Pinkbike Primer: Another Big Weekend of Racing at EWS Val Di Fassa 2022

Jun 23, 2022 at 4:10
by Ed Spratt  
Jessie Melamed was flying today until disaster struck - three times. He would pick up the pieces enough for fourth.

Following last weekend's racing at Petzen-Jamnica riders are back between the tape again for round three in the mountain village of Canazei. Before racing kicks off later this week, here is everything you need to know.


The Venue



Canazei has been on the EWS since 2019 with the ski town in the high-altitude Val di Fassa valley offering a whole range of conditions from wide-open bike park trails to steep, rocky and tight singletrack. It will be a great test of each rider's ability to go consistently fast over the varying terrain.

Gloom and doom crept it s way in slowly but surely.
Beautiful loamy dirt made of Friday s Pro Stage... until the rains came

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Ella Conolly rounds off the top five.


The Schedule


Isabeau Courdurier couldn t match her form from road 1 and ended up 4th on the second day off racing in Canazei

Another week another EWS race sees the season continue with riders facing the Pro Stage on Saturday before a full-on day of four stages on Sunday.

Friday, June 24

08:00-10:30 // EWS Training (Stage 2)
10:30-12:30 // EWS Training (Stage 3)
13:00-15:00 // EWS Training (Stage 4)
15:00-17:00 // EWS Training (Stage 5)

Saturday, June 25

11:00-13:00 // EWS Pro Stage Training
14:30-17:30 // EWS Pro Stage

Sunday, June 26

09:00-17:00 // EWS Race


The Stages


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Total: 42km / 15.6km Stages / 2,800m Descent

Ciasates: 1.6km / 205m descent - Stage 1 / Pro Stage

Titans: 3km / 650m descent - Stage 2

Mescedoz: 3.5km / 570m descent - Stage 3

Gluhwein: 1.7km / 290m descent - Stage 4

Tutti Fruttil: 6.2km / 960m descent - Stage 5


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The Weather


Threatening skies just before the first race of round 2

This week's racing is going to see the threat of thunder and rain hanging over riders as they take on the alpine trails in Italy. Hopefully, we get some good luck and the weather won't upset proceedings.

Friday, June 24

Intervals of clouds and sun with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm // 19°C // 96% probability of precipitation // wind 7km/h

Yellow Warning for Thunderstorms

Saturday, June 25

Partial sunshine with a thunderstorm in a couple of spots // 16°C // 41% probability of precipitation // wind 7km/h

Sunday, June 26

Partly sunny with widely separated thunderstorms // 19°C // 42% probability of precipitation // wind 6km/h

Weather forecast for Canazei as of Thursday, June 23 from Accuweather.


What Happened Last Time We Were Here?



Last year we saw the round in Canazei kick off the season with a double header race that saw two very different results despite being hosted days apart. The first race saw a big win for Isabeau Courdurier with a narrow victory for Richie Rude over Jack Moir. Days later and the winners were switched up with Jack Moir and Melanie Pugin taking big wins at the second round of the week.

Race 1

Elite Women

1st. Isabeau Courdurier: 31:43.22
2nd. Morgane Charre: 31:57.15
3rd. Melanie Pugin: 31:57.48
4th. Andreane Lanthier Nadeau: 32:15.75
5th. Noga Korem: 32:31.99

Elite Men

1st. Richie Rude: 27:07.32
2nd. Jack Moir: 27:07.80
3rd. Jesse Melamed: 27:22.08
4th. Matt Walker: 27:30.79
5th. Zak Johansen: 27:38.16

Race 2

Elite Women

1st. Melanie Pugin: 33:30.62
2nd. Morgane Charre: 34:06.13
3rd. Harriet Harnden: 34:17.14
4th. Isabeau Courdurier: 34:18.59
5th. Ella Conolly: 34:28.56

Elite Men

1st. Jack Moir: 28:22.20
2nd. Richie Rude: 28:36.72
3rd. Charlie Murray: 28:59.67
4th. Jesse Melamed: 29:01.99
5th. Robin Wallner: 29:02.20



What Happened at the Last Round?



Petzen-Jamnica had some massive stages for riders to tackle and this shook things up from the shorter intense racing in the Tweed Valley. The long and rough stages gave Isabeau Courdurier and Jesse Melamed their first wins of the season and a big confidence boost going into racing this week in Italy.

