Video: Official Highlights from the Trophy of Nations 2022

Oct 3, 2022 at 2:33
by Ed Spratt  

bigquotesThe Bluegrass Trophy of Nations proved a fitting conclusion to the tenth season of the Enduro World Series, bringing 28 nations together in that most iconic of race venues, Finale Ligure in Italy.

This unique race saw riders work together in teams of three, not for their usual teams, but for their home country. Teams were selected on the basis of their EWS Global Ranking, and then raced for a combined time, all in pursuit of those iconic UCI Rainbow Jerseys.

Featuring five demanding stages, the race saw more than its fair share of drama. The rules of the race require all three riders to complete the course in order to post a result - which proved to be the downfall of some of the biggest names in the race.
Enduro World Series


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edspratt avatar

Member since Mar 16, 2017
3,021 articles

24 Comments
  • 16 4
 RED BULL!?!?! PLEASE STEP IN AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS?!?!
  • 13 6
 If you mean specifically on the video side, Red Bull were barely able to get video coverage of half a 4-5min DH track (often missing key areas). DH is orders of magnitude easier to film than the EWS is, so I'm not sure they'd really be bringing much more to the table with how little their coverage evolved over the years they were doing it.

That's not to denigrate what they did for the World Cups in general, but I don't think there's some magic silver-and-blue bullet that would suddenly mean that EWS would be watchable live/semi-live simply through that same production team getting involved.
  • 15 3
 The reason Enduro racing is so popular is because it's great fun to ride them. The format wasn't developed for tv coverage. The riders are often on different stages at the same time, some stages are 6km long and the number of people actually interested in watching full live all-day coverage would be tiny.

I think they do a great job of these highlights videos to say that they get them out the same day. More interviews and a bit more info of the riders a little down the field would be good (as would less of a bias towards the English-speakers).
There was also something off early in this season, but they seem to have caught up now for whatever reason.

The best thing is that they allow GoPro footage to be published so that we can watch full runs of whoever we like.

Extrapolating this EWS coverage to your expecations of the DH doesn't make any sense to me.
  • 13 3
 @thingswelike: "The riders are often on different stages at the same time, some stages are 6km long and the number of people actually interested in watching full live all-day coverage would be tiny."

Tell that to people who watch golf
  • 10 1
 ride bikes more, watch tv less
  • 4 0
 @CleanZine: You are absolutely right about the coverage of the DH events, but at some point it's a least watchable, it's live an that comes with it's highs and lows, but in the end the whole production is pretty solid, from the commentary to the interview, intro, coverage etc.

Seeing the EWS recaps often remind me a lot of those video-mashups of "I love Enduro / I love Downhill etc" with a voiceover. Somehow I think the concept can be much more interesting.
  • 2 0
 @thingswelike: The first sentence goes for about every sport you are passionate about. The format is not bad, don't get me wrong. But like you mentioned, there are a few points that would crank the whole presentation up by a mile or two.

I'm not saying that each stage should be televised as the DH cups, but they could play a lot more with the way of visualing certain parts of the stages, rendering the spectator a bit more close to the spectacle. Maybe a little bit more narrative in general, more in depth interviews, talks about bike-setup, changes they made to setup, do the Pro stage live..

The EWS-E is very much suited for live-coverage as they go around in certain loops.
  • 3 3
 @thingswelike: where have you got enduro being so popular from? Do you mean it showed potential before everyone got bored and lost interest? Highlight video from the final event of the year only got 30k views in its first week. Race reports on pinkbike don’t get any comments anymore and they’re mostly negative. Nobody cares, It’s dead and it’s nobody’s fault but the organisers who stubbornly stuck to the same format that worked when riders were still on 26 inch trail bikes in backpacks and half shells.
  • 1 1
 @dresendsit: Lol if enduro brought in half the money that golf does… Or wrc for that matter
  • 1 1
 @dresendsit: because golf compares so well to mtb as it’s so fast paced and dynamic
  • 1 0
 @thenotoriousmic: I said popular to ride. Look at how fast Ard Rock sells out and then there are successful Enduros all over the country all year. PMBA, Boltby Bash, Southern Enduro, Tweed Love, etc. It's a fantastic grass-roots MTB sport.
I don't see any replacement format coming to challenge it soon, although the weekend-long mash-up of all sorts of racing like Malverns remain my favs.
  • 2 1
 @thingswelike: well that’s not true ether. If it was still 2018 you’d have a point but you’ve basically listed the last few events that are still left and they’re nowhere near as big as they used to be except for ard rock which is more of a meet up / festival than a race these days. Anyway you look at enduro has been and gone. Nobody cares anymore. They don’t follow races including the EWS and they’re not turning up to local events which is why they’ve all folded.
  • 3 1
 @thenotoriousmic: A lot of the guys and girls on Saturday at Ard Rock looked like they were taking it seriously...

