French reign supreme in exhilarating first-ever UCI Mountain Bike Enduro & E-enduro World Championships in Val di Fassa, Trentino

A groundbreaking inaugural UCI Mountain Bike Enduro & E-enduro World Championships saw France take a clean sweep of the four titles on offer as Isabeau Courdurier, Alex Rudeau, Kevin Miquel and Estelle Charles became the first riders in their disciplines to don the iconic rainbow bands.

The snow and ice that greeted the 240 competitors above Canazei, skiing capital of the Dolomites, had largely cleared before the start of stage one meaning improved grip on the trail but leaving behind slippery frozen roots and rocks to set up an abrasive day of racing in Val di Fassa, Trentino.

Enduro (EDR) riders needed to tame 42.4 gruelling kilometres and a staggering 2,800m of descent, and both races were decided on the tough and technical Ciasates finale.

Alex Rudeau (France) won every men’s stage apart from the last, but never managed to strike a decisive blow, instead inching away from Louis Jeandel (France) and Richie Rude (USA) kilometre by kilometre. That methodical work left him with a 25-second buffer for Stage 5 and the ability to throttle back, though fellow Frenchman Jeandel did anything but and won the final run, going into second place by 1.4 seconds and demoting Rude to bronze.

Meanwhile Isabeau Courdurier (France) also started Stage 5 last after the women’s reseed, protecting a lead of less than eight seconds after Melanie Pugin (France) had pegged her compatriot back on Infinity SE. But the irresistible French national champion held on to celebrate the end of her full-time Enduro career in the best way possible, while teammate Morgane Charre survived three huge crashes on her last run to cling onto third by a handful of seconds ahead of GB’s Harriet Harnden.

The women’s E-enduro (E-EDR) race saw Estelle Charles take a commanding lead in the opening loop before Florencia Espiñeira Herreros (Chile) came storming back in the shorter 20.7km loop two. The Chilean took 11 seconds back in the third quarter, but Charles stopped the rot in style on the final power stage and could afford to play things safe on the last stage to claim the win.

Kevin Miquel (France) won the men’s E-enduro title in markedly different circumstances. Fifth after the opening run on Titans, he slowly but surely clawed his way back first onto the podium with a scorching win on Infinity SE, then into first on the penultimate stage.

Compatriot Adrien Dailly had looked unstoppable until that point but came unstuck on the short uphill Becherle power stage, and ultimately failed to finish meaning Andrea Garibbo (Italy) secured a silver medal on home trails and France’s Kevin Marry was third.

CONTRASTING STYLES EARNS SAME RESULT FOR RUDEAU AND COURDURIER

The last rider to clinch his rainbow jersey in Val di Fassa, France’s Alex Rudeau was the most dominant rider of the day in terms of stage positions but still wasn’t home and dry until he crossed the Ciasates finishing line.

The men’s runs on Titans didn’t produce anything like the same field spread as in the women’s race, with the top 22 riders separated by 22 seconds. Rudeau edged ahead of American Rude and Australia’s Corey Watson, who stayed just a second behind Rude on stage two but lost out badly on Tuttifrutti to end his challenge for a medal.

Gregory Callaghan and Jack Menzies remained in the chase for Ireland and Canada though, as Rudeau extended his advantage and Menzie’s teammate Jesse Melamed continued to learn why the district’s trails are included in the Gravity Card with another crash.

Only 3.2 seconds split silver medal position from fifth ahead of the penultimate run but Rude and Jeandel finally created some distance on the longest stage of all while Rudeau bolstered his cushion, clinching gold and leading a French 1-2.

Rudeau said: “It’s just amazing, I’ve dreamt about it for so long, my first individual UCI World Champion’s jersey so I’m super proud of the team, all the work that we’ve done, my coach, everything. And it was a good time to don it, because tomorrow I don’t know for who I will ride, I don’t have any plans.”

Courdurier was the woman to beat early on, defying a very loose dropper lever to explode into a 13-second lead over Pugin with back-to-back stage wins. That would be the widest that gap would extend all afternoon though, partly exacerbated by crash after crash on a toxic opening run.

Barely a rider finished without a rip or tear to their kit and sixth seed Rebecca Baraona played no further part for GB, who took a further blow when the highly tipped Ella Conolly (Great-Britain) hit the deck on the next stage. But things did improve with Harnden’s second place on Tuttifrutti, gaining time on Courdurier and Charre with Pugin the fastest of all.

After an uphill Infinity SE section wreaked havoc in practice, Stage 4 was surprisingly a much cleaner affair. Only Harnden needed to dismount out of the favourites, costing eight vital seconds to Charre while Pugin also eroded Courdurier’s lead ahead of the climax.

Courdurier gave a champion’s response though, adding 3.5 seconds to her margin of overall victory and taking the rainbow jersey a week after Harnden pipped her to UCI Enduro World Cup glory in the season finale at WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Loudenvielle-Peyragudes (France).

