After the back-to-back Tasmanian rounds at Maydena and Derby, riders had a two-month break to prepare for a tricky third round of the 2023 season. Pietra Ligure is a relatively new venue for many of the racers only previously holding an EWS once during the 2020 season, although its trails share many similarities to the long-standing staple of enduro racing Finale Ligure. We have given it our best shot to think about what could happen this week so here are some predictions on who could be a top performer on Saturday.
Riders have had plenty of time to rest, train and collect their thoughts after the hectic start to the season at the wildly different challenges of Maydena and Derby. The first round saw a French domination in the women’s racing as Isabeau Courdurier and Morgane Charre were a step above the rest. The results flipped at round two where the Brits were on top with Bex Baraona leading Hattie Harnden and Ella Conolly. Last time in Pietra Ligure it was a French-dominated podium and there is every chance we may see another one this weekend as Isabeau Courdurier looks to have recovered from the leg injury that slowed her down at Derby.
In the Men’s racing the Australian top three of Luke Meier-Smith, Dan Booker and Connor Fearon at round one gave way to the regular top enduro riders at Derby as we saw Richie Rude take the win followed by Slawomir Lukasik and Jesse Melamed. This was Slawomir Lukasik’s best result to date and we think he will be hunting for one better as the series kicks off its racing in Europe.
Pietra Ligure has only ever held one international-level enduro race before when it filled in as a last-minute replacement EWS round during the shortened pandemic affected 2020 season. While it may have been a replacement round in a heavily affected season of racing the venue’s EWS debut provided plenty of exciting racing with the French dominating the podiums.
In 2020 Melanie Pugin took a big win finding over 14 seconds on Isabeau Courdurier before a 28-second gap back to Morgane Charre. We don’t expect the times to be this spread out on Saturday, but we won’t be surprised to see some of these names once again at the sharp end of the racing. For the Men, it was Adrien Daily who took home the win pulling ahead of Florian Nicolai by over 20 seconds. Jack Moir broke up a possible French top three as he crossed the line around 22 seconds off the pace.
1st. Melanie Pugin: 24:50.36
2nd. Isabeau Courdurier: 25:04.57
3rd. Morgane Charre: 25:32.41
4th. Estelle Charles: 25:55.33
5th. Morgane Jonnier: 26:12.85
1st. Adrien Dailly: 21:30.49
2nd. Florian Nicolai: 21:51.07
3rd. Jack Moir: 21:53.13
4th. Dimitri Tordo: 21:53.28
5th. Ed Masters: 21:57.65
Isabeau Courdurier continues to be the rider to beat as we head into the third round of the 2023 series. After a big win at round one and still managing a fourth place on an injured leg at round two she is on top form this season. It’s very hard to bet against Isabeau especially as she did take 2nd place at the EWS back in 2020. Heading into the weekend 17 points back on series leader Bex Baraona will be a good motivator for a top performance in Italy.
As the current series leader following a fourth place in Maydena and the win in Derby, Bex Baraona is another rider that is hard to write off for this weekend’s racing. Bex has quickly become one of the top enduro racers over the past seasons and she will be experiencing her first race as the series leader in Pietra Ligure. We think this is something that will only make her want a top result even more as she has Isabeau Courdurier right behind her in the points standings.
Morgane Charre is our third pick for Pietra Ligure as she is an incredibly consistent racer coming 2nd at round one and 5th at round two this year. Mogane also has podium experience at this venue coming third in 2020 and was the only rider other than Isabeua Courdurier within a minute of Melanie Pugin.
After a slower start to the season with a 7th in Maydena Richie Rude took control of the series with the win in Derby. The current series leader is heading into this weekend with a very strong lead of 74 points against Dan Booker but he will be wanting to extend his lead further as we kick off the European rounds of the series. Richie did not race at Pietra Ligure in 2020 during the pandemic-affected season so we don’t know how he will handle these trails but he has always performed very well at the similar trails down the round in Finale. We think if he is still on the form from Derby he will be in the running for another top podium result.
Hot on Richie Rude’s heels this year is Yeti teammate Slawomir Lukasik as he is showing why it shouldn’t have taken this long to secure a factory team setup. After 12th at round one Slawomir went beat most of the World’s best to his best-ever finish with 2nd place in Derby. Pietra Ligure offers a completely different challenge to the opening round but Slawomir has proven in the past that he is a consistent threat for a top result and with his current form it is only so long until he finally gets a win.
Jesse Melamed may not have had the start to the season he would have wanted as he sits in fifth place overall and around 200 points back from Richie Rude. As we kick off the next group of races he will be wanting to bump himself up in the standings and close the gap to longtime rival Richie. From looking at the practice footage Jesse is looking very at home on the tight, twisty and rocky stages this week and we think is one of the top options for the win.
While we have made our main predictions for potential winners above there were other riders who we should mention as potential top performers this weekend.
Hattie Harnden is another rider who has been right at the sharp end of proceedings this season and with Ella Conolly missing this weekend’s racing she has a great chance to move into third place overall and close down the gap to the leading rider of Isbeau Courdurier and Bex Baraona. Even though she was racing in the U21 back in 2020 her winning race time would have been good enough for sixth in Elites and after she has continued to prove herself since making the jump up we think she will be a real podium threat once riders get between the tape for finals.
Dan Booker has had an incredible start to his 2023 season taking home great results at his home races and getting himself into 2nd place in the overall behind Richie Rude. While we can debate if there was a home advantage at the opening rounds Dan now has the chance to prove he can still grab the top results in Europe and we are very interested to see if he is able to match the speed that has put him near the top of the standings.
Who Will Win the Elite Women’s Race?
Who Will Win the Elite Men’s Race?