Last weekend saw the first Enduro World Cup in Maydena, Tasmania, and our photographers extraordinaire Sven Martin and Seb Schieck were out there in the Australian forests shooting images for our World Stage yearbook.
Sven loves – loves! – mountain biking and despite many years on the circuit, his passion can’t be dampened (eh, Boobar?). In breaks between taking photos, Svender found the time to interview most of the top-ranked elite EDR racers, plus a host of other people.
So we put it all into one place for your listening pleasure. Welcome to ‘Views episode one from Maydena Bike Park, Tasmania.
You can also listen to this on Spotify and other podcast apps – just hunt down Misspent Summers and you should find it.
In this episode-thingy, Sven interviews the following people:
01:09 Isabeau Courdurier (Lapierre Zipp Collective)
03:46 Luke Meier-Smith (Giant Factory Off-Road Team)
05:39 Ryan Finlay (Squids on Tour)
07:12 Ella Conolly (Cannondale)
09:32 Simon French (Maydena Bike Park head honcho)
10:15 Morgane Charre (Pivot Factory Racing and Misspent Summers)
11:40 Ryan Gilchrist (Yeti Shimano EP Racing)
14:33 Dan Booker (Nukeproof SRAM Factory Racing)
16:18 Jeremiah Boobar (Dampening Expert, former SRAM)
25:09 Sam Hill (Nukeproof SRAM Factory Racing)
27:15 Richie Rude (Yeti Fox Factory Race Team)
30:31 Connor Fearon (Forbidden Bikes)
32:35 Jesse Melamed (Canyon CLLCTV)
ENDURO WORLD CUP MAYDENA RESULTS
Check out the full results from Enduro World Cup Maydena here
MICRO-REPORT:
Maydena in Tasmania hosted a raucous and fast-paced first UCI Enduro Mountain Bike World Cup (UCI EDR ERR MTB WC) of 2023 and, indeed, ever – EDR is the new Enduro World Series. If Maydena is anything to go by, there are good times ahead; it was up there with the best-ever enduro races. Loud, proud Aussie fans packed in around the stages creating a wild, upbeat atmosphere unlike anything seen at any EWS. Racers loved the vibe; spectators loved the action. Good times.
If there’s one takeaway from the event, surely it’s that everyone should put Maydena Bike Park at the top of their must-visit-one-day list. Just look at those trails! Swoopy, rooty, techy, fast, twisty, dusty, enduro-y madness. Check out our Maydena World Cup course overview video that Sven filmed with bike park owner and trail artist Simon French to find out just how good it is.
The pro men’s race looked like this: Aussie-Aussie-Aussie! Luke Meier-Smith, Dan Booker and Connor Fearon swept positions 1-3 in that order. Meanwhile in pro women’s the results was reminiscent of 2022 with Isabeau Courdurier winning, Morgane Charre in second and Ella Conolly third. You can hear from all the above in ‘Views.
In U21 Men, Sascha Kim, Remy Meier-Smith and Will Hynes made it an Australian top-three in that order. Emmy Lan, Erice van Leuven and Elly Hoskin stood on a wholly international U21 Women’s podium.
Congratulations to everyone racing, big up the Maydena organisers and thanks to all the supporters for making their way to the event. What a way to kick off the 2023 MTB World Cup season!
Cover image by Sven Martin.