“I don’t have any words, so I guess I’ll just say it’s amazing,” Courdurier said. “I just don’t know, it’s insane. I didn’t want it to finish, my career at Loudenveille in ninth, losing the overall in the final one. I really worked super hard this week to really deliver a performance I can be proud of. It was a true fight with the conditions, the snow and I just kept focusing and it paid off. How could I finish my career on a better podium than a full-France podium? I’m just so happy.”

CHARLES AND MIQUEL SPRING ELECTRIC DOUBLE SURPRISE

Ryan Gilchrist (Australia) and Florencia Espiñeira Herreros (Chile) racked up a 998-point combined margin of victory in the UCI E-enduro World Cups, but both came unstuck on an unpredictable afternoon.

Espiñeira entered the women’s race as hot favourite just a fortnight after sealing a dominant UCI World Cup overall victory, almost 3,000 points ahead of seventh-placed Charles. However, the Frenchwoman was the class of the field in Italy and forced the flying Chilean into second place by half a minute. She took 27 seconds of that in the very first stage with Espiñeira failing to find any purchase on a course that had changed dramatically from yesterday’s practice.

Riders arrived with the mountainsides looking more akin to the conditions when Trentino plays host to the iconic cross-country Tour de Ski after Christmas, but the trail gripped up overnight and Charles took full advantage. She put further time into her rivals on the first power stage – flying up Bridge 72 like the paragliders that frequent the Dolomites and their excellent updrafts in summer – with Raphaela Richter of Germany initially Charles’ closest competitor.

However, Espiñeira recovered from her initial struggles to overhaul first Britain’s Tracy Moseley, then Richter thanks to a Stage 5 victory and eventually put almost a minute into the German. The battle for the final medal was much closer though, thanks to trouble for Richter on stage eight. She lost more than half her lead in just 200m to leave Mosely only five second behind but rebounded decisively to win the finale and claim bronze.

“I’m really happy to win, I was on the nerves all day, so I need to calm down now a bit! I just want to enjoy it with the team,” Charles said. “It was very slippery, fun to ride on. We waited so many years to have the UCI World Championships so, for E-enduro, it’s really cool to finally have one.”

In the men’s race, Kevin Miquel showed good things come to those who wait. A decade after he missed out on rainbow bands in Lillehammer (Norway), he was perfectly placed to take advantage of misfortune for French teammate Adrien Dailly.

Dailly scorched through the first loop to hold a 10-second lead over Andrea Garibbo (Italy) at the recharge break. But after an uncertain stage 6 and 7, it all fell apart on the final power stage. No sooner had Miquel hoisted himself into second as the fastest man on Infinity SE, he was first and Dailly was out of the picture. With an advantage of just 0.176 seconds over Garibbo, it was all to play for on the last stage but Miquel held his nerve to finally claim a rainbow jersey.

UCI E-enduro World Cup winner Gilchrist had a hit-and-miss afternoon, finishing four stages on the podium and four outside the top 10 as his mission to claim the rainbow bands faltered. A resounding stage 8 put him just about in touch with Kevin Marry who struggled on the destructive Becherle the Australian requiring 15 seconds in 1.4km on the Ciasates finale to secure a medal.

But the pair could barely be separated and Marry made it double delight for France on the podium.

Miquel said: “I really don’t believe it. It was a super hard day, emotional day because I had some mechanical issues, so I was thinking the day was ending just before the end. Step by step my mind was better, to finish first for the first UCI World Championship. I missed the jersey in Cross-country Eliminator 10 years ago, so now when I’ll put the jersey on, it’s really a dream and I’m also super happy for Estelle, my teammate.”

A HISTORICAL EVENT FOR MOUNTAIN BIKING

Chris Ball, Vice President of Cycling Events at Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, global promoter of the first-ever UCI Mountain Bike Enduro & E-enduro World Championships said: “Val di Fassa and the region of Trentino are renowned for its long-standing tradition of hosting top-tier mountain bike events. They have once again demonstrated its capacity to tackle the organisational demands of a UCI World Championship. The local organising committee faced challenging and unforeseen weather conditions that required adjustments to both the course and the schedule. Thanks to the team’s swift and effective response, combined with their extensive knowledge of the terrain and the discipline of enduro, the organizers provided a course that was both safe and demanding, delivering a race truly deserving of a first-ever UCI Mountain Bike Enduro & E-enduro World Championships. The essence of enduro was fully realized in Val di Fassa Trentino, with the unpredictable weather emphasizing core enduro values such as improvisation, adaptation, and resilience. The result was a remarkable and exceptional event, fitting for the international stage“.

“The Dolomites, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, provided the perfect setting to give this inaugural World Championship an epic atmosphere. The unexpected snowfall made the event even more extraordinary, elevating it to legendary status. We couldn’t have asked for a more breathtaking backdrop to celebrate such a memorable day”, said Nicolò Weiss, Director of APT Val di Fassa.

Highlights with top stories from the racing in Val di Fassa, Trentino will be published on UCI’s YouTube channel on Tuesday, September 17 and broadcast on Eurosport on Thursday, September 19 at 17:00 (UTC+2).