Meanwhile down south things have kicked off for the opening day of the Crested Butte Enduro World Series race, the first North American stop of 2015 and Round 5 of the series.

For a recap of Round 4 from Samoens, France, click here

With three days of racing, riders are to be tested to their limits, particularly while dealing with the extreme altitude in Colorado. The first day (of three) of racing is now done and very much dusted, with the preliminary results looking like this:

Men

1: Jared Graves
2: Nicolas Vouilloz
3: Francois Bailly-Maitre

Women

1: Anneke Beerten
2: Cecile Ravanel
3: Kelli Emmett

Full results

So pretty much as to be expected in the men’s top two – Graves is right at home on the physical stops of the series and Vouilloz is clearly finding his enduro groove right now – but a standout performance from Bailly-Maitre. Here’s hoping he can stay on it for the rest of the weekend.

In the women’s we’ve got a bit more of a surprise with Tracey Moseley out of the top three. That’s almost unheard of! Anneke Beerten sits in a commanding lead, 10 seconds up on Cecile Ravanel and Kelli Emmett is doing her home country proud in third.

Still, it’s day one of three, and as we have seen demonstrated so many times before, in enduro racing it really isn’t over until it’s over.