See this article and others in Hurly Burly 2023.
Words: Matthew Fairbrother || Photo: Kike Abelleira and Sebastian Schieck
Rugged beauty flares through a heavenly green paradise – the lakes are its essence, the trails its veins. The mystic peaks of The Pale Mountains cast a shadow on the valley below, alluding to a dark past, although here they brew magic. The spirit of Dolomiti created the ultimate enduro mountain biking battlefield, a true catalyst for a fairy tale ending.
After the triple-header week of racing in Leogang, riders turned their sights to the Dolomites. Soaring from a vibrant, evergreen valley in Northern Italy, the mountains quickly evolve, and jagged-teeth-like rocks emerge. It’s hard to arrive here without a sore neck. The views will keep your head turning in every direction. An almost casual turnaround from the last race meant teams rolled in at their own pace, slowly taking over the recluse town of Canazei.
You’ll find this location on almost any mountain biker’s bucket list. A true assortment of flavours to cater to everyone’s trail tastes – luscious loam and chairlifts on one side of the valley, bike park tracks and raw trails on the other, all leading down to the gelateria at the bottom of the hill. Italians know how to do it right.
The riding on Canazei’s doorstep is characterised by long, hard days in the saddle while at altitude. Being the fifth round of the UCI Enduro World Cup
(EDR) and the last race of a full month of racing, there would be no hiding. This is as pure as enduro gets. Becoming a regular on the circuit, it appeared that this year’s race would be a repeat of last year’s, although that was far from the truth. Significant improvements had been made, and the trails were running all time. Rain was in the forecast – lots of it – and racers were in for a gruelling 44 kilometres and a burly nearly 3,000 metres of descending, which would put the racers to the test. The ascent would be assisted by the many ski gondolas in the area, although this shouldn’t be overestimated. Racers still had to tackle half of the course by pedal power.
Richie Rude and Isabeau Courdurier won here in 2022, and with wins already under their belt in 2023, both were favourites for the weekend. Eddie Masters has a history of strong results in Canazei but wouldn’t make it to the start line due to a shoulder injury. He’d be turning to team-mates Morgane Charre and Matt Walker to hold up the fort for Pivot Factory Racing.
Title hopes were forming with the season creeping over the mid-way mark, but with small margins, runners-up were ready to pounce for glory. In the men’s, Rude had a substantial lead over Canadians Rhys Verner and Jesse Melamed. Verner was having his best season, including the previous weekend’s win.
He’d be leaving it all out there. Alex Rudeau had also been consistently landing on the podium and was itching to climb the ranks.
In the women’s, Frenchies Courdurier and Charre were in a season-long battle, with Courdurier holding the lead and Charre ready to capitalise on any of Courdurier’s mistakes. Brits Bex Baraona and Harriet Harden were waging their own contest, and the hunt for third was beginning to get heated.
The rain held off, leading to near-perfect conditions on stage one (Titans). The race began with a rude awakening for racers as they slalomed down ski pistes into fast, tight and awkward technical trails through the woods. Courdurier began as she intended to continue. She won the stage by almost six seconds ahead of Charre. Mélanie Pugin managed to find her feet again and finished an additional two seconds back.
The French had truly asserted their dominance in the women’s field, but they weren’t done yet as Rudeau stormed into first, two seconds ahead of Rude, in the men’s. Verner rounded out the top three. After eight minutes of racing for the women and seven minutes for the men, it was still all to play for.
As racers made their way up to stage two, the sun had come out in full effect, reassuring them that the dust was here to stay. ‘Infinity’ was a fast blast through the alpine up top, passing through bike park berms before getting into raw, rooty and rocky singletrack right down to the bottom. Oh, and why not throw a one-and-a-half-minute climb mid-stage? As if it wasn’t already hard enough.
Pained faces would be the theme of the weekend. Harnden used her cross-country background and capitalised on it to become the first non-French stage winner of the day by ten seconds. Charre proved flat pedals weren’t holding her back on the brutal climb as she charged her way into second. Chloe Taylor rounded out the top three with her best stage result. In the men’s, Walker stomped his way into third, seemingly glued to Melamed’s rear wheel, who slotted his way into second just ahead of him. Rude’s trademark style of pure aggression paid dividends as he paved his path into first by six seconds. Courdurier and Rude were leading the race with three stages to go.
A pedal up the road brought racers to stage three (Electric Line), which they referred to over the weekend as ‘the downhill stage.’ With eye-watering fast straightaways, flat 90-degree corners, boardwalks and rock gardens, it had it all. Stage three was going to be an all-out affair. There’d be no letting off.
The French were unstoppable and were waging their battles out front. Courdurier secured yet another stage, with Pugin in second. Gloria Scarsi jumped into the mix with third place on the stage. Courdurier would hold on to the race lead only seven seconds ahead of Charre. In the men’s field, Melamed proved to be a crowd-pleaser as he launched himself down the hill in true Melamed fashion, although his aggression would be one-upped by Rudeau, who edged him out by almost a second. Rude would round out the top three and hold on to the race lead ten seconds ahead of Melamed, but his day would go downhill.
A pedal, a gondola, a hike and a load of fatigue would get riders to one of the most renowned enduro stages, Tutti Frutti. Despite its sweet-sounding name, this was one of the hardest stages on the circuit, with an exposed ridgeline, high-altitude sprints, rough corners, risky line choices and a dousing of loam to keep everybody from grimacing. Over five and a half kilometres and almost 1,000 vertical metres of descent (more than 12 minutes for the women and nearly 11 for the men). Once again, French domination continued in the women’s field as Charre, Pugin and Courdurier went 1-2-3 in that order. In the men’s, things quickly came unstuck for Rude, who suffered a flat tyre in the lower third of the stage. He did what he could to salvage his result and only lost about 25 seconds. Walker saw an opportunity and leapt. He’d been consistently in the top five all day but had finally made the move to take the stage win. Charlie Murray followed up behind four seconds back, making a Kiwi 1-2. Verner found his feet again after a rough couple of stages and landed nine seconds back from Walker.
With Charre scrapping ahead of Courdurier to go first and Walker capitalising on moving ahead three places into first, it was all down to the last stage. The pot was boiling. Ciasates was the shortest stage of the day but probably the most action-packed. At just over one kilometre long and with only 200 metres of descending, it would be an all-out sprint to the finish. Courdurier took the top step, with Pugin in tow and Scarsi following in third, once more, after a consistent day of riding.
Courdurier claimed another win in the women’s, adding to the season’s tally. Charre took a commendable second place after a smart day of riding, and Pugin found some form after a rough start to the season to finish in third. The new reseeding format built much tension in the men’s race. Rude, Melamed and Murray fought for third with only two seconds separating them. Rudeau was sitting pretty in second, and Walker was on his way to picking up his first victory. Although no one was guaranteed anything, with such a short stage, one mistake would cost everything. Rude ploughed his way into third, edging out Murray and Melamed and lessening the blow to his puncture earlier in the day. Rudeau crossed the line into second after a standout season for the French national champ. Crossing the line in first place was Walker, who claimed his first elite win and the most popular win in recent enduro history.
Just like that, it was all over. Another superb weekend of bike racing confirmed to racers and spectators why we keep returning to this venue. Was it the views, the tracks, the pizza or the gelateria in town? It is hard to say.
Rude and Courdurier earned commanding leads in the overall title hunt, but it was far from over. Just below them, it was all up for grabs. With a two-month break from racing, the fires would be reignited, and racers would be charging as the circuit headed to the French Pyrenees.
By Matthew Fairbrother, enduro racer and long-distance ride lover.
