Trail Bike Medals, Canadians On Top & More Things We Learned From the Pietra Ligure Enduro World Cup 2023

Jun 5, 2023 at 5:07
by Ed Spratt  
11th for Jack Moir

Pietra Ligure provided a great weekend of flat-out and dusty racing as riders took on the fast, loose, and chunky Italian trails. The third stop of the 2023 Enduro World Cup saw plenty of interesting results, with some fresh faces achieving their best results alongside riders opting for smaller travel bikes to master the unique challenge of the Finale Outdoor Region. Here are a few of the things we spotted from the third Enduro World Cup.



Fresh Faces at the Top


In past seasons of EWS racing the results often become a predictable group of the same faces and names featuring every race weekend on the podium. But this season it seems there has been quite a shakeup in the results as frequently we are seeing the usual suspects joined by some fresh talent showing they have the speed to match the long-standing top riders. This past weekend in Pietra Ligure we saw Rhys Verner take another career-best result as he took home the silver medal after he previously secured fourth place at the opening round of the season in Maydena.

Rhys was not the only Elite Male rider to have one of their best results as Alex Rudeu secured his second-ever podium finish alongside Dimitri Tordo and Charlie Murray breaking into the top five. In the Elite Women's race we saw some similar results as fitting around the fast French rider of Morgane Charre, Isabeua Courdurier and Mélanie Pugin we had Gloria Scarsi going 2nd and Rapahaela Richter taking fourth.

Alex Rudeau would make his second even podium appearance to take 3rd

It's great to see more riders getting on the podium and it only makes enduro more exciting to pay attention to as the results hopefully become less predictable.




A Good Weekend for Trail Bikes


While we have been seeing the trend of enduro bikes getting bigger over the years with burlier forks and more travel, Pietra Ligure threw an interesting challenge for riders as the tight and technical trails led some of the riders to opt for smaller and lighter trail bikes to master the Italian tech.

The gamble seems to have paid off for some as we saw Rhys Verner take the new Forbidden Druid to 2nd place in the Elite Men's race, with Emmy Lan piloting the same bike to the U21 Women's win. The high pivot Druid wasn't the only trail bike causing an upset in Finale as Charlie Murray opted to ride a Specialized Stumpjumper EVO with a RockShox Lyrik fork to fifth place, and Dimitri Tordo didn't join Jesse Melamed on switching to the 170mm Canyon Strive, instead rallying the 160mm Spectral to fourth.

Rhys Verner came out swinging with a win on Stage 1 and would battle upfront all day long to take his best every Enduro World Cup result with a 2nd



The Elite Women's Race Almost Saw a Winner Not from France or the UK


Since the EWS began back in 2013 we have not yet seen an Elite Women's race won by any country except France or the UK. This past weekend in Italy we saw Gloria Scarsi join a very exclusive club of riders who have denied a rider from France and the UK a 2nd place finish. Looking back at the data from past Enduro World Cup and EWS races there have been 20 races ending with a rider outside of France or the UK in 3rd, but there are only ten races with riders outside of these countries coming in 2nd. Looking at the 2nd place data, only the 2016, 17 and 19 seasons of the EWS saw this happen with six races in 2019 seeing a non-French/British rider in 2nd.

Andreane Lanthier Nadeau currently tops the list of riders achieving this feat with three 2nd places although she is closely followed by Noga Korem who is the only other rider to achieve this more than once. Gloria Scarsi will join the group of six riders who all have one 2nd place Elite finish. It's taken almost four years but it is great to see some variation at the top of the women's field, hopefully, things will continue to be shaken up and we progress through the season.
Hometown hero Gloria Scarsi took home 2nd in the women s race




The Future is Bright for Canadian Enduro Racing


What a weekend for Canadian racers. The dusty Italian trails may not be the first place you would think a Canadian racer would perform best, but Pietra Ligure saw the Canadian racers rival the normally dominant French riders to take home two wins alongside multiple podium results. Not only did we see Canadian riders Jesse Melamed and Rhys Verner take the top two spots in the Elite Men's racing but the future is looking good as Emmy Lan secured first in the U21 Women's racing with Elly Hoskin in 3rd and Lily Boucher coming home in 6th place. Once these riders begin moving into Elite, Canada could be a formidable country for women's enduro racing and maybe topple the domination of the UK and French women.