Elite Women

1st. Isabeau Courdurier: 44:02.660
2nd. Morgane Charre: 44:23.090
3rd. Ella Conolly: 44:47.410
4th. Melanie Pugin: 45:41.480
5th. Bex Baraona: 46:13.740
Elite Men

1st. Jesse Melamed: 37:55.900
2nd. Richie Rude: 38:10.830
3rd. Jack Moir: 38:11.920
4th. Ed Masters: 38:17.750
5th. Slawomir Lukasik: 38:20.420

U21 Women

1st. Emmy Lan: 47:46.390
2nd. Tina Smrdel: 51:13.250
3rd. Lily Boucher: 51:48.070
U21 Men

1st. Luke Meier-Smith: 39:04.030
2nd. Johnathan Helly: 39:39.220
3rd. Seth Sherlock: 40:11.220
4th. Vojtech Klokocka: 40:42.320
5th. Jack Piercy: 41:00.230


Who is Leading the Overall Standings?


Elite Men

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Elite Women

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U21 Women

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U21 Men

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Author Info:
edspratt avatar

Member since Mar 16, 2017
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34 Comments
  • 57 0
 All I wanted to know is whether Matthew Fairbrother, #8 in the standings, has arrived in town. Turns out he has: www.strava.com/athletes/17453447
  • 12 0
 The absolute legend that he is! I really hope he gets some backing and further support. The tenacity he has for this is insane.
  • 23 0
 @Jaffa1: Honestly at 17 he is one of the legends of the sport for this. I can't think of any feat to compare this to. May the term for cycling yourself through a race series forever be known as "Fairbrother-ing" or "a Matthew"
  • 4 0
 This guy is preparing for the TDF probably!
  • 12 0
 @ryanandrewrogers: "I'll be away for the summer, Fairbrothering my way round the EWS"
  • 3 0
 Deviate Cycles has started a gofundme for him, link was in the comments to the interview.
  • 2 0
 @ullsen: Thank you! Will go find the link and put something his way.
  • 8 0
 @Jaffa1: Deviate put up a Gofundme if you'd like to help out a bit (link is also in his Insta if you don't want to click rando links from PB comments Smile www.gofundme.com/f/matthew-fairbrother?member=20107303&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet
  • 4 0
 This young man has made EWS so much better! Putting in massive miles on an enduro rig and racing so well - top tier athlete for sure.
  • 26 4
 A proper ews without the motorbikes in the way
  • 4 0
 Amen.
  • 3 0
 Hope Flo gets a chance in EWS
  • 20 2
 What is the point in putting a picture up of the standings that you need a magnifying glass to read it and it’s such poor quality that you can’t read it anyway even with a magnifying glass?
  • 4 1
 Another vote here for posting the data in a manner in which it can be consumed, rather than just lazy low res screenshots.
  • 15 4
 One stage blind, no practice would be a good addition. Blind racing is a completely different skill.
  • 8 0
 If it is blind for everybody, difficult in a bike park.
  • 5 1
 Sorry but that's not even close to loose! That dry loam is hero dirt compared to SoCal conditions.
  • 3 0
 Is the 2800m vert all pedalled? Or some uplifts?
  • 3 0
 Just watched the vid and it's lift assisted. I still couldn't do it...
  • 4 0
 a lot of uplifts, only around 1000m of climbing
  • 1 0
 1160 of pedal climbing
  • 4 1
 @pufalot: that is lame. At least make it a two day race then with 2x 1000hm pedalling.
  • 5 0
 @bashhard: That would mean two training days and two race days. After a big weekend in Petzen that would be too much, also the travel schedule would be really tight.
  • 1 1
 @bashhard: that's lame? I expect you will no doubt win this with no issues ...
  • 6 2
 @mariomtblt: Yes, I find pedalling 1000 meters of height pretty lame for the enduro pros. Even I can easily do that in a day. I think that over half of the ascent being lift-assisted is not very enduro like and no challenge for professional athletes at all.
I do not have to win a race to criticize the race course. That is out of question
  • 1 1
 @bashhard: I'll give it to you then, here in CA our state enduro series has a lot of places that are lift assisted and I don't feel it makes the racing that much different, still wait in line forever and still have my heart and lungs explode in the stages.
  • 2 0
 e bikes having a rest?
  • 4 3
 Why would a resort with lifts want ebikes ?
  • 1 2
 @kingdick: Here is why and how Val Di Fassa bike park caters for ebikes.

www.fassabike.com/en/tours/e-mtb
  • 1 0
 @casey79: that ain't bike park, all mountain refugio to refugio ride
  • 1 0
 Bóra lá Nuno ,força ,sem stress
  • 1 0
 Looks like Flo will be racing in the EWS this week according to her insta.
  • 2 1
 start list?
  • 3 5
 Sweet video. I am so sick of these dentists on their Santa Cruz's though. The nerve of those capitalists!







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