Throwback Thursday: EWS #1, Punta Ala – A Decade Later

Anne-Caroline Chausson heads for the pits to start the day. While she was to become one of the sport’s frontrunners, this first race ended in mechanical woe for her.

Words & Photography: Matt Wragg

Today marks a decade since the Enduro World Series held its first ever race in Punta Ala, Italy. Ten years ago, enduro was a very different to the global sport we see today – it is easy to take for granted all the things that needed to be figured out. We forget that as riders began arriving in the quiet Tuscan seaside resort, nobody knew if it would even work.

I had spent the previous year chasing Italy’s Superenduro series, plus a few smaller races, so I had probably shot more enduro races than anybody I was shooting alongside that day. I had also been living in Punta Ala that winter, so I wanted to use my knowledge of the sport and the area to capture the story of the day, so I paid a friend’s wife to drive me around on her scooter all day. That meant I could shoot every single stage that day and follow the front of the mens’ race. The downside of that is that I missed everything else – the women, the privateers, the less serious side of the racing.

All eyes were on Jerome Clementz going into this first race. More than anybody else at the time, he figured out how to race and win in enduro – the year before SRAM were actively introducing him to journalists, so that when enduro made it big, they knew who to follow.

While he presented himself to the world as a fun-loving, easy-going kinda guy, the fact was that at his heart, Jerome was a pure racer and the details mattered to him. A final pre-flight check before the race.

Literally the first podium in EWS history.

The first riders to head out onto an EWS race course – Cedric Gracia and defending Superenduro champion Davide Sottocornola.

Jared Graves and Dan Atherton prepare to head out onto the course.

For some reason the organisers thought that pairing long-time DH rivals Nico Vouilloz and Steve Peat together for the race would be a good idea – I’m not sure how close the pair ever when they were racing… That said, I would love to know what those two were chatting about.

Steve Peat didn’t get far from the start before his first puncture – I’m not sure how he managed to flat on a road transfer, but Greg Minnaar and Brian Lopes were there for moral support.

The climb up to the top of the Bandite trail area where the longer tracks of the race lay was a punishing fireroad grind.

This photo actually got Fabien Barel in a trouble at the time – race rules stated that while on track riders must be wearing a helmet properly at all times. It may seem silly now, but the dilemma was whether you sweat it out in a full-face helmet or risk carrying a second open-face lid. So for Fabien to lift his full-face like this to help him breathe more easily was not received well by some.

With his riding buddy dealing with a flat further down the transition, Nico Vouilloz tackles the climb solo.

Sadly, Davide Sottocornola was one of the riders who didn’t ever quite make it when enduro moved to the global stage. The number one plate he is running here denotes that he was the 2012 Superenduro champion, not to mention the sleeve. He was undoubtedly the fastest man in Italy at the time, yet he struggled to reach the same heights at the EWS. A few years before, Jerome had tried to sign him to his Cannondale programme, but Davide preferred to stay on a smaller, Italian team. It may not have worked out for results, but he did get a tricolore Marzocchi fork to race…

Jared Graves was one of the big unknowns coming into the opening season. There is not question about his all-round talent as a bike racing monster, he loomed over Clementz in the pits, massively outsizing and out-bulking him. But for the first year, it was the little guy who came out on top, Jared took a little longer to figure out how to win at enduro and went on to take the 2014 series title.

How the race was won. There was a lot of talk about the spirit of enduro in these early days. The idea that enduro was friendly, easier-going affair… Most people showed up on the race weekend, practiced and raced. Fabien read the rules closely. Back in those days Superenduro made the courses public well ahead of the races so people to encourage more people to visit the location as they understood that driving tourism was the cornerstone to their business. After looking at the profile, he realised that the race could be won on the longest stage, Rock-Oh, so came down before the race to learn that track by heart, because the rules said that was allowed. The result? Well that’s Greg Minnaar in the background who he overtook on track.

Nico Lau was one of the riders, along with Jerome Clementz, who was expected to do well at this new discipline. Sadly his first outing did not go to plan and a mechanical derailed his hopes.

Jerome Clementz on the rocks of Rock-Oh.

Transferring between the pits and the two trail areas, there we long kilometres of meadows to enjoy.

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In the days before live timing and apps, riders would pass around the results sheet to see how they measured up to their competitors,

Jerome gets ready to head back out onto course for the afternoon.

Sam Blenkinsop came in with a reputation as one of the fittest downhillers out there – a sixth on the day was his reward, the top result for anybody who did not go on to be a series regular.

Dan Atherton looked like he was set to be one of the dominant forces in enduro racing, but it never quite worked out. I hope Dan would forgive me for saying that he never seemed to enjoy enduro racing that much and he seems much happier with what he’s doing now.

Jerome Clementz concedes that race to Fabien Barel – I always thought this was an important image, that right from the very beginning sportsmanship was a big part of enduro racing.

Jerome debriefs Jon Cancellier, then head of SRAM’s Blackbox programme, on his racing.

Steve Peat soaks in the post-race interview. Of all the downhillers, it is a shame Steve never really got into racing enduro, as the talk at the time was that he was scary fast as an on-sight racer and could do seriously well if he committed to it.

The womens’ podium for the day – Tracy Moseley, Emmeline Ragot and Cecile Ravanel.

Fabien Barel takes his bow as one of the first-ever winners of an EWS race. In many ways his victory was an example of racing at its purest – he read the rules and pushed them to the limits in search of victory and it is his name that will be written in the history books as the first EWS mens’ winner. The tension at the time came from an idea that enduro racing was supposed to be something else, but if we look at how the sport has developed, maybe he just understood how the game was to be played before anybody else.

Punta Ala