Race Analysis: Maydena & Derby Enduro World Cups

Apr 6, 2023 at 11:13
by Ed Spratt  
A dominant day of physical tracks and in changing conditions. This win should give Bex Baraona a huge boost of confidence heading into the next block of racing

The first two rounds of the Enduro World Cup brought a welcome return of international enduro racing to Australia after we last saw the EWS here in 2019. After four years and a global pandemic, it's great to see enduro racing return to the Southern Hemisphere after the previous few seasons have mostly centered around Europe. Alongside the move to a fresh part of the globe, we saw Maydena host for the first time with some incredible racing on steep and technical tracks that seemed to have suited the downhill pros more than the regular enduro racers. The script was flipped for Derby, which had no shuttling and lots of pedalling both on and off stages.

After two exciting rounds of racing let's get into the results and stats.

Course Details


Maydena

photo


Total: 54.5km / 2511m descent / 1248m climb



Derby

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Total: 42.5km / 1444m descent / 1444m climb






Race Results


Maydena

Connor Fearon pinned and on the podium

Overall:

Elite Women:

1st. Isabeau Courdurier: 33:15.930
2nd. Morgane Charre: 33:25.510
3rd. Ella Conolly: 33:53.650
4th. Bex Baraona: 33:56.010
5th. Hattie Harnden: 33:59.530
Elite Men:

1st. Luke Meier-Smith: 28:55.210
2nd. Dan Booker: 29:01.040
3rd. Connor Fearon: 29:14.450
4th. Rhys Verner: 29:19.780
5th. Troy Brosnan: 29:21.920

Stage 1:

Elite Women:

1st. Isabeau Courdurier: 8:27.420
2nd. Vali Höll: 8:30.850
3rd. Morgane Charre: 8:30.870
4th. Ella Conolly: 8:32.210
5th. Kate Weatherly: 8:39.870
Elite Men:

1st. Dan Booker: 7:20.690
2nd. Luke Meier-Smith: 7:21.860
3rd. Richie Rude: 7:25.410
4th. Jesse Melamed: 7:25.490
5th. Troy Brosnan: 7:26.030

Stage 2:

Elite Women:

1st. Vali Höll: 4:15.650
2nd. Bex Baraona: 4:18.250
3rd. Ella Conolly: 4:18.310
4th. Isabeau Courdurier: 4:18.950
5th. Hattie Harnden: 4:19.030
Elite Men:

1st. Jesse Melamed: 3:45.480
2nd. Luke Meier-Smith: 3:46.180
3rd. Dan Booker: 3:47.780
4th. Connor Fearon: 3:48.900
5th. Richie Rude: 3:49.780

Stage 3:

Elite Women:

1st. Vali Höll: 2:23.550
2nd. Ella Conolly: 2:25.830
3rd. Morgane Charre: 2:25.850
4th. Rae Morrison: 2:26.420
5th. Isabeau Courdurier: 2:26.470
Elite Men:

1st. Luke Meier-Smith: 2:03.440
2nd. Ryan Gilchrist: 2:06.070
3rd. Dan Booker: 2:06.330
4th. Elliott Heap: 2:06.680
5th. Rhys Verner: 2:06.870

Stage 4:

Elite Women:

1st. Isabeau Courdurier: 1:46.690
2nd. Morgane Charre: 1:48.880
3rd. Ella Conolly: 1:49.400
4th. Vali Höll: 1:49.790
5th. Rae Morrison: 1:50.980
Elite Men:

1st. Troy Brosnan: 1:28.120
2nd. Jesse Melamed: 1:29.600
3rd. Dan Booker: 1:30.680
4th. Luke Meier-Smith: 1:30.880
5th. Connor Fearon: 1:31.500

Stage 5:

Elite Women:

1st. Isabeau Courdurier: 4:46.060
2nd. Morgane Charre: 4:48.350
3rd. Ella Conolly: 4:51.830
4th. Bex Baraona: 4:52.100
5th. Hattie Harnden: 4:53.530
Elite Men:

1st. Luke Meier-Smith: 4:08.590
2nd. Dan Booker: 4:11.280
3rd. Connor Fearon: 4:12.290
4th. Ryan Gilchrist: 4:12.540
5th. Rhys Verner: 4:12.820

Stage 6:

Elite Women:

1st. Morgane Charre: 11:30.290
2nd. Isabeau Courdurier: 11:30.340
3rd. Rae Morrison: 11:40.140
4th. Bex Baraona: 11:42.700
5th. Noga Korem: 11:42.990
Elite Men:

1st. Luke Meier-Smith: 10:04.260
2nd. Dan Booker: 10:04.280
3rd. Connor Fearon: 10:05.400
4th. Troy Brosnan: 10:06.500
5th. Rhys Verner: 10:08.480



Derby

A consistent 3rd for the second week in a row for Ella Conolly

Overall:

Elite Women:

1st. Bex Baraona: 29:52.010
2nd. Hattie Harnden: 30:00.230
3rd. Ella Conolly: 30:17.740
4th. Isabeau Courdurier: 30:40.730
5th. Morgane Charre: 30:41.860
Elite Men:

1st. Richie Rude: 25:52.860
2nd. Slawomir Lukasik: 26:00.450
3rd. Jesse Melamed: 26:17.910
4th. Jack Moir: 26:21.420
5th. Martin Maes: 26:24.610

Stage 1:

Elite Women:

1st. Hattie Harnden: 6:12.180
2nd. Bex Baraona: 6:14.430
3rd. Zoe Cuthbert: 6:21.300
4th. Ella Conolly: 6:21.530
5th. Kate Weatherly: 6:24.250
Elite Men:

1st. Richie Rude: 5:16.170
2nd. Slawomir Lukasik: 5:20.000
3rd. Ed Masters: 5:22.050
4th. Hugo Pigeon: 5:24.300
5th. Jesse Melamed: 5:24.950

Stage 2:

Elite Women:

1st. Bex Baraona: 5:10.680
2nd. Hattie Harnden: 5:15.790
3rd. Barbora Prudkova: 5:16.780
4th. Leanna Curtis: 5:17.030
5th. Isabeau Courdurier: 5:18.650
Elite Men:

1st. Slawomir Lukasik: 4:36.470
2nd. Richie Rude: 4:36.600
3rd. Jesse Melamed: 4:39.330
4th. Hugo Pigeon: 4:42.370
5th. Charlie Murray: 4:42.910

Stage 3:

Elite Women:

1st. Ella Conolly: 2:43.700
2nd. Hattie Harnden: 2:44.150
3rd. Gloria Scarsi: 2:45.920
4th. Bex Baraona: 2:46.900
5th. Leanna Curtis: 2:49.760
Elite Men:

1st. Jesse Melamed: 2:21.000
2nd. Dan Booker: 2:21.080
3rd. Bradley Harris: 2:22.370
4th. Youn Deniaud: 2:22.900
5th. Mckay Vezina: 2:22.950

Stage 4:

Elite Women:

1st. Bex Baraona: 4:20.870
2nd. Hattie Harnden: 4:24.150
3rd. Morgane Charre: 4:26.610
4th. Ella Conolly: 4:28.970
5th. Isabeau Courdurier: 4:29.950
Elite Men:

1st. Slawomir Lukasik: 3:49.340
2nd. Richie Rude: 3:49.720
3rd. Jack Moir: 3:51.130
4th. José Borges: 3:51.420
5th. Jesse Melamed: 3:52.140

Stage 5:

Elite Women:

1st. Hattie Harnden: 3:38.690
2nd. Bex Baraona: 3:41.130
3rd. Leanna Curtis: 3:41.880
4th. Raphaela Richter: 3:42.800
5th. Ella Conolly: 3:43.730
Elite Men:

1st. Richie Rude: 3:11.560
2nd. Slawomir Lukasik: 3:11.930
3rd. Jesse Melamed: 3:12.360
4th. Martin Maes: 3:12.900
5th. Luke Meier-Smith: 3:13.470

Stage 6:

Elite Women:

1st. Bex Baraona: 7:38.000
2nd. Ella Conolly: 7:39.180
3rd. Hattie Harnden: 7:45.270
4th. Morgane Charre: 7:48.110
5th. Isabeau Courdurier: 7:48.350
Elite Men:

1st. Richie Rude: 6:35.760
2nd. Jack Moir: 6:37.570
3rd. Slawomir Lukasik: 6:38.940
4th. Matthew Walker: 6:40.320
5th. Martin Maes: 6:40.760



Perfect Results


Maydena

Women:

Perfect Race: 33:9.660
Actual Winning Time: 33:15.930 (+6.27)

Men:

Perfect Race: 28:50.580
Actual Winning Time: 28:55.210 (+4.63)



Derby

Women:

Perfect Race: 29:44.120
Actual Winning Time: 29:52.010 (+7.89)

Men:

Perfect Race: 25:50.300
Actual Winning Time: 25:52.860 (+2.56)



Stats Breakdown






































Talking Points


Sketchy moments and crashed saw Jesse Melamed end the day in 19th

A Bad Stage is Not the End of the Race in the Elite Men

During the first two rounds of the 2023 Enduro World Cups season the Elite Men's top 20 features multiple riders with stage results outside the fastest 40 riders. Interestingly, at the season opener in Maydena Jesse Melamed could sneak into the top 20 with a 70th on stage three and 74th on stage five. Martin Maes also made it into 14th despite a 52nd on stage four.

It wasn't just the more downhill-orientated tracks in Maydena creating these comeback opportunities, as we saw similar results in Derby where there was a lot more pedalling during the stages. In Derby, Ed Masters was able to achieve the worst stage results of any rider in the top 20 coming 48th on stage three yet despite another slower 27th place on stage five Masters was still able to grab 10th overall at round two. Another example of a bad stage result not ending the race for the top riders is Jack Moir, who took a joint second worst stage result of the day for a top 20 rider with 46th on stage five before closing the day in 4th overall.

On a charge all day Luke Meier-Smith took his first elite win here in Maydena

Home Advantage?

A lot of the talk surrounding the opening two rounds of the World Cup has been on whether there was a home advantage for the Australians. We have looked at the data, and while in Maydena the Australian riders did seem to fare better, with four riders in the top five and six inside the top 20, when you look at Derby there isn't much of an advantage over the opening two rounds of 2022.

For the second round in Derby, we saw a lot of the usual names back at the top of the results for the Elite Men leading to just one Australian in the top five, two in the top 10 and four inside the top 20. Looking back at 2022 we saw just Dan Booker inside the top 20 at the season opener and just Jack Moir achieving the same at round two. If you compare that to this year with the thought that Dan Booker has been quickly improving his results through the last season, and now Luke Meier-Smith has moved into Elite, the results in Derby don't show that there was any advantage to the Australian racers at the second round.

While there clearly could have been an advantage at Maydena, as it has previously held national champs races and some of the riders have ridden here and even helped build some of the trails, this is no different to any other venue where some riders may have had more experience than others. A great example of something similar is the Tweed Valley race last year where the top 20 riders contained six UK racers, the same number as Maydena and two more than Derby.

On a charge in the mud and all the way through race day Richie Rude always looked the one to beat in Derby

Riders to Watch at Round 3

After the opening two rounds and looking over the stats these are the riders that we think could be potential threats for the overall this season.

Isabeau Courdurier:

The reigning 2022 EWS champ has an incredible start to the season with the win in Maydena but had some difficulties in Derby. Despite a big crash causing a leg injury in practice, Isabeau still took on race day at round two and coming in 4th is no bad result for an injured rider. There is a big break until June for round three so we expect Isabeau to be back on top form and wanting more races like Maydena.

Hattie Harnden

Hattie Harnden may not have picked up a win just yet in 2023, but after a 5th in Maydena and 2nd in Derby we think she could be the next challenger for the overall. While the 2023 season race win is not in her grasp just yet she has shown some incredible consistency across both rounds with no stage results worse than 7th and she didn't drop outside the top three in Derby.

Bex Baraona:

Bex Baraona is hot off a win in Derby and a 4th place in Maydena. Bex has quickly risen to become one of the regular podium threats and it's great to see her take another win to kick off the season. While some think her extra time in Tasmania and her wins at the Trans Tasmania Enduro held at both these venues may have helped we will have to see until the next round.

Luke Meier-Smith:

Luke Meier-Smith has had an incredible start to his first Elite enduro season with a first place in Maydena. Luke was suffering from some illness during round two in Derby but a 17th is still pretty impressive for the young racer. Luke is going to have some tough decisions to make across the rest of the year as he decides whether to race at the enduro or downhill World Cups.

Richie Rude:

Richie Rude may be testing a prototype downhill bike from Yeti with the intent to race, but he is still after some top results in enduro as he closes out the opening rounds of 2023 in the overall lead and with a win to his name. Just like Bex, there are some people questioning as to whether the extra race time in Tasmania may have helped him and the Yeti team, but that will all be proved or disproved at round three.