Back on form and back on top for defending champion Jesse Melamed




Author Info:
edspratt avatar

Member since Mar 16, 2017
3,006 articles

80 Comments
  • 63 1
 if you ride enduro on a trail bike, is it really a trail bike? Would it not then become and enduro bike? use case and all.
  • 13 0
 After seeing Richie Rude take lessons from Yoann they need to also throw freeride bikes into the mix
  • 15 0
 Downduro
  • 10 0
 @jimfredo: Downfreeduride
  • 6 0
 Trailduro?
  • 4 0
 Techduro
  • 8 0
 Welcome to the new "Downtrail" category.
  • 10 5
 Learn how to bend both your arms and legs at the right moment and just ride these bloody "enduro" trails whatever you call them.
"Be accurate and commit" is the only motto I have with my stupid Smuggler on ANY terrain.
Cheers enduro philosophers Wink
  • 4 0
 @jimfredo: Upduro since it climbs better
  • 18 0
 @cool3: Entrail?
  • 4 0
 Justduroit
  • 1 0
 @pensamtb: Literally my bike description
  • 4 0
 @danstonQ: what place did you finish on again? Wink
  • 1 0
 Wow you don't need a 38 to win #enduro - makes me feel like my 5 year old bike is still up there :-)
  • 33 0
 One thing I learned is that Levy is now a Tech Editor at Velo. Makes me sad but I'm happy for him.
  • 7 0
 same! Im sad he wont be around as often (Velo is owned by the same company as PB), but I hope he got a raise and offers some interesting takes on gravel bikes. There is also a part of me that wants to see him do some "impossible climbs" on a road bike.
  • 6 0
 I'm sad too... Will miss the podcasts and funny field test videos in particular! But hope he enjoys his new job Smile
  • 50 1
 LET US COMMENT ON THE VELO NEWS POST YOU COWARDS
  • 9 0
 Wait, I even read the whole article. And... I'm pretty sure I didn't see anything about Levy in here.

Am I missing something? Or where did we get this news? I even popped over to velo for a second and didn't see any announcement there, so just curious where/how we know this.
  • 2 0
 @ocnlogan: just read the welcome to velo post via the outside article link, don't actually see Levy mentioned. I hope he still does stuff here and there. If not, then I hope they make him ride e-road and e-gravel bikes.
  • 2 0
 Where did you learn this? He’s not listed on their “Welcome to Velo” article which lists the entire staff.

Of course his Instagram has been dormant since Grim Donut 1 so no news there
  • 3 0
 @everythingsucks: Agreed, but I am sure Velo doesn't want us scrubby bunch of hooligans over there mucking up their polished lycra type vibe. :-D
  • 7 0
 @ocnlogan: I got an email announcing the "Hello We're Velo" and at the bottom it listed the tech editors and Levy was the last picture with the title "Senior Tech Editor, Canada". Maybe he's re-cleaning his chain while they get him integrated into the team. Either way, I'll root for Levy on whatever bike he's writing about.
  • 3 1
 Looks like he passed the Boulder sensitivity training…there gain our loss I guess.

Good luck on the roadie side of things Levy.
  • 1 0
 @mikelevy is this true
  • 3 0
 This is a stab on PB core soul... now all makes sense...
  • 5 0
 Weird that he'd give up mountainbikes for road- and gravel bikes. Just looking at the VELO homepage, it honestly doesn't look that exciting. You'll find absolutely riveting articles like "Is a Strava Membership still worth paying for?".
  • 4 0
 There's another new website out there that I have been hoping scoops up the Mikes and Henry
  • 2 0
 @rmbarrows: Which one?
  • 2 0
 @Muscovir: escapecollective. It's mosty roadie stuff for now, but they're starting some MTB coverage. The site was started by the guys that got fired by outside.
  • 1 0
 @rmbarrows: Looks to be ALL roadie and I don't see any names from Pinkbike I recognize. (they all may be developers or I missed a screen thought...)
  • 4 0
 @rmbarrows: I don't know man... I really enjoy the writing of Iain Treloar and James Huang, but there's a paywall and I'm really not all that interested in the roadie stuff. For as long as they mostly write articles about roadie things, a paid subscription isn't worth it for me. But we'll see what the future holds. If they do decide to do more MTB coverage, I could see myself getting a subscription. I'd much rather support an independant team anyways than a publication owned by a huge soulless media juggernaut that has industry ties and venture capital funds as their shareholders.
  • 2 0
 @Muscovir: Honestly I'm not terribly interested in the road racing either. I have tried to get interested, but I just get lost and move on.

