Finire - EWS 7/Superenduro 6 in Finale Ligure
Finire
 | Finire: To finish, to end verb, Italian |
It seems like it was only yesterday that people were nervously arriving at the opening round of the Enduro World Series at Punta Ala, back in May of this year. Nerves were high, and outside the smaller inner circle of the Enduro World Series nobody really knew quite what to expect. People who had competed in these kind of races before wondered how much the World Series would change the sport, others simply wanted to know what the hell enduro racing was. The main question on everyone's lips was: "Will it work?" Nearly six months later we can now say for sure: "Yes, it does." We've had seven amazing races, five different formats of racing, two continents, five race winners and three deserving Enduro World Champions.
So before we go any further with the coverage of today's race, we should all take a moment to thank everyone who has poured their time, money and experience into this series. From the man who pulled it all together, Chris Ball; to the EWS board, Enrico Guala, Franco Monchiero Fred Glo and Darren Kinnaird; the board's advisers; to the sponsors, the racers and the race staff. There are far too many to even try and name in one paragraph, so we won't try. This series has changed the sport of enduro, we think for the better, by taking it to a world stage and proving that it is possible to run a successful series without the support of cycling's international governing body. Thank you, all of you.
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 Mist hung on the hills first thing this morning, but the rain that was threatened didn't materialise until about 5pm when I started writing that it hadn't rained today... |
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| 7:15 am and Chris Ball is checking the details. |
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| It should be of no surprise to anyone that an athlete like Jared Graves takes his race preparation seriously; we're pretty sure that none of us could manage this stretch. |
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| Remy Absalon and Fab Barel wait for the start, which was delayed by 40 minutes because the ambulance ran late. Rules say that the race can't start without, so everyone had to wait. |
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| The organisers didn't realise that the ambulance wasn't on course until after Jerome Clementz and Jared Graves had set off on the first transfer. The Superenduro pickup was dispatched to collect them and bring them back to the start until the ambulance was in place, then, in the name of fairness, took them back out to where it picked them up so they didn't have to pedal further than the rest of the field. |
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| Those final seconds before the start, some racers go into a trance like state.... |
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| .....some seen to disappear inside their minds for those brief final seconds...... |
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| ...while others look they are taking dead aim at what lies ahead. |
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| One name you probably know, and another you should, having fun on the transfer. While Curtis Keene is pretty well-known on both sides of the Atlantic, until this season Yoann Barelli has not been someone people talked about much outside of France. That 12 plate is his EWS ranking before this race and should tell you everything you need to know about how quick he is. |
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| Liaisons stages were long all weekend. These two riders go out of Finale Ligure to pedal through the old town of FinaleBorgo to climb to the stage 5. |
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| The transfers then become long and steep to keep the legs burning and well fatigued. |
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| It's amazing what you find trackside. This was on a steep section and both rails were snapped clean through. It's fairly safe bet that whatever happened to snap them hurt, a lot. |
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| On stage one this morning nobody could touch Clementz and he overtook Graves for the overall lead as the two of them pulled away from the rest of the field. |
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| Even if he already had the EWS title before Finale Ligure, he showed us that he could win again. |
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| Jared Graves gets up close and personal with the flora on stage one. Could this have been where he lost the race? while he didn't come off the bike, he did un clip and it surely cost him precious time. |
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| Graves railing the loose dirt turns on stage five. |
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| Our second favourite German, after Mad Dog Boris of course, charging one of the loose straight chutes on stage five. |
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| Tobi Woggon on stage five. |
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| It was another average day in the office for Manuel Ducci as he ended up far further back than he would have liked to be. But in the end it didn't matter as Davide Sottocornola was finding the going equally tough and was nowhere near the three digit figure in points he needed to overhaul Ducci, gifting Manuel the 2013 Superenduro PRO series title. |
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| A cracking ride from Greg Callaghan netted him 25th this weekend, his best ever result in one of these races. |
