Race Analysis: Pietra Ligure Enduro World Cup 2023

The 2023 Enduro World Cup series continued with the third round in Pietra Ligure with its fast, chunky and technical Italian trails. Riders had a big day on the bike with a 56km course covering 3105 meters of descending and 2070 meters of climbing. The racing provided plenty of interesting results and for the third time this year, we saw new 2023 winners on the top of the podium.

After the flat-out third round of racing let's get into the results and stats.

Course Details

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Total: 56km / 3105m descent / 2070m climb

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Race Results

Overall:


Stage 1:


Stage 2:


Stage 3:


Stage 4:


Stage 5:


Stage 6:

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Perfect Results

Women:

Perfect Race: 32:13.99
Actual Winning Time: 32:22.320 (+8.33)

Men:

Perfect Race: 28:26.73
Actual Winning Time: 28:40.040 (+13.31)

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Stats Breakdown

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Talking Points

The Opening Two Stages Were a Big Factor in the Women's Race

With two huge stages starting the day with race times around the 10-minute mark, the opening of the third round was always going to be tough on riders. With the total times from these two stages taking up around two-thirds of the overall times it's not hard to see why this could have a major effect on the day's racing. What's most interesting is that in the Elite Women's racing the two stages featured the exact same top five as the overall results. The only changes in the overall throughout the Elite Women's was Raphaela Richter moving up to third after her win on stage three before Isabeau Courdurier took the spot back with her stage five victory. Even when Raphaela took over the third-place spot following her stage win the margin back to the 2022 EWS champ was only around a second despite coming across the line eight places back.


Last Year's EWS Champs are Still the Riders to Beat in 2023

After securing the last-ever EWS overall titles in 2022, Isabeau Courdurier and Jesse Melamed are still the riders to beat in 2023. After Isabeau took the win at round one and Jesse the win last weekend the pair have also stacked up the most stage wins so far this season with four apiece. Last year's second-place riders are also starting the season in the same way they finished last year as both Richie Rude and Morgane Charre sit in joint second with three 2023 stage wins alongside Bex Baraona and Luke Meier-Smith.

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Riders to Watch at Round 4

After the opening two rounds and looking over the stats these are the riders that we think could be potential threats for the next round in Leogang.

Morgane Charre

Morgane Charre is on a mission in 2023 as she continues to prove that flat pedals can win medals. As the French Woman is yet to finish outside of the top five she is putting down a formidable performance in the overall title fight.

Isabeau Courdurier:

The rider standing in Morgane's way in the overall title race is fellow French rider Isabeau Courdurier who is on the hunt to back up her EWS 2022 champ title with the hope to become the first Enduro World Cup champion. Isabeau has been incredibly consistent so far this year and despite an injury at round two has yet to fall outside the top four riders.

Jesse Melamed:

2022's champ has had a slower start to the season but following up his third place at round two Jesse Melamed took his first win of the year in Finale. Jesse seems to have found his winning form once again taking two stage wins last weekend ending the day over five seconds in the clear after the six stages of racing. With just over a week until the next round, Jesse will be carrying a lot of confidence as we head to a brand-new venue for Enduro racing.

Rhys Verner:

What a season so far for Rhys Verner. After taking his best-ever result with a fourth in Maydena he went on to grab sixth in Derby but after the two-month long break to round three, he must have found some extra speed as he went toe to toe with Jesse Melamed in a fight for the win in Finale. Rhys may not have taken the top step of the podium just yet although with two stage wins so far this year and no result worse than sixth he is on fire this season.

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