Funny enough I actually don't care for James Huang too much, he is tolerable, but I disagree with a bunch of his public opinions.

I enjoy Dave Rome as well as the tools and tech portion of the curly bar scene.

I paid for a subscription because of their Geek Warning podcast, as well as their promise of MTB coverage. They have started to deliver on MTB by covering World Cup XC. Dave Rome also has one of the better (read: Thorough, and detailed vs standard media talking points) initial Transmission reviews that I read.

I think they can be great if the keep on the path, and keep expanding beyond road races.
  • 17 0
 Canadians not excelling on dusty trails? Have you been here the last 2 seasons?
  • 11 0
 Most Canadian bikers are spending more time in the sand than David Hasslefoff
  • 4 6
 @robdonovan: you eat pieces of shit for breakfast?
  • 1 0
 @twonsarelli:
No! - Shooter McGavin
  • 10 1
 I feel like bikes are pretty much almost perfected now, just get a 150ish travel bike with adjustable GEO like the stumpy EVO and maybe two sets of wheels and change tires to suit your ride. Unless you are super XC or race DH that bike will do it all. Trail tires for XC and trail riding Maybe swap on a coil and DH tires for a rough enduro race or days at the bike park This is what im doing with my EVO atleast.
  • 5 1
 exactly what I am doing with my Ibis Ripmo. One wheelset with DH tires and another with trail tires. Swap em out for days of big descending or a trip to the bike park! So far components have held up decently
  • 1 0
 @t-rick: If only it was a little easier to swap a 10mm longer air shaft in the fork back and forth.
  • 13 1
 This is a great idea until your bike is out of commission for a short bit and your spare parts don't fix it. Better to have two bikes so that at least you get to ride one. And with two bikes there is no swapping required. If I was starting MTB I'd get a downcountry or 130 trail bike. Then add a 170 bike down the road. As long as you pick two bikes near either end of the spectrum you're good.
  • 1 0
 @jubs17: Before the EVO I had a Commencal Supreme DH bike and a transition smuggler. I just couldnt justify having one bike sit so often. There isn't much that I cant get in less than a week if something was to break on my bike and I work on my own stuff.
  • 2 0
 @Aem221: Get 2 trail bikes. You can ride either one for normal trail conditions or park days. No big deal if you have a mechanical issue on one bike and have to wait for parts.
  • 1 0
 @Aem221: You can adjust the travel on the Mezzer pro just by connecting the air pump as it equalizes the pos and neg chambers. It's super handy
  • 1 0
 @Brodybro29: what now?
It’s almost the same as swapping air shafts, you have to pull the lowers on Mezzers, and the air shaft, to move spacers around to change travel

youtu.be/mW7EmxkWHts
  • 1 0
 @onawalk: (sorry I missed that one) you actually don’t need to move the spacers inside to change the travel. Set it up one time at the max travel you will need and then connect the air pump, move the fork manually at the desired travel, setup your pressure and disconnect the pump. It will stay at the desired travel
  • 1 0
 @onawalk:
Hard no what? I do that for 2 years on my mezzer. Works with Dorado pro as well it’s relatively known
  • 1 0
 @Brodybro29: that’s no, hats not how it works…
Manually set the fork at what travel?
Adding or removing air from the main spring, or IRT?
None of your setting would cross over from a 180 set up, to a 140 setup
  • 1 0
 @onawalk:
You can setup the main and the IRT at the pressure you wish it doesn’t matter.

It’s just a way to quickly change the travel without dropping the lowers.

