Race Report: Round 3 of the 2019 French Enduro Series - Reallon

Like for the last days of the Tour de France, the weather in the South Alps of France was not really friendly this weekend for the third round of the French Enduro Cup. But some said it was not that bad, with only one big thunderstorm, lightning and hail followed by rain on Saturday, and no rain but fog on Sunday with a few rays of sun for the podium ceremony...

Reallon resort is at 1560 m above sea level, 30 minutes from Gap, on the edge of the beautiful Ecrins National Park, and has a stunning view on the Serre-Poncon lake from the top of his trails where the « Cirque des Aiguilles de Chabrieres » stands. The tracks of the race were a mix of existing bike park tracks and new and natural trails shaped on rocks at the top and loamy dirt and slippery roots in the forest. A very good mix of technical vs fast parts served by 2 chairlifts which means riders had to pedal only 600 m up during the week-end and they rode down 4000 m during the 4 stages. Two of the four stages were half-blind raced and due to the bad weather, two of the six timed stages originally planned were cancelled.

The men’s category was dominated by Alex Rudeau all over the week-end meaning that he just won his first French Enduro Cup race ever. Yannick Pontal climbed on the second step of the podium 36.176 seconds behind Rudeau after 33:13.524 minutes of racing. Clement Benoit managed to keep his 3rd spot few seconds in front of Louis Jeandel who was 5th on Saturday and finished 4th on Sunday in front of Loic Piazzon. A special note on Mathieu Ruffray who took the start with the last plate of the men’s (#195) as he forgot to register to the race! Despite his position, he managed to take the 23rd spot on stage one, but unfortunately had a bad crash (hip fractured) on Stage 2 on Saturday and will not be able to ride during the next month.

Laura Charles continues to dominate the women’s field delivering a good battle against Estelle Charles only 14 seconds behind after 40 minutes of racing. Axelle Murigneux was consistent enough to secure the 3rd place. In the Men Juniors category, Thimote Mille almost signed a perfect week-end but failed on the 3rd stage with a second position behind Francescu Camoin.

The next and final round of the French Enduro Series will be in Loudenvielle, in the Pyrenees mountains closed to the Spanish border.





































Full results here