Hello,

Enduro racing returns to Finale Ligure in Italy today for the first round of the 2024 Enduro World Cup (EDR) series.

We welcomed riders, staff and fans to the Misspent Summers office, aka Finale Work Space, this week for a pre-season get-together. It was great to see most of the top racers and a nice chance to talk all things enduro. Thanks to everyone who came to the event.

In this newsletter you’ll find a selection of amazing photos from practice by Sven and Boris, plus our pre-notes (racing is going on now – live timing here), including info, facts and several tangents.

Hope you enjoy flicking through and look out for our event roundup after the weekend.

Cheers,

James
+ the Misspent Summers team

PRODUCT OF THE WEEK: ENDURO YEARBOOK ’23

SPRINT STAGE: Pre-notes from a scorching Finale Ligure Enduro World Cup and E-EDR R1

• Where to watch: the Enduro World Cup isn’t broadcast live (bit tricky), but we’re happy to see a highlights show in the Eurosport 1 schedule for Thursday 16 May at 6:45pm. Free-to-watch highlights are also due for the MTB World Series YouTube page on Monday 13 May
• Start list: EDR (Saturday) and E-EDR (Sunday) start lists here. Is anyone racing both?
• Live: follow the live timing here
• Race book: All the important info for racers, teams and spectators in the full Finale race book here
• Schedule: EDR racing from 8:30-17:30 CEST Saturday 11 May. E-EDR racing 8:30-17:30 Sunday 12 May. After a shuttle to around 1,000m, race stages start at around midday local time for Group A elites
• Fantasy: Race Companion fantasy enduro league here
• Watch: the organisers seem to be putting plenty of effort into pumping out decent coverage across their channels, practice raw, tech roundup and course preview videos. Watch them all here
• Cross pollination: when the Giro d’Italia, Italy’s Tour de France, passed through town earlier in the week, enduro got some extra publicity as a broadcast presenter struggled to explain to their baffled colleague why a roadside mountain biker was revving up a chainsaw in riders’ faces (answer: just because that’s what mountain bikers do). MTB World Series presenter Josh Carlson also had a nice segment on the live broadcast to big up the EDR – good to see enduro getting some love and coverage
• Recharge: During practice on Friday, we ran an official Misspent Summers Tea & Biscuits stand with essential nutrition for riders in need. Turned out pretty much everyone needed an energy top up in the hot weather and it was another nice chance to chat to passing riders
• Word: Lost
• News: Jack Moir is sitting out the race after a small crash earlier in the week has left him struggling to hold on. In the pre-race press conference, reigning EDR champion Isabeau Courdurier announced that she plans to race the 2024 season and then take time out to start a family
• Vibe: as mentioned above, we got riders, staff, media and fans down to a little gathering at our office on Wednesday. If you’re ever in town, feel free to drop in and check out our books and stuff or rent a desk if you need to pretend to work too
• Plug: polite reminder that we record the history of enduro in The World Stage book and it’ll look good on your shelf

Continued below…

• Venue: Finale has been hosting world-level enduro racing annually since the first-ever Enduro World Series event here in 2013. It’s a dreamy mountain bike paradise with hundreds of trails, miles of sandy beach and pizzerias on every corner
• Course stats: the EDR race has five stages and the total day covers 57km total with 18km of race stages, 1,600m climbing and 2,600m descending (there’s one shuttle at the start of the day to get riders up in the mountains; the final stage ends at sea level back on the coast)
• Stage details: starting high up on Finale’s famous Nato Base trails, S1 is a relatively short and fast blast that links together nicely; S2 is a long, twisty and in places tight trail with nice dirt; S3 is lung-busting LONG – over 6km of undulating terrain with a short but brutally steep climb ¾ of the way down; S4 is gnarly and janky rocky up top then earthy, fast and flowy; S5 is sunbaked, fast, rocky and loose
• Video: check out the full official course preview here
• Survey: the spirit of choice of enduro is San Pellegrino – next time we hold a party we’ll get 90% sparkling water, 10% beer, not the other way around
• Weather check: hot, dry and bright (dappled light in the forest makes visibility tricky on many stages)
• Feedback: there was a slight lack of signposts for practice and many people struggled to find their way around (we met one poor soul who had been lost in the woods near stage four for an hour). Lots of people enjoyed S4 in practice but some of its fresh turns are likely to be blown out for the race. S3 is fun to ride but brutal to race
• Track record: Morgane Charre has won the last three elite women’s races in Finale Outdoor Region (the area comprising Finale Ligure and neighbouring Pietra Ligure). Jesse Melamed won the elite men’s race here in 2023 and 2021

More below…

• Quick 2023 recap: Richie Rude won the elite men series with 2,576 points ahead of Jesse Melamed in second (2,443 points) and Alex Rudeau third (2,395 points). Isabeau Courdurier won elite women with 3,183 points, Morgane Charre was second (3,021 points) and Harriet Harnden third (2,333 points). Lisandru Bertini won U21 men and Emmy Lan won U21 women. The Yeti-Fox Factory Race Team won the overall team standings
• Golden ticket: who’s allowed on the media shuttle?
• Numbers: Sunday sees the first E-EDR of the season. With some changes to the enduro schedule for 2024, enduro always falls before e-enduro in the weekly line-up. With manual on Saturday and assisted on Sunday here in Finale, it’s probably no surprise there are few if no racers riding both. Will round two in Poland see more than Finale’s 43 total E-EDR racers (male and female categories combined)? (There are over 200 riders in the U21 and elite EDR races here.)
• More feedback: The E-EDR racers all seem stoked with their course and several mentioned the organisers seem to have listened to their feedback on the 2023 season – lots of terrain well suited to eebs and a long set of stages
• Chat: after a year away, Tommy C, everyone’s favourite Tea & Biscuits professional, is back. Will he make us another enduro film like Cosmic, our 2022 Enduro World Series?
• Tight times: reflecting on last week’s Fort William DH World Cup, downhill, enduro and all-round legend Tracy Moseley said that skinsuits went 5-6 seconds faster there when she tested them against baggier clothing. When Moseley last won in Fort William in 2011, her winning time was 5:21.9. Comparing that to enduro, Morgane Charre won the 2023 Finale Outdoor Region (FOR) race with a time of 32:22.32. So, er, will anyone bust out a SpeedSuit and gain a big advantage at an enduro this year? Is Lycra even allowed?
• Our view: looking around us, it’s clear enduro is alive and well. There are good vibes only and plenty of people making a living from it: racers, staff, media, brands and Misspent Summers included. If brands are sponsoring riders and events, it isn’t for charity either – it means the discipline has real value in business terms. Also, it’s rad
• Thanks: Big up Sven, Boris and Seb for their constant grafting to cover every angle in their photos for our yearbooks and to you for reading this newsletter and supporting us by spreading the word and checking out our store. Cheers!