I take my case as an example. My fork is setup at 170mm, I want to go to ride flatter trails and I prefer 160mm in that case. I turn my bike upside down, I use for instance the oring to measure 1cm less travel. I plug my pump to the main chamber, push the lowers to the oring and reflate to the pressure I need. Et voilà my fork is now at 160mm. It’s less accurate than the travel spacers so it’s maybe 162 or 159mm I will give you that but in real world it doesn’t really matter if you are just looking at quickly reduce the ride height
  • 1 0
 I don’t get the setting crossover thing, you don’t have to keep the same setup as before you are still free to change main pressure, IRT pressure and your damper settings
  • 1 0
 @Brodybro29: uhm, again,
The IRT and all damper settings would be affected as well.
You see, when your fork goes into its travel, that affects all other settings on your fork.
So you might not be getting full travel, but both the air spring, IRT, and damper settings are being affected by that. That’s not the case with the travel spacers (damper settings will still all need to be adjusted).
So while you might be using less travel, you’re not optimized for that reeducation in travel.
So it’s no better than dropping the lowers and swapping spacers, or changing air springs
  • 9 0
 Imagine if Canadian enduro (and DH) racers had actual support from Cycling Canadian etc eh!?
  • 4 0
 @ridestuff pretty much the same with the cabal that is USA Cycling south of your border. They care nothing unless you are XC or Roadie...
  • 2 1
 What?! and disrupt the seemingly endless of trend of Europeans winning all the races on home turf and calling themselves world champions? Thanks I prefer just to sit around and wait for the highly anomalous north American talent to come around every twenty years or so and win something.
  • 1 0
 Hard no what? I do that for 2 years on my enduro bike
  • 10 0
 Trenduro?


Entrail?
  • 10 1
 And so the "Tech Enduro" bike category was born.
  • 21 0
 Which would be a great way to relabel/sell backstock of what used to be thought of as enduro race bikes (150-160mm travel with a Lyrik or 36) in the dark ages of, oh, about two or three years ago...
  • 5 0
 @g-42: As someone who mostly rides tech it absolutely makes sense to pick a shorter travel bike for this kind of trails. As speeds are slower and trails are more cornery more travel is just a hindrance.So yeah for tech long travel trail bike (dare I say all mountain?) probably beats proper enduro sled.
  • 11 0
 You gotta clarify what kinda tech: tech-gnar, steep tech, slow tech, desert tech, tech tech, etc.
  • 2 3
 @malca: Nah, short travel or long travel, it doesn't really matter. I ride mostly tech too and I prefer a long travel bike (160/160) for all of my riding because hucking off natural features and smashing through rock gardens is what makes riding tech so much fun.

For tech reference, I ride southern Utah, northern Nevada, northern Arizona.
  • 2 1
 why didn't you keep this to yourself
  • 1 0
 @malca: "tech" could differ vastly depending on the user and terrain. Many of the tech trails I love around Madrid you would be faster on a DH bike.
  • 2 0
 @Jvhowube: The article states clearly that what there was in the reace was "Italian tech". Very different to French or German tech.
  • 2 0
 @Jvhowube: Don't forget the East Coast special: Boomer Tech
  • 7 0
 For such a small population globally, was just thinking the other day how many amazing rider athletes Canada pumps out
  • 2 3
 Americans can’t go fast on a bike. . . ,what a joke. There is no money in it so all the skilled riders move on. . Grow up and get real jobs and a life!
  • 2 1
 @truehipster: like rly? Aaron Gwin, Richie Rude, Dakota Norton?
Basically Aaron Gwin has the most WC wins in men's category

I think US has lots of talents
  • 2 0
 @catamplifier: US has plenty of talent, but mountain biking is unfortunately still a very niche sport. The good news is that enduro racing is exploding in popularity, and new regions are starting to assert themselves. Tennessee/North Carolina area seems to have a new bike park opening every week! Northeast, especially New Hampshire and Vermont are still growing, etc etc. I can see more American talent coming in the next couple of years.
  • 1 0
 38 million is small like American's are skinny...
  • 7 1
 Party Boy Podium!
  • 1 0
 Partyboiduro!!!
  • 1 0
 I reckon the specialized enduro is going to get completely dropped from the lineup, no refresh after nearly 4 years!! and the team running stumpy evos, I think they will beef up the evo and drop the enduro
  • 1 1
 "Pietra Ligure threw an interesting challenge for riders as the tight and technical trails led some of the riders to opt for smaller and lighter trail bikes"
Perhaps a looong day on the saddle with 2000m of uphill is a good reason too.
I know, enduro bikes climbs like XC bikes now, bla bla, but...
  • 2 0
 Up next, even more convoluted terminology to confuse readers.
Are we going to see backcountry trail bike?
  • 1 0
 Am I the only one that feels like Jill Kintner could make a very legit run at the title if she'd do I full season? I'd love to see it.
  • 2 0
 Trailduro
  • 11 0
 Entrail
  • 8 0
 @gaberoc: takes guts







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