After a two-month break, the Enduro World Cup series is back as it returns to Pietra Ligure for the first time since 2020. Following the opening rounds in Tasmania riders will now kick off the next batch of races in Europe offering a very different challenge to the first two races of the season. The last time we saw international enduro racing visit this venue we were given tight times, unpredictable results, rain and a few injuries across a packed day of racing. Here is everything you need to know before the third round of the Enduro World Cup on Saturday, June 3.
The second round of the 2023 World Cup series saw riders take on six stages across 42.5km with 1444 meters of descending. It would end up being a big weekend for the Yeti team as Bex Baraona and Richie Rude took three stages apiece to take the win in Derby.
The Yeti riders did not have an easy ride on the granite slabs and boulders of Derby, but consistent stage times kept them at the front of the race and allowed them to secure the top podium spot and shift them into the overall series lead.
Results:
1st. Bex Baraona: 29:52.010
2nd. Hattie Harnden: 30:00.230
3rd. Ella Conolly: 30:17.740
4th. Isabeau Courdurier: 30:40.730
5th. Morgane Charre: 30:41.860
6th. Barbora Prudkova: 30:50.600
7th. Leanna Curtis: 31:02.090
8th. Raphaela Richter: 31:02.730
9th. Katy Winton: 31:04.290
10th. Kate Weatherly: 31:13.240
Elite Men
1st. Richie Rude: 25:52.860
2nd. Slawomir Lukasik: 26:00.450
3rd. Jesse Melamed: 26:17.910
4th. Jack Moir: 26:21.420
5th. Martin Maes: 26:24.610
6th. Youn Deniaud: 26:28.180
7th. Charlie Murray: 26:29.240
8th. Dan Booker: 26:31.550
9th. Matthew Walker: 26:32.050
10th. Ed Masters: 26:32.090
1st. Erice Van Leuven: 31:40.050
2nd. Elly Hoskin: 33:16.230
3rd. Lia Ladbrook: 33:17.520
4th. Xanthe Robb: 33:25.240
5th. Emmy Lan: 33:27.140
U21 Men
1st. Sascha Kim: 27:02.420
2nd. Cooper Lowe: 27:09.710
3rd. Lisandru Bertini: 27:12.490
4th. Lief Rodgers: 27:24.410
5th. Harvey Lee: 27:30.520
You can view the full results here.
After the second round of the 2023 World Cup Enduro series Bex Baraona took a big jump in the standings with her win sending her up from fourth place to first. Going into this weekend Bex Baraona holds a 17-point lead against Isabeau Courudrier with Ella Conolly remaining a constant threat in third place.
In the Elite Men’s 2023 series standings, Richie Rude’s Derby victory saw a bump from 7th at round one to the top position with a points advantage of 74. Dan Booker is holding strong in second place after his home races in Tasmania, he was very quick at the opening rounds and is one to watch as racing moves to Europe. Luke Meier-Smith is another Australian rider to watch as he sits in third following a win at the first round before struggling at round two with illness.
1st. Bex Baraona: 847
2nd. Isabeau Courdurier: 830
3rd. Ella Conolly: 778
4th. Hattie Harnden: 760
5th. Morgane Charre: 737
6th. Kate Weatherly: 491
7th. Barbora Prudkova: 487
8th. Rae Morrison: 476
9th. Raphaela Richter: 455
10th. Leanna Curtis: 412
11th. Melanie Pugin: 394
12th. Katy Winton: 359
13th. Gloria Scarsi: 351
14th. Florencia Espineira: 312
15th. Chloe Taylor: 290
16th. Vali Höll: 269
17th. Andreane Lanthier Nadeau: 256
18th. Polly Henderson: 256
19th. Lisa Baumann: 252
20th. Amy Morrison: 235
1st. Richie Rude: 782
2nd. Dan Booker: 708
3rd. Luke Meier-Smith: 689
4th. Slawomir Lukasik: 641
5th. Jesse Melamed: 584
6th. Rhys Verner: 528
7th. Connor Fearon: 527
8th. Jack Moir: 489
9th. Youn Deniaud: 485
10th. Ed Masters: 480
11th. Ryan Gilchrist: 473
12th. Martin Maes: 465
13th. Charlie Murray: 431
14th. Matt Walker: 405
15th. Zakarias Johansen: 378
16th. José Borges: 346
17th. Alex Rudeau: 346
18th. Dimitri Tordo: 337
19th. Greg Callaghan: 334
20th. Hugo Pigeon: 320
1st. Emmy Lan: 256
2nd. Erice Van Leuven: 202
3rd. Elly Hoskin: 134
4th. Xanthe Robb: 103
5th. Lia Ladbrook: 81
6th. Sophie Riva: 55
7th. Lily Boucher: 30
8th. Justine Henry: 20
1st. Sascha Kim: 241
2nd. Remy Meier-Smith: 219
3rd. Will Hynes: 178
4th. Lisandru Bertini: 168
5th. Jack Piercy: 137
6th. Johnathan Helly: 136
7th. Harvey Lee: 123
8th. Lee Witzerman: 120
9th. Alexis Icardo: 113
10th. Bailey Christie: 109
While it may have only held one big international enduro race with its EWS debut in 2020 Pietra Ligure has been a favorite among the Superenduro series. Nestled just 5km down Italy’s Ligurian coast from Finale Ligure it features the same beautiful Italian landscapes of Finale and has plenty of incredible trails for riders to test their skills. Expect the same tricky rocky, tight and dusty trails as Finale as riders have plenty of tech to challenge them for round three of the 2023 season.
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.
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
Full Results:
Elite Women
Top 50 Elite Men
Total: 56km / 3105m descent / 2070m climb (Riders will have a shuttle to help them around part of the course.)
Hiroshima Mon Amour: 5.07km / 760m descent – Stage 1
Oltrefinale: 3.9km / 690m descent – Stage 2
Armuin: 0.85km / 120m descent – Stage 3
Dolcenera: 1.02km / 255m descent – Stage 4
Spillpietra: 1.88km / 240m descent – Stage 5
Cuore Di Cervo: 1.28km / 220m descent – Stage 6
The weather is looking mixed for this week’s racing as while the temperatures are high there is a threat of thunderstorms and rain. Currently, there is a yellow warning for thunderstorms throughout the race weekend that could pose some difficulties for the third round of World Cup enduro racing.
Thursday, June 1 // Practice
Periods of sun and clouds with widely separated thunderstorms // 26°C // 40% probability of precipitation // 26% probability of precipitation // wind 17km/h
Friday, June 2 // E-EDR
Intervals of clouds and sun with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm from late morning on // 26°C // 88% probability of precipitation // 35% probability of precipitation // wind 13km/h
Saturday, June 3 // EDR
Some sun with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm; humid // 25°C // 88% probability of precipitation // 35% probability of precipitation // wind 13km/h
Weather forecast as of Thursday, June 1 from Accuweather.
As with the EWS racing you can follow live timing on the UCI Mtb World Series site or with Pinkbike’s own and hopefully coherent live results and updates. We expect racing to kick off at 8 am local time on Saturday, June 3 (9 am GMT Saturday, June 3 // 1 am PDT Saturday, June 3). Highlights are expected to be released on the UCI Mtb World Series YouTube channel.
We also have Polygon Factory Racing’s Dan Wolfe once again providing trackside updates on our Instagram account. Stay tuned for more coverage, photo epics and race analysis on the site across the weekend.