Every enduro near me (and almost all the ones I looked at further afield) this year sold out almost instantly, even the extra rounds put on down here because of the popularity they'd shown.

There's a whole new events company putting enduros on in my area now because they've proven to be so popular.

I know being contrary/antagonistic is kind of your vibe here but you're straight up wrong on this one. Even a token bit of research or knowledge shows what it's really like.
  • 2 0
 @CleanZine: Sorry but you’re wrong and if you think enduro is anywhere near as popular in its heyday when Sam Hill came over in 2017 you’re delusional. EWS failing has a knock on effect everywhere else. They’re used to be a big group of us and we’d build the tracks in the off season for free entry. All the events have folded except PMBA’s and they’re down to a handful of events. I don’t even know anyone who even races anymore let alone gives up their weekend to build tracks so they can race for free. There’s no way of dressing it up enduro is dead. It’s been and gone.
  • 3 0
 @thenotoriousmic: I still disagree. I don't see an other MTB event which drives bike and parts sales like Enduro or that gets the groms out and competing with the rest of their family.
Just in September in the UK there were all these:

03 Sep 2022 Scottish Enduro Series - Pitfichie Kids
04 Sep 2022 Welsh Enduro Series R5 - Llanfyllin
04 Sep 2022 Pedalhounds MTB-EMTB Enduro R4
04 Sep 2022 Vitus Bikes GravityEnduro R4 Classic
04 Sep 2022 Scottish Enduro Series - Pitfichie
11 Sep 2022 Hope PMBA Enduro 5 - Kirroughtree
11 Sep 2022 Ard Moors Enduro
11 Sep 2022 Aberdeenshire Enduro #3 - Glenlivet
17 Sep 2022 Pirelli TweedLove ProAm - Amateur
18 Sep 2022 Pirelli ProAm - British Champs
18 Sep 2022 Grassroots Enduro R4 - Ballyhoura
18 Sep 2022 Eastgate TT 2
25 Sep 2022 IDMS Round 3 - The Gap
25 Sep 2022 Welsh Enduro Series R6 - Llangollen
28 Sep 2022 Army Cycling Enduro Series R4
  • 1 0
 @thingswelike: oh I agree it’s massively with that part it’s really popular casually, it’s what I do and most others we just don’t race anymore but yeah thanks to enduro we’ve now got the bikes and tracks we’ve got today.
  • 1 0
 @thenotoriousmic:

I don’t know what you mean with local events all folded? Our local series last race had a wait list almost as long as the entire entry field!

My friend was taking his kid to Big Sky and Bend for the Big Mtn Enduro series there. They were canceled due to fires, not lack of registration.
  • 4 0
 Still no mention of the Masters? or under 21-

I know the main focus when the race is on is of course the main class- but a video of the podium (happens at same time as the pro)- and putting the results up in the conclusion at the end wouldn't hurt.
  • 1 0
 Womens final rankings: rank 6: Switzerland, rank 7: Austria, rank 8: Switzerland again!.......Please guys, Sweden is not Switzerland or vice versa
  • 2 0
 There was more than one team from the same country in some of the categories, I think the ranking is correct.
  • 3 0
 Gotta admit it - the highlight videos got better as the year progressed.
  • 1 2
 We need more rounds to the trophy of nations. I choose three rounds in the entire season.
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