up her round one win with another podium finish, taking third.
In the men’s race, it was a similar story, with Melamed maintaining his race lead throughout, despite Richie Rude and Eddie Masters taking stage wins from him. Melamed’s lead proved unassailable and he finished the race with an impressive 14-second lead over second-placed Rude, while just one second behind him was Jack Moir. The reigning champ proved he was back to race pace after shoulder surgery in the off-season, riding consistently all day to round out the podium.
In the U21 Men, Luke Meier-Smith added to his impressive win tally with another that saw him crush the competition with a 35-second lead, while two Canadians, Jonathan Helly and Seth Sherlock finished in second and third place respectively. In the women’s race, Emmy Lan put on the most dominant performance of the day, to win the competition by over three minutes, ahead of Tina Smrdel and Lily.
The series now moves to the Italian Dolomites for round three in Val di Fassa, where the EWS racers will be back in action in just one week's time.