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Hi there,
We’re just about to launch a load of new products on our store, but before we do that, we are sharing our notes from the Enduro World Cup finals from Châtel, France, last weekend.
What a race! We are still buzzing from the action and drama of following a down-to-the-wire series finals across the storied slopes of the Portes du Soleil riding area.
You’ll find our notes below, made with the help of Morgane Charre, plus a guest section by Eddie Masters, the unofficial World Champion Superfan.
As always, Boris Beyer and Sven Martin provide the photo goods.
Hope you enjoy it.
Cheers,
James and the Misspent Summers team
PROPER notes from Châtel Enduro World Cup
With help from Pivot Factory Racing’s Morgane Charre and Ed Masters
- Enduro World Cup (EDR) Châtel took in seven brutally technical stages across a 60km course comprising 800 metres of climbing and 3,600 metres of descending (the rest of the climbing was chairlift assisted)
- Basically, a lot more down than up, with no massive climbs or lengthy pedalling liaisons
- Riders were unanimous in their praise for the trails and the course overall. Rooty, loamy, dusty, gritty, grimy, slippery, hardpacked, loose, muddy, easy, hard, treacherous – there was something for every taste
- For the uninitiated spectator (and the initiated, for that matter), it wasn’t obvious how to follow the race as riders travelled across several mountains in three distinct valleys. Finding start times, course maps, access routes, etc was a job for a forensic detective. Is that just the nature of enduro or could someone help the organiser create a simple platform for fans? Let us know if you have an idea
- Anyway, once you were on the stages and away from a few naysayers in the pits, there was nothing but good vibes, amazing riding and positivity. Riders, team, media, fans were loving the challenging stages
- It was cool to see the full pits set up at Châtel’s Pré la Joux bike park – big Shimano booth, Nissan test drives (we forgot to have a go), nice event branding, etc. There weren’t masses of people about, but it looked cool and the event ran smoothly as ever
- Internet rumours and truths say multiple racing teams (across all disciplines) will be disappearing in 2024. Financial implosion is an industry-wide issue, not the fault of any race organiser or event and certainly not limited to enduro. Regardless, there will probably be fewer professional contracts next year, but riders and fans will keep the spirit alive through a tough patch and things will pick up again soon
- Listen to this Downtime Podcast episode for some insight into industry struggles
- Enduro racing has morphed and adapted over the 11 seasons since the first Enduro World Series, with bikes, components, kit and riders adjusting to the format changes
- Here’s what a 2023 enduro bike looks like, based on the top-three men’s and women’s bikes in the EDR series rankings*: 161.6mm rear suspension travel (average); 91.667% 29er (only 1 out of the 12 wheels was 27.5in); 1/3rd clipless pedals (2 out of the 6 riders use flat pedals); made by YetrekPivLaComyon (six different brands took each of the top-three spots across both categories)
- The open enduro category continues to draw big entry numbers: in Châtel, there were over 300 riders entered into the open EDR and E-EDR categories
- Alongside the enduro race, there was also a slalom, a marathon World Cup (100km over the mountains in under five hours – ouch) and an unofficial jump jam that got shut down
- There was also the race to get your coffee orders in at Wood Café – the world’s top racers were there daily all week mingling with fans, media and unsuspecting locals
- Total tangent: If you like BMX, check out Greystoke Magazine. It’s new and old and we just got our copies – love it. Also, get yourself a copy of Cranked #34 – sadly the last one ever
*Based on the bikes they were using at the end of the season and our dodgy research
more below…
EDR Châtel – a quick recap
- Isabeau Courdurier and Richie Rude started the day leading the elite series standings by decent margins. But, with points up for grabs on every stage, it was still all to play for. Both riders would need solid results to secure the titles
- Morgane Charre (who, if you didn’t know, is part of this company) got down to business and set about attacking the varied trails. Charre and Courdurier went head-to-head all day, exchanging stage wins (Hattie Harnden was the only other woman to win a stage) and the overall race lead as the day progressed – it was some of the tightest, most exciting racing we’ve seen in a long time
- On stage five, Charre and Courdurier got exactly the same time – down to the hundredths. Bonkers
- Going into the final stage of the day, the result could still go any direction. But Charre put in a strong ride to leap ahead and win the race by nearly seven seconds from Courdurier in second and Harnden third
- The final series rankings saw Courdurier take the win, her third EWS-EDR title, with Charre second and Harnden third. Congrats, all!
