2017 French Enduro Series Round 4, Samoëns - Preview

We are here in the beautiful French Alps for Round 5 of the French Enduro Series by 8.3 Parts. Samoëns is a community located in the Rhône-Alpes region, and although the town itself sits at only 671 meters, the surrounding peaks reach over 2,665 meters above sea level.

Samoëns is as a popular family ski destination during the winter, but mountain biking, rafting, paragliding, etc. are becoming more popular in the summer months. Its lack of a dedicated bike park may prevent it from being more well known, but the trails are pure gold here.

This weekend racers are facing a challenging event: 9 stages, 34km of liaisons, over 2200 meters of climbing, and about 7450 meters of descending over two days. At the moment the trails are quite dry and there are high temperatures in the forecast all weekend. There are 5 stages on Saturday and 4 on Sunday. As is usual in the French Series, the race stays true to the original enduro format with a mixture of same-day recces and blind racing.

We are nearing the end of a thrilling enduro season in France, with the final round next weekend in Les Orres. The main contenders are here in Samoëns for a great weekend of racing, like series leader Nicolas Quere, Dimitri Tordo (who sits second in the overall just a few points behind), Baptiste Gaillot, Camille Servant, and Elliot Baud.

In the women's field, Julie Duver will start with a clear overall points advantage over Axelle Murigneux and Estelle Charles. We expect her to ride a smart race to secure the overall.

We also have a special guest this weekend: the current Enduro World Series leader, Adrien Dailly!

So we'll wait and see what this weekend delivers us in Samoëns. Whatever the results, we expect a thrilling, pure enduro race.

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MENTIONS: @kabelleira

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