After a short break from round three in Pietra Ligure the Enduro World Cup is back and is visiting a fresh venue, for this discipline at least. For the fourth round of the 2023 series, enduro racers will get their first taste of the Leogang trails as we head into a stacked weekend of racing as we will get enduro, XC and downhill all at the same time.
Ahead of this week’s busy schedule here is everything you need to know for the Leogang enduro World Cup.
After a two-month break, the third round of the 2023 Enduro World Cup saw riders take on six stages across 56km and 3105 meters of descending in the Finale Outdoor Region.
In the Elite Women’s race, it was Morgane Charre who kicked off the day with back-to-back stage wins before laying down consistent stage performances to hold her overall lead through the six stages and end the day over 13 seconds ahead. Reigning 2022 EWS champ Isabeau Courdurier would go head to head with Gloria Scarsi in the battle for 2nd place, but it would be the Italian racer who edged three seconds ahead to secure 2nd.
The Men’s racing saw the Canadian pair of Jesse Melamed and Rhys Verner take control of the racing as they took two stage wins each in the battle for the top position. Alex Rudeau did his best to break up the pair but he would have to settle for 3rd place, six seconds back from the leader. Previous series leader Richie Rude had a big crash early in the race and did his best to not lose too many overall points as he ended a tough day in eighth.
Results:
1st. Morgane Charre: 32:22.320
2nd. Gloria Scarsi: 32:35.990
3rd. Isabeau Courdurier: 32:39.080
4th. Raphaela Richter: 32:49.200
5th. Mélanie Pugin: 33:03.640
1st. Jesse Melamed: 28:40.040
2nd. Rhys Verner: 28:45.420
3rd. Alex Rudeau: 28:46.300
4th. Dimitri Tordo: 28:53.840
5th. Charlie Murray: 29:01.480
1st. Emmy Lan: 34:42.160
2nd. Lily Planquart: 34:58.190
3rd. Elly Hoskin: 35:41.620
4th. Sophie Riva: 35:56.270
5th. Claire Chabbert: 36:06.800
1st.Raphaël Giambi: 29:36.710
2nd. William Brodie: 29:41.320
3rd. Alexis Icardo: 29:42.760
4th. Bailey Christie: 29:46.030
5th. Jt Fisher: 29:50.330
You can view the full results here.
After three rounds of racing things couldn’t be closer in the Elite Women’s standings as both Morgane Charre and Isabeau Courdurier are equal on points with 1231 each. The closest competitor to the French riders is Bex Beraoan who is over 100 points back with a total of 1116.
In the Elite Men’s 2023 series standings, a tough race in Pietra Ligure has knocked Richie Rude down to second as the 2022 EWS champ Jesse Melamed powers his way into the lead by 18 points. Rhys Verner is having the season of his career heading into round four in 3rd.
Elite Women:
Elite Men:
U21 Women:
U21 Men:
Leogang is an untested venue for Enduro racing but past XC and DH World Cup have shown that while it can have the feel of a bikepark the course builders can throw in some vicious sections If we get wet weather it will be carnage for riders on race day.
Pro Line: 2km / 355m descent – Stage 1
Bergstadl Trail: 2.4km / 460m descent – Stage 2
X-Line: 4km / 708m descent – Stage 3
Hangman: 1.9km / 311m descent – Stage 4
Matzalm: 2km / 299m descent – Stage 5
Speedster: 0.75km / 150m descent – Stage 6
After some rain and a thunderstorm predicted for Tuesday the Wednesday practice and Thursday finals are looking perfect for a first-time out Enduro racing at Leogang.
Tuesday, June 13 // Practice
Partly sunny and beautiful // 21°C // 7% probability of precipitation // wind 7km/h
Thursday, June 14 // EDR
Sunshine and some clouds // 20°C // 25% probability of precipitation // wind 7km/h
Weather forecast as of Monday, June 12 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.