2017 French Enduro Series Round 1, Levens - Day 2
After two days mentioning the weather, we had to do it again. Sunday was kind of cloudy and kind of sunny, but we saved the day without a single raindrop.
There were two stages unrelated to Saturday's ones. The riders could get a bit loose on the trails, not as rocky and technical as the day before, but still demanding high concentration on some steep sections and tight corners. As we heard from some riders, the sacrosanct flow visited us on the second day of racing in Levens.
To reach the top of Stage 4, riders had to make use of the same main forest road from Saturday, making their way to the top of Col du Dragon this time. Stage 4 started with a fast and narrow trail, entering then an open field section with some steep lines and merging with a tight trail splattered with close corners. Stage 5 had a changing soil and shape, going from and including a sort of rollercoaster with some hard pedaling and even a bike-pushing steep climb.
Alex Cure secured his overall lead by winning Stage 4 and 5 and took home the Levens round victory. Kevin Miquel maintained his second step on the podium 3.1 seconds behind Cure. Thomas Lapeyrie moved up to the third by overtaking Camille Servant but still being 29 seconds slower than Cure.
Cecile Ravanel increased her advantage although on Sunday she apparently raced in conservative mode avoiding mechanicals or crashes. Isabeau Courdurier kept her second place without any issues. Julie Duvert was third.
Next round of the Enduro French Series takes place in Raon l'Etape on May. À bientôt!
We are serious when we say that this is the first thing we spot at the riders parking lot at 7:30 in the morning. If your drink, wear a helmet. If you drive, wear a helmet too. Safety first.
Morning light energy for the machines before hitting the trails.
This guy is not racing but on trails security duties. Together with Florian Nicolai and Christian Seguin (Levens mtb club director) designs the stages. Oh, and he rides pretty fast too.
Flo having a good time at home before heading to the other side of the planet for the EWS first round.
Instructions for the race: stick to this sticker times and ride full throttle.
Isabeau Courdurier picking her start times.
MTB legend Sabrina Jonnier getting ready for her race.
Karim Amour wheelies for the camera
A bunch of the top100 riders waiting for their start.
VAE stands for Velo Assistance Electrique. E-bike riders are required to recharge the batteries between certain stages so they can continue with their race.
Levens is down there and this liaison adds about 450 positive meters.
Climb together, descend full gas.
Camille Servant on attack mode.
Florian's show didn't disappoint us either.
We didn't doubt it!
Cecile Ravanel dominated the race from the first second.
It would be worth it to restore this house and use it as a trail riding base camp.
That upper trees section had a dozen different lines at least. There was barely a trail and the game was about making your own line.
Stage 4 possibly had the fastest section of the whole race.
Getting loose on Stage 4.
Soil texture on the steep section of Stage 4. No roost shots were made in the entire weekend.
Still on Stage 4 but we could spot riders making their way to the Stage 5.
Snake trail style.
The second half of Stage 3 had a few slow corners.
Stage 4 from above.
Although there were chips, brownies, chocolate, honey bread, baguette and fruit salad, this one is a banana focus.
The pasta waiting line. It was regular pasta with a choice of three sauces, and riders could repeat.
No jokes, pasta cooked on site for the people.
Riders chilling before leaving for the Stage 5.
Feed stop views from a helmet visor.
This man, Antoine Veran, is the mayor of Levens, and his support towards mountain biking and to the Levens MTB club is huge.
Real time results on the palm of your hand.
Someone said it was a snaking uphill walk.
Sometimes, you just need to walk your bike uphill. An extra steep climb on Stage 5.
What a great weekend for Kevin Miquel. After an extremely tight battle with Alex Cure, he lost his chance on the final stage.
Thomas Lapayrie on attack mode on Stage 5. He made it to the third place by beating Camille Servant on Stage 4 and 5.
Baptiste Gaillot ended up out of the top10 for less than half a second.
Nicolas Quere on the wallride sector of Stage 5. He placed 11th in this first round.
Even though we had no rain, a bit of splash was fine.
This is when your teammate makes you focus on just pedaling harder.
When you're in Levens with Florian, this is your regular taxi ride.
This is the young blood of Levens local MTB club
Not a decoration shop but the trophies for the podiums.
Men's podium.
Women's podium.
We got no rain although in the afternoon the battlefield looked like this from the paddock.
Full results here.
MENTIONS: @kabelleira
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12 Comments
- 9 0
phegman
(Mar 13, 2017 at 8:43)
Exciting to see the enduro season starting to ramp up and the start of the EWS is just around the corner! I just finished up a Fantasy Enduro site that will be following the EWS this season...anybody interested check it out and pass it on if you think its cool! fantasyews.com
- 3 0
m9lee
(Mar 13, 2017 at 1:16)
love a good trophy!!
- 3 0
naadams2
(Mar 13, 2017 at 5:17)
Me too! Wondering if the glass part is tethered to the frame? The podium picture gave me anxiety...
- 2 0
kabelleira
(Mar 13, 2017 at 14:47)
@naadams2: the stand and the glass were two separated parts without a fastening system. Turn down the trophy and good riddance to the glass
- 3 0
chyu
(Mar 13, 2017 at 7:13)
Sabrina Jonnier is back.
- 1 0
jaame
(Mar 13, 2017 at 2:59)
What are those purple forks?
- 6 0
Brenos
(Mar 13, 2017 at 3:01)
I think they are Formula forks, could be wrong.
- 3 0
Brenos
(Mar 13, 2017 at 3:03)
www.rideformula.com/cat/mtb-forks
- 2 0
mudmandhbrazil
(Mar 13, 2017 at 4:59)
trail looks nice
- 1 0
stage-a
(Mar 13, 2017 at 6:14)
Anyone know if that's Paul Rowney on security?
- 1 0
schuchard83
(Mar 14, 2017 at 12:10)
Florian is hating life pedaling that Rocky uphill
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