Day one of racing here in La Thuile for the fourth round of the Enduro World Series saw two new stage winners in the form Damien Oton and Rene Wildhaber. The Aosta Valley was a brilliant host with weather as dramatic as the backdrop of soaring mountains. Day two started with Tracy Mosely, Anne-Caroline Chausson and Cecile Ravanel battling it out in the women’s category whilst the men’s had four players in the mix; with Damien Oton, Francois Bailly-Maitre, Joe Barnes and Rene Wildhaber separated by a matter of seconds.
The weather looked interesting – sunny at the bottom, but the riders were starting up in the mist and patchy snow, with rocky trails that were either patchy with mud or dusty on the way down. Unfortunately for him, Jared Graves had a few issues with his chain jumping off the cassette towards the end of the stage, but coming 5th isn’t a failure by any stretch.
Tracy Moseley put in a stunning performance this weekend. She won one stage by 45 seconds over legend Anne-Caro, and didn’t even realise it until later! Nico Lau, usually one of the biggest of big guns, had a bit of bad luck flatting on stage 1, but pulled it back to claim 2nd on stage 5 later on. It’s all in there, complete with scenes of François Bailly-Maitre collapsing with exhaustion in the finish arena. Give it a watch!
If you missed it, here are the videos from the last few days:
