In a year in which Downhill competitions were put aside and while waiting for a new opportunity to bring another World Cup to Lousã, Montanha Clube took the opportunity to bring to Louzanpark another mythical event that marks the history of the club.
The FOX ENDURO RACE, organized by Montanha Clube, is yet another event that has marked BTT in the Iberian Peninsula in recent years. Since FOX presents itself as a “Main Sponsor” since the first edition, it is currently impossible to separate a connection that is so strong and that endures in the memory of Enduro lovers and practitioners. After the successful organization of the MERCEDES-BENZ UCI MOUNTAIN BIKE WORLD CUP in 2020, Montanha Clube set up an event that, due to its characteristics, could easily be one of the EWS or EWS-E venues.
Trails are ready to be cut.This competition was divided into two categories: MTB and E-MTB. In this last category, “FOX E-Bike Race supported by Miranda featured two “Power Stages” and some surprises along the way.
More than a real Enduro competition, it is always a party!
The FOX ENDURO RACE was based on the famous Palácio da Lousã | Boutique Hotel, a place with a perfect location as it is located between the center of the village and Louzanpark. This hotel is part of the Bike-hotels network in Portugal and has all the conditions for participants who want to stay there. It also has a fantastic indoor and outdoor area, where the Pits, the "Expo Area" and Technical Support were located.
The “Expo Area” was an area reserved for exhibitors, in the hotel gardens, where athletes and the public could have contact with the main sponsors: FOX, SANTA CRUZ, RIDE MAX, MIRANDA BIKE PARTS, KENDA, SPONSER, 7PROTECTION and TAG METALS.
The event was composed of 5 Special Stages in a 32km course with an addition of 2 Power Stages for the E-Bike event. Riders much appreciated the starting point was almost on the top of the mountain range and the finish line was in the city. Anyway, riders had to be fit to handle those long, brutal, and technical stages.
Stage 1 was an old trail with a fresh new mid and bottom sections. The top section, just below the peak of the mountain range, was on a hard pack pine forest type but as soon as we entered the middle section the landscape changed completely to a young oak forest with a super flowy trail.
Stage 2 was the one with the loosest conditions, with a lot of steep and rocky sections. After this gnarly one riders had to face about 10km of connection to the Stage 3.
Stages 3 and 4 had side-to-side starting points and finished close to "Terreiro das Bruxas". Both had similar characteristics and a lot of variety - steep, techy, loamy, fast, and with some climbing sections to pump riders hearts.
Stage 5 had the same starting point as the World Cup track but halfway down crossed to another trail more appropriate to Enduro riding, equally steep but narrower and a bit slower. The finish point? Of course, it was on the bottom of the valley.
Well, we have to say that Palácio da Lousã | Boutique Hotel hosted the best pits we've seen in a while. Batteries charged for tomorrow.The day woke up pretty cloudy in the town but we knew that the possibility of starting the race above the clouds were high because it's very common to find these type of mornings here in Lousã. And so it was... Lousã delivering its best!
A few hours later we saw fog coming up the valley which transformed what looked like a sunny Stage 1 and 2 into a foggy one. Scenery-wise was even better.
For the first time in Portugal, we saw what a Power-Stage looked like. Riders from Miranda Factory Team made 1, 2, and 3 as other riders struggled on the climbs even with the motor-assisted bikes.
Tiago Ladeira and Emanuel Pombo were constantly side-by-side during the whole event.Last refuel just before the final stage.Eyes on the prize for their final descent.The finish line portraits.Just before the awarding ceremony, all the event sponsors raffled off several prizes among the athletes.Sure it was a crazy weekend! See ya in the next one...
Check out the full results below.
Special thanks to the main sponsors:
FOX
SANTA CRUZ
RIDE MAX
MIRANDA BIKE PARTS
KENDA
SPONSER
7PROTECTION
TAG METALS