Race Analysis from the Finale Ligure EDR World Cup 2024

The opening round of the 2024 Enduro World Cup has wrapped up after riders faced the classic trails of Finale Ligure. The racing provided plenty of interesting results and some standout performances so let's get into the stats.

Course Details

Stage 1
Base Nato: 2.6km / 381m descent - Stage 1


Stage 2
Ingegnere: 3.8km / 484m descent - Stage 2


Stage 3
Supergroppo: 7.2km / 653m descent - Stage 3


Stage 4 (5)
DH Men: 2.8km / 283m descent - Stage 4


*The original stage four was cancelled for the U21 women and Elite categories after a serious crash.*

---

Race Results

---

Elite Women

---

1st. Hattie Harnden: 36:06.599
2nd. Isabeau Courdurier: 36:15.229 / +8.630
3rd. Ella Conolly: 36:23.173 / +16.574
4th. Morgane Charre: 36:23.203 / +16.604
5th. Rae Morrison: 36:47.701 / +41.102

---

Elite Men

---

1st. Richie Rude: 31:53.201
2nd. Charlie Murray: 32:08.474 / +15.273
3rd. Martin Maes: 32:17.791 / +24.590
4th. Mirco Vendemmia: 32:19.749 / +26.548
5th. Slawomir Lukasik: 32:21.943 / +28.742




Full results, here.

---

Stage by Stage Results

Overall Stage Positions

Stage 1:


Stage 2:


Stage 3:


Stage 4:



Stage Rankings

Stage 1:


Stage 2:


Stage 3:


Stage 4:

---

Story of the Race

Women

The women's racing started the day with a close spread amongst the top riders, but the 15+ minute stage three blew apart the field and helped Hattie Harnden secure her first victory of the 2024 season. Harnden pushed hard on the third stage of the day besting all elite women by at least 20 seconds, 2nd-placed Isabeau Courdurier who had been leading into the stage lost 26.646 seconds. The final stage brought the race back together slightly as Harnden could only manage fifth place here giving 14.344 seconds back to stage winner Courdurier. The final stage victory meant Courdurier could close the gap to 8.630 seconds.

---

Men

There was a slightly different story in the elite men's race as Richie Rude was dominant from the off securing back-to-back wins across the first two stages. Rude led into the third stage by 7.440 seconds but a charging Slawomir Lukasik laid down a heater beating Rude by over eight seconds and taking the overall lead by just 0.014 seconds against his Yeti teammate. Sadly it was not to be for Lukasik as a flat rear tyre placed him 42nd on stage four knocking him down to fifth overall. While his teammate struggled, Rude put in another winning performance to go fastest once again and ended the day over 15 seconds ahead of Charlie Murray.

---

Stage Breakdown

Women:


After comparing where riders gained or lost time against Hattie Harnden it's interesting to note that across the full day of racing, only four riders took time away from the race winner. The first stage saw Harnden lose a small amount of time to Ella Conolly and Morgane Charre with Isabeau Coudrueir taking 9.687 away from her. Harnden's win across the next two stages would see her build a lead into stage four before Courdurier, Conolly, Charre and Rae Morrison would eat away at her overall race lead. Any time pulled back on the final stage would not be enough to change the race winner after Harnden's big victory on stage three.


Stage three may have been the deciding factor in the overall race results but it is interesting after looking at the stage times to find that the biggest finish spread in percentages of the winning stage time came from the final stage. With tight liason times and high temperatures testing riders' strength the last timed section of a long day created big gaps deeper in the field, as the top five closely matched stages one and three before the finish spread took a sharp increase. However, it is worth noting that at 2.2% and 2.17%, the winning margins of the third and fourth stages were very evenly matched compared to the close 0.24% gap to 2nd on stage two.

Men:


In the almost opposite of the elite women's chart, stage three is where Richie Rude lost time to his competitors with Charlie Murray, Mirco Vendemmia, Slawomir Lukasik and Jesse Melamed all setting faster stage times. The deciding factor in the race was Richie Rude's dominance across the other three stages and the puncture of his teammate Lukasik that handed him the round one victory.


As with the women, the final stage was again where there were the biggest gaps to the fastest stage time. Richie Rude's winning time split the top 5 by 4.34% with a close spread of the next five riders as the 10th place finisher was 5.45% back from the top time. While the women's racing saw a more pronounced difference amongst the other stages it is interesting to see very similar finish spreads across the quite different first, second and third stages with the top 30 riders all within around 4.7% (4.63%, 4.74% and 4.77% respectively) of the fastest times.

---

Overall Standings

Full results, here.

---