The opening round of the UCI E-Enduro World Cup in Finale Outdoor Region was witness to two thrilling contests in the men’s and women’s competitions. Australia’s Ryan Gilchrist was the dominant male, with four stage wins to his name, while on the women’s side Tracey Moseley and Florencia Espiñeira shared the spoils across all but a single stage. In the end the Chilean rider came out on top to take her first UCI World Cup win of the season.
The thrills and spills of Saturday’s UCI Enduro World Cup were followed by a far from lazy Sunday dedicated to the UCI E-Enduro World Cup. For both the women and men, the season opener comprised nine stages split across two separate loops of the Finale Outdoor Region trails - the first of four, the second of five. The rules of the competition limit riders to a single battery per loop, which they swap out upon their return to the Technical Assistance Zone after completion of the fourth stage.
The nine stages consisted of 84km of trail with 3600m of descending, on some of Europe’s most scenic and challenging trails overlooking the Ligurian sea.
DOMINANT GILCHRIST
Mirroring Saturday’s start, Sunday’s racing began on Base Nato, a fast and physically demanding trail. Dropping almost 400m over just 2.6km, there’s no easing into the racing on a course like this.
The men went first, with Alexis Icardo (C-Lab Fulgur Bike Product) the first to lay down a serious time. The Frenchman’s 5:19 was beaten by the rider right behind him, Manuel Borges (Canyon Collective Factory Enduro Team.) The Portuguese, 13 years Icardo’s senior, rolled back the years and took almost 2.5 seconds off the younger rider’s time. Thirteen riders crossed the line before one could improve on Borges’ time. Alex Marin (GasGas Factory Racing) won the first stage by a single second, and the top five was only separated by five.
That tightness at the top set the tone of the racing over the first loop, with the first four stages producing three different winners. Only Ryan Gilchrist (Yet / Fox Factory Race Team) managed to double up, with his wins on Stages 3 and 4, Ingegner and Supergroppo, establishing him in pole position as the riders headed for loop two. The Australian’s 11 second margin of victory across the 7km Supergroppo trail put him in a particularly strong position with five stages still to race.
Cecce Camoin (Specialized Enduro Team) was the only other individual winner from the first loop, on the e-bike specific Stage 2 Cà Bianca trail - one of 34 in Finale Outdoor Region. Borges was twice more denied the win, but a 100% record of four finishes ensured he finished the first half still very much in touch with Gilchrist.
A THREE-SIDED AFFAIR
The first loop in women’s competition was a somewhat two-sided affair. Tracey Moseley won the opening stages on Base Nato by 3.5 seconds and came second to Haibike’s Alia Marcellini on Cà Bianca. Italian Marcellini thrilled home fans by claiming her nation’s first win of the weekend, a result that would help her go into the second loop in 3rd overall.
After finishing 5th and 3rd on the opening two stages last season’s number one, Florencia Espiñeira (Orbea Fox Enduro Team) got into her stride on the third and fourth stages with wins. The Chilean rider’s stronger Supergroppo run, which she finished with a time 7.5 seconds faster than second place Laura Charles, was enough to take her onto the second loop with a six second advantage over Mosely.
The five stages that made up the second loop were designed to challenge not only the riders’ endurance but their abilities to manage their machines.
POWER STAGES
Stage 5, which took place on the Legnino trail, was one of two consecutive power stages. Power stages incorporate a climb with the aim of testing “a rider’s ability to blend riding skill with their bikes drive unit output.” Legnino, which overlooks Finale, is short, punchy and technical while the second, Borderline, was expected to be pivotal in determining the outcomes across the rest of the loop to come.
It was an entirely new set of men’s riders that came to the fore on Legnino. Hugo Pigeon (Scott SR Suntour Enduro Team) set the time to beat and must have been feeling confident when the penultimate rider to go, Tiago Ladeira (Miranda Factory Team), crossed the line a single second down on his time of 51.45. With the final run of the stage, however Kevin Marry (Lapierre Zipp Collective) snatched stage top honors by going two seconds quicker. Ryan Gilchrist was some way off the pace in 11th, while Manuel Borges’ run found him all the way down in 18th.
Both riders had more than enough time in hand to hold on to their positions at the top of the overall leaderboard and both improved significantly on the longer Borderline trail. A convincing victory for Ladeira moved him up from 6th to 4th overall, while 3rd place for Gilchrist, by less than a second, only served to consolidate his lead at the top. Borges’ second place standing was looking ever more precarious however as Cecce Camoin, runner up on the stage by a mere 0.6s, bit a 7 second chunk off his deficit to the Portuguese rider.
GILCHRIST AND ESPIÑEIRA SHARE THE TOP SPOTS
The final three stages Rocche Gianche, Andrassa and DH Men would between them serve up the best that the Finale Outdoor Region has to offer by way of trails, as well as a top five comprising the most competent all-round e-enduro riders on the day.
Ryan Gilchrist returned to winning ways on the fast forest descents of Rocche Gianche, as Cecce Camoin secured a second-place finish that moved him up into the same place in the overall standings. Despite a relative stage-on-stage improvement Borges appeared to be almost in freefall but was able to steady the ship and take back second spot with his final run of the day.
Alex Marin ended his day as he started it - with a victory that, although it did not help him much in the overall competition, did well to demonstrate the Spaniard’s capabilities. Going into DH Men with an almost 30 second buffer Ryan Gilchrist could afford to take it easy, and he cruised to victory on the legendary course.
On the women’s side of the competition, Tracy Moseley and Florencia Espiñeira started their second loop the way they finished the first, sharing the top spots between them on the Legnino and Borderline power stages. Espiñeira’s 14 second victory on the first put her in a massively strong position with four stages remaining.
Sofia Lena Wiedenroth (Specialized Enduro Team) began to make moves in the standings thanks to a solid run on Rocche Gianche that was good enough for second place, as Moseley picked up another time and pulled back almost nine seconds on her great Chilean rival. Almost all of which was lost on Andrassa, as Espiñeira arrived at the line in a lightning quick time of 4:28 - 8.2 seconds faster than the British rider.
Approaching the final stage Espiñeira could, like Gilchrist, afford to take it steady. Instead, she gave it all she had and ran Moseley close in what is shaping up to be a thrilling rivalry. By the time both had completed their final runs Espiñeira had come out on top by just 15 seconds, with France’s Laura Charles a further 50 seconds back.
Alia Marcellini was the only other rider to win a stage, as Espineira and Moseley claimed four a-piece.
As the defending champion, for Espiñeira, it was “a relief” to get off to such a strong start. “The first race of the season you never know how it’s going to go,” she said afterwards.
Asked by how she managed the technical challenges presented by the course, she replied: “We had to be very strategic on the use of batteries. I was switching out of race mode, using less assistance during the liaisons, which means you have to push more - but that’s what you train for.”
Ryan Gilchrist was similarly pleased to get off to such a strong start: “The whole day I felt like I was just riding my bike and having fun. It’s what I’m all about, it’s what the sport’s all about. Being able to take stage win after stage win, and win the day, is a testament to the work that I’ve put in and my sponsors have put in.”
The second rounds of the UCI Downhill World Cup, and the UCI Enduro and E-Enduro World Cups, will take place next weekend in Bielsko-Biała, as Poland makes its debut as a host on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series.
