Hello,

Conditions in Bielsko-Biała, Poland, last weekend for the second round of 2025 Enduro (EDR) World Cup racing couldn’t have been more contrasting with that of the week before at round one in Italy.

Thursday’s EDR practice saw rain turn into snow as riders sampled the five technical, relatively short and flat (compared to round one) race stages. Despite better weather on Friday (a day off for the enduro racers), by race day on Saturday the rain was back.

Racers had a testing day on the hill, but the action came thick and fast with massive crowds undeterred by the weather. The atmosphere was electric.

We’ve compiled our notes and a selection of photography by Boris, Seb and Sven below.

Hope you enjoy flicking through.

Cheers,

James
+the Misspent Summers team

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FULL SIDEWAYS: testing conditions at the Bielsko-Biała, Poland, EDR World Cup 2025

• Rewind: read our pre-race newsletter from last week here and our 2024 Bielsko-Biała notes newsletter here
• Micro report: riders hit the trails around Bielsko-Biała, Poland, on Saturday for the second round of 2025 Enduro (EDR) World Cup racing in brutal conditions after rain and snow during Thursday’s practice sessions
• In the elite women’s race, young gun Elly Hoskin, in her second elite race, and Raphaela Richter battled for the race overall lead before disaster struck for Richter – sadly she dislocated her shoulder while warming up for the final stage and had to drop out of the race. That left Hoskin to claim her first elite EDR win in front of Ella Conolly and Morgane Charre second and third
• Poland’s Sławomir Łukasik started with a hat trick of wins on the first three stages but faltered on stage four (also, he punctured on stage two but still won the stage, fixed it at the end and carried on). Fortunately, he’d built a decent time buffer and rode another scorcher to take second on stage five and ensure the race overall – his first EDR race win and in front of a roaring home crowd. Greg Callaghan lapped up the mucky conditions to finish in third overall, just behind an on-form Jack Moir
• Format: while round one in Italy went back to enduro’s roots with an arduous two-day race, the Polish round was a shorter one-day race (thankfully – two days of practice straight into two days of racing in the wintry conditions, and straight after last week’s round one, probably would have been a bit much)
• TAZ: also, at round one there was no outside technical assistance allowed during race days; in Poland there was a midway stop at the pits where riders could get some help from their teams
• Soundbite: ‘…so many positives to take from this race: I‘ve got the pace, my surroundings are great, I feel right at home on my bike, I had fun taming all sorts of track conditions we had to deal with, the spirit of enduro and between us racers is a great thing to be part of and at least I can keep dreaming’ – Raphaela Richter remains upbeat after dislocating her shoulder while warming up for the last stage and not finishing the race. She finished 1-2-2-1 on the first four stages and was leading the race overall before retiring due to the injury
• Recap video here
• Word: ABP
• Full results here

Continued below…

• Standings: after two races, the elite series points look like this: Men: 1. Sławomir Łukasik 750 2. Jack Moir 630 3. Greg Callaghan 500. Women: 1. Ella Conolly 700 2. Morgane Charre 620 3. Elly Hoskin 610
• Full standings here (scroll down)
• Question: who was the 2016 elite men’s European Champion in downhill? Answer below
• Historic: Elly Hoskin’s elite women’s win was notable as her first-ever elite win (in her second elite race). But it was groundbreaking for another reason: incredibly (we have to check this every time we mention it as it doesn’t seem possible), it was the first time EVER in the history of world enduro (i.e. Enduro World Series, as it was from 2013-2022 and Enduro World Cup as it has been since 2023) that an elite women’s race has been won by someone who isn’t French or British. That’s right, every single EWS and EDR race since 2013 (and every Trophy of Nations event too, for that matter) has a French or British elite women’s winner. Or had – Hoskin, who is Canadian, has finally changed the course of history
• Juniors: Tommy Bougon won the junior men’s race by 2.393s from Melvin Almueis and 4.357s ahead of Copper Millwood – the tightest race of the day. Nežka Libnik won junior women’s by a healthy 31s margin from Lacey Adams in second and Chloe Bear in third
• Vitals: Greg Callaghan has sent in the numbers from his race (practice and race day combined): 2 days, 5 stages (ridden twice), 12 hours 20 mins ride time, 80km, 2,900m climbing, 4,015m descending, 5,700kcals, [data missing] Fisherman’s Friends consumed

More below…

• E-MIA: You might have noticed by now that the E-EDR electric enduro World Cup has been canned this year. While the initial language used by the series organiser, WBP Sports, in 2024 said the category was going ‘on pause’ in 2025, the UCI has been more explicit, stating in its 2025 World Cup series press release that ‘following agreement with relevant stakeholders, it has been decided to discontinue the UCI E-enduro World Cup and work towards a different format for the future’
• Progress: Good news as the race organisers (WBD Sports) are calling up team riders for early season tests to establish a concussion baseline – i.e. get a set of test results for each rider so that if they hit their head at some point in the season, they can be tested again and compared to their pre-crash result to determine if they have a concussion and should rest up instead of racing. At least one rider in Poland was racing with a clear concussion (they hadn’t done the baseline testing) and other riders encouraged them to pull out of the race – exactly why solid data in the future will make identifying and treating concussion simpler. Read the UCI concussion protocol here
• On a tangent, did you know the UCI has a Sustainability Tracker for events, teams and federations to measure their emissions?
• Enduro of the week: Andréane Lanthier Nadeau crashed on the first stage and pretty much destroyed her front wheel. Regardless, she carried on. Later, on stage four, she punctured but repaired the flat and managed to finish the race. In 2024 at this venue, she was hit by a rogue e-biker during a transfer stage, also damaging her bike almost beyond repair, but also carried on. That’s the spirit!
• Taco time: elite men’s round one winner Dan Booker had wheel trouble on stage four but managed to borrow a wheel to finish the day 95^th and get 50 points towards the series overall after receiving a three-minute penalty for the wheel change
• Non-b-zone: fun seeing fans crammed along the track, right up close and often hanging right into the action! Dangerous for fans or a safe, soft landing for racers?
• Answer: Sławomir Łukasik was the 2016 DH Euro Champ
• Representing: thank you to Morgane Charre for representing Misspent Summers out on the hill and claiming yet another EDR podium
• Thanks: a huge thank you to everyone making our racing coverage possible. To Boris, Seb and Sven for their outstanding photography, all the contributors and writers, the brands supporting our work and you for reading
• Get involved: if you like our stuff and want to contribute, every order on our store helps us continue recording the history of mountain biking. Massive thanks to everyone supporting Misspent Summers!

Further reading:
A note from Brazil XC World Cup R1 2025
Bermed Out

Notes newsletters are compiled with the help of many contributors. Thank you to everyone who chips in – we love doing this stuff and you make it possible.