- Watch the race highlights here. We think the coverage in this final highlights vid of the season is the best of the year. Hats off to the producers – great filming, edit and energy. The follow drone footage and split screen stuff is awesome too
- If a tree falls in the woods: As Romain Paulhan sped through the final sections of stage three, a 30-metre-high pine tree came crashing down, falling between two groups of spectators directly into the track. Everyone rushed to clean things up and the debris were cleared before causing any riders trouble. Lucky it didn’t fall on anyone – we were there and it was scary!
- The men’s race was just as hard fought as the women’s:
- Jesse Melamed started the day with a stage win and continued his attack from there, racking up four stage wins out of seven. He pushed hard until the end, also winning the last stage and taking the race win by more than 11 seconds. Melamed finished second in the season standings
- Alex Rudeau finished his season on a high, taking second place in the race and his fifth podium of the year. That put him third in the series overall
- Despite being the winningest male in enduro history by far with 19 Enduro World Series/Enduro World Cup wins (Melamed is the closest to Rude in total wins with 8 including Châtel), Rude hadn’t scored a series title since 2016
- But, despite being slightly off the pace early in the day, Rude picked it up to finish third on the day and take the series title
more below…
- This latest series win makes it three total titles for Rude, equalling Sam Hill with the most EWS-EDR men’s series wins
- Courdurier has racked up the series titles in a more compressed timeframe than Rude, with 2023 being her third series win after her 2019 and 2022 titles. That puts Courdurier equal with Tracy Moseley and Cécile Ravanel with three titles each
- Châtel also marked Courdurier’s 50th career EWS-EDR podium. Respect
- Melamed and Courdurier have been racing enduro since the very start – both riders raced the first EWS series back in 2013 and have been committed to ‘duro ever since (they are the only riders in the top-three who have been there since the beginning)
- Did an E-EDR racer take an extra chairlift by accident?
- Size matters or a matter of perspective? At Châtel’s podium celebrations, the same football World Cup-esque trophy was handed to each series winner then retracted and shielded from any champagne splatters before being carefully put back on its stand by its handler, ready for the next champion to lift in celebration. Later, each winner was given a scaled down version of the trophy to take home. Apparently, the winners’ names from every discipline (EDR, XC, DH) will be inscribed on the big dog’s base – but whose mantlepiece will it adorn?
- Charre and Courdurier weren’t the only racers with exact same times on the day. In the men’s, Slawomir Lukasik and Dan Booker had identical race overall times, both finishing exactly 24.860 seconds behind Melamed in the results. Nuts
- Under-21s racing was tight too: Simona Kuchynkova won the U21 women’s race by just one tenth of a second and Raphaël Giambi took U21 men’s by under two seconds
- Emmy Lan took a clear series win in U21 women with nearly twice as many points as her nearest rival. Second place went to Elly Hoskin who broke her foot in practice but had enough points to hobble onto the series podium in front of third-placed Lily Planquart
- Lisandru Bertini’s raw speed carried him to win the U21 men’s title just ahead of Raphaël Giambi in second and Sascha Kim in third
- Florencia Espiñeira Herreros and Fabien Barel wrapped up the E-EDR series titles
- What a season of enduro racing! We’re currently putting it all into design for the next edition of The World Stage, which will be available on pre-order soon. Thank you for your purchases – they keep our wheels turning so we can do stuff like these newsletters and films like Cosmic (should we do another one this year?)
- Our pop-up downhill photo exhibition in Les Gets was such a success we nearly did a last-minute enduro-specific pop-up in Châtel, until we realised we totally didn’t have the time or resources. How does a photo show and hang-out this December at our Finale base sound? More on that soon
- Thank you to Morgane Charre and Eddie Masters for the help putting together this newsletter. Hope you’ve enjoyed it! Cheers
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Misspent Summers is an international group of journalists, photographers, designers and dropouts producing mountain biker stuff positively and responsibly. Visit us online at misspentsummers.com or in person at Finale Work Space.
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