OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION – POSSIBLY ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS – SCHEDULE UPDATE
10 September 2024
It’s happened! The wait is over, the UCI MTB Enduro & E-Enduro World Championships is finally here!
13 September 2024The dust may have only just settled on the 2024 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series Enduro and E-enduro competitions, but there’s one more race before the season is over – this weekend’s inaugural UCI Mountain Bike Enduro and E-enduro World Championships.
The Italian Dolomites of Val di Fassa Trentino are about to host the rainbow jersey races. The venue has been a staple of the UCI Enduro World Cup and its precursor – the Enduro World Series – since 2019, and competitors will be treated to some fan and rider favourites, as well as new trails that haven’t featured before.
Athletes, media, and the entire organizational staff are already in Canazei. The picturesque town in Val di Fassa is transforming into the beating heart of this global event, offering the perfect setting to welcome the fans, and spectators who want to be part of this memorable challenge, where the first-ever rainbow jerseys in the history of this discipline will be awarded right here in the Dolomites of Fassa.
THE PROGRAM
In an unusual setting for a mountain bike race, blanketed by the season’s first snow, it has been decided to postpone everything by one day in anticipation of better conditions by Saturday and Sunday.
The official start will now be tomorrow, Friday the 13th, with the Opening Ceremony scheduled for 7:30 PM. During the ceremony, the 32 national teams will parade in a procession accompanied by artistic performances and light shows, followed by a welcome from the authorities in an atmosphere of lights and colors to celebrate the beginning of this historic competition.
On Saturday, the team paddock will open, and official practice sessions will be held on the race course, while Sunday will be the main event day with two races and the battle for the title. Adrenaline will peak during the final, thrilling stage Ciasates, which will be broadcast live on a big screen in the start and finish zones. The atmosphere will be electric here: the riders will give their all, cheered on by the crowd, while the leaderboard leader will sit on the Hot Seat, under everyone’s watchful eyes, until the last, decisive moment!
Here’s the detailed program: https://events.fassabike.com/schedule/
UCI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP-WORTHY COURSE
If you’re looking for a location to host a debut UCI World Championships, it’s hard to beat the Dolomites. The mountain range will provide a jaw-dropping backdrop to the all-out Gravity-fuelled racing, but its terrain will also make for some amazing racing.
The charming town of Canazei will play host to the race HQ, with the Teams Parade and Opening Ceremony taking place at 19:30 CEST on Friday, September 13, while the racing will stretch across three sectors of the Val di Fassa – Passo Pordoi, Passo Sella and the Ciampac area.
For the UCI Mountain Bike Enduro World Championships, the 178 confirmed athletes will take on five stages, while the UCI Mountain Bike E-enduro World Championships’ 46 riders will face nine stages also including three power stages.
RUDE FIRM FAVOURITE WHILE COURDURIER AIMS TO GET THE BETTER OF HARNDEN IN HER FINAL RACE
Richie Rude (USA) is already a great of Enduro, but he could cement his place at the top table of Gravity racing with a win in Val di Fassa, Trentino.
The American knows how to do it in Italy, having already won three times at the venue (2019, 2021 and 2022), and given his performances this season – winning three out of six UCI Enduro World Cup rounds and finishing second and third (twice) in the others – few would bet against him.
Charlie Murray (New Zealand), Martin Maes (Belgium), and Jack Moir (Australia) are the only other riders to have won a UCI Enduro World Cup this year, but with Moir out with a broken collarbone, it will fall to Murray and Maes to push Rude to the line. Others with an outside chance include Rude’s Yeti/Fox Factory Team teammate Slawomir Lukasik (Poland), Alex Rudeau (France), and Greg Callaghan (Ireland).
Like Rude, Isabeau Courdurier (France) has dominated the women’s field at Val di Fassa, Trentino, winning four out of five races at the venue since 2019. The Frenchwoman has also had a solid year, winning two WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series rounds and finishing on the podium three times in what is set to be her last season as a pro rider.
But glory isn’t guaranteed in her final Enduro race. Enter Harriet Harnden (Great Britain). While Courdurier has had a great 2024, the Brit has podiumed three times in Val di Fassa Trentino too, so expect the women’s rainbow jersey race to go to the wire.
Others to watch out for include Morgane Charre (France), Ella Conolly (Great Britain) and Mélanie Pugin (France) – the only other woman to have won at the venue in a UCI World Cup or an Enduro World Series race.
BORGES AND GILCHRIST BATTLE CONTINUES IN ITALY, WHILE ESPIÑEIRA HERREROS AIMS TO ADD THE RAINBOW JERSEY TO HER OVERALL TITLE
Ryan Gilchrist (Australia) may have gotten the better of Manuel Soares José Borges (Portugal) to claim the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series E-enduro overall, but neither had rounds to remember in the French Pyrenees and will want to bounce back quickly on the trails of northern Italy.
Gilchrist is arguably the favourite and knows what success tastes like. But the Australian will face stiff opposition from a trio of Frenchman who have all finished the season strongly. Hugo Pigeon, Mathieu Ruffray and Kevin Marry.
In the women’s field, it’s hard to look beyond Florencia Espiñeira Herreros (Chile), who claimed back-to-back WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series E-enduro wins back in July and won four out of six rounds.
But it is the person who beat her in these two races – Estelle Charles (France) – who poses the biggest threat. The Frenchwoman usually competes in Enduro but has opted to compete in the E-enduro UCI World Championships race in Italy, meaning that the Chilean will have to get the better of her biggest challenger to win the rainbow jersey. Other competition is likely to come from Tracy Moseley (Great Britain) and Laura Charles (France), while Raphaela Richter (Germany) could be in contention if she can recover from a dislocated shoulder suffered during the last round of the E-Enduro World Cup.
HOW TO FOLLOW RACE
There are several ways to follow the first UCI Enduro and E-enduro Mountain Bike World Championships in real-time. Live timing will be available on the official website: https://events.fassabike.com/follow-the-race/, and the race action can be followed on Instagram (@uci_mountainbike and @fassabike) and on the YouTube channel (@ucichannel). Additionally, race highlights will be available on YouTube on Sunday evening and broadcast on Eurosport on September 19 at 5:00 PM CET, allowing everyone to enjoy the event remotely.