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| Much of the bottom of stage five were this kind of narrow, high-speed channels through the rock. |
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| Theo Galy is quietly working his way up towards the sharp end of things. He got solid 14th today. |
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| Martin Maes on the gas in stage six. |
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| Maes benefited from a crash by Barel on the final stage to haul his way to third in the scratch times, making up ground on Fabien from when he crashed the day before. |
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| The stage was treacherous, as Katy Winton found out. |
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| Cecile Ravanel charging hard into the steep gnar of the sixth stage to take third place. |
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| Anne-Caroline Chausson just could not match Tracy Moseley today as she watched her overnight lead dissolve and land her back into second. |
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| Tracy Moseley already has a DH World Champion title, and now she can add Enduro World Champion to her resume. |
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| The camo gear is fitting as there was literally a small army of mashals out lining the course today. |
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| At the end of stage five there was a big crowd cheering riders on, as Adam Craig found out. |
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| There's nothing like a bit of home turf support, as Marco Fontana holds it wide open through the final, steep rock section on stage five. A more-than-respectable 20th for the crowd favourite. |
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| Somehow Francesco Colombo managed to save this ballride/drift on the rocks at the bottom of stage five to hold his position as second fastest Italian. |
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| Josh "Ratboy" Bryceland pulls a high speed manual around a technical turn. |
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| Francois Bailey-Maitres broken collar bone earlier this season meant he started well back in the order and spent the day hunting down the riders ahead of him. |
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| Even a flat tyre on stage five couldn't slow down Tracy Moseley today. |
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| Nico Lau won stage six, and ended up in sixth place overall for the weekend. |
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| The man on the right is Matteo Cappe, the official Superenduro series photographer and the man responsible for most of the great images you see on the Superenduro website. |
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| Alex Lupato was the fastest of the Italians this weekend and had some family support in doing that. |
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| With this lot it's hard to be sure whether they are posing for the camera, couldn't work out how to open the cans or are cruising for, well... |
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| The three stooges - Peaty, Gracia, and Bryceland. There's never a dull moment with this trio around. |
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| It's not the race Manuel Ducci would have wanted to win the series with, but after a long, tough season of racing he's damn sure going to enjoy that title. |
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| Four absolute legends of Italian mountain biking: Pippo Maragni, Roberto Vernassa, Claudio Conte and Stefano Migliorini. Pippo built the Val di Sole World Cup track, Roberto Vernassa tends San Romolo, Claudio Conte the San Bartolomeo trail area and Stefano Migliorini was one of the first Italians to race World Cup DH. |
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| Jerome's parents were here with the french flag to proudly support their son. |
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| Mad Dog Boris taking advantage of the damage to the canopy above the podium caused by heavy rain. Only Boris can find a silver lining to near disaster. |
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| The Enduro World Series trophies. |
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| Women's podium: 1. Tracy Moseley 2. Anne-Caroline Chausson 3.Cecile Ravanel |
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| Men's podium: 1. Jerome Clementz 2. Jared Graves 3. Fabien Barel |
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| Here are the World's fastest women on an Enduro bike. Enduro World Series overall women category : 1st - Tracy Moseley 2nd - Ceciel Ravanel 3rd - Anne-Caroline Chausson |
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| Despite the weather, Jerome headed straight for the sea after the podium. |
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| After a champagne shower and then a rain shower, Jerome Clementz needed a beer to celebrate his World Champion title. |
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| The men behind the Enduro World Series, year 1, including Darren Kinnaird, Enrico Guala, Chris Ball and Fred Glo. |
www.superenduromtb.com
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Member since Oct 29, 2006
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Please don't touch this aspect of cycling for the following reasons:
a) It looks like everyone is having fun, I am sure you would ruin that.
b) No one likes you for screwing up 4X (I am sure Jared Graves agrees).
c) Sod off!
Best regards
A Mountain Biker
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