Slawomir Lukasik:

2023 is looking like a great year for Slawomir Lukasik as he picked up his first factory team ride and has taken 11th place at round one followed by 2nd place at Derby. Slawomir was just 7.59 seconds off teammate Richie in Derby and we could be in for a great fight between these riders throughout the season.




Author Info:
edspratt avatar

Member since Mar 16, 2017
3,021 articles

33 Comments
  • 23 0
 Who wrote this, and how is Dan Booker not considered a rider to watch in the 3rd round?
  • 10 1
 and Jesse?
  • 10 1
 Would be great if the fantasy league was running - ⚽️ dropped…
  • 6 0
 Even if there weren't prizes, I think a lot of people would have enjoyed it if Pinkbike still had the platform open to play against others on PinkBike or to play against their friends. It's a fun way to keep up with racing and makes you commit more to following racers. It's as much a service to pinkbike users as it is showing support for the racers.
  • 6 1
 Found it interesting they don't have Jesse as someone to watch for. He put up a very good fight and even won some stages. I would argue he is faster than Luke and Luke is very quick especially for his "pro" debut.

Random tangent: Just an observation that I've seen over the past few years. Most sports seem to be trending older excluding a few young talents (such as Luke) American football we are having players play longer than before. Eli Tomac is killing it in Supercross this season and the previous supercross and National series. The Lawrence brothers are fast and may be faster but still. Nino schurter has been winning for a long time, first world champion at 22 and then winning it at 36. He'll be winning until he has more years than there are teeth on his chain ring.
  • 4 10
flag TyBronder FL (Apr 6, 2023 at 17:14) (Below Threshold)
 I would like to add that Richie Rude is 29 and Jesse is 31. These may not seem old but after you hit 30, most athletes seem to find a bit less success.
  • 9 0
 @TyBronder: Greg Minaar is 41. Have you seen his jersey?
  • 2 0
 What software is being used to create those charts and can it be made interactive? It really is great as it is already but it would be nice if you could engage or disengage (or even highlight) certain lines in the chart to make it easier to focus. I know you can if you export something from GeoGebra but that's more educational math software. Wouldn't something like MS Excel allow you to create interactive charts these days?
  • 1 0
 Regarding home advantage, you've got to consider that jetlag was likely no longer an issue by the time Derby rolled around. This could explain why the locals did so well in Maydena, but lost their advantage by Derby.
  • 3 0
 The only thing that stood out to me was Taylor....Swift.... I need sleep.
  • 3 0
 The % off the win chart is mint. Marginal gains matter.
  • 12 10
 Nice article, but the top 20 stage graphs look like they were created by Jackson Pollock: completely indecipherable.
  • 30 0
 If you hover or click on an individual racer's name it'll fade out the other stats and it's a lot easier to read.
  • 2 2
 @mikekazimer: Cool. Should be labeled as such above the first one, maybe.
  • 3 0
 @mikekazimer: Aah! Thanks.
  • 3 0
 Ouch...my eyes....these graphs
  • 4 2
 Didn't know everybody races elite women now
  • 4 2
 What does "Perfect Race" mean? Fastest known time down the track?
  • 21 0
 It's the winning times from each stage combined. If someone won every single stage they would have a perfect race, but that usually doesn't happen.
  • 1 3
 this is the real question in my mind.
  • 3 2
 @mikekazimer: but if it did it’d be worth mentioning though, right?

Oh wait, it did Wink
  • 2 2
 @Wilm: what does "oh wait, 'it' did mean?" neither woman nor man was dominant for either race. perhaps it would be worthwhile for you to check before wrecking it
  • 2 0
 @thechuck: perhaps it was a bit obtuse. I thought the fact that a U21 rider had raced the perfect race deserved a mention.
  • 1 0
 Yeti team seems is going to smell like F1 rivality...
  • 2 0
 Love it!
  • 1 0
 Mr.Bomba went off on stage 4
  • 1 0
 This is cool
  • 9 10
 Can a dude identify as female and race against the ladies? Serious question
  • 3 2
 If you pass the uci rules on such a thing yes.
  • 7 2
 Why you thinking of getting flogged by the ladies instead of the men?
  • 3 0
 Nobody is going to pretend to be transgender to win races in a sport that is famously not a money maker. Give trans athletes a break and mind your own business.
  • 1 0
 Love this data







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