Three days of racing over seven stages in everything from baking sun to hail storms is over at the Enduro World Series in Colorado. The local bike had the best start Yeti and Jared Graves could have asked for. Tracey Moseley battled with Anne-Caroline Chausson all weekend and maintained her lead in the overall but the gap got decidedly smaller, now at 50 points.
DAY 1
The race weekend started out in the bike park and in the Men’s race it was time for the young guns to shine. Richie Rude took both the stage wins ahead of team mate Jared Graves and downhill racer Mitch Ropelato took 3rd spot on stage one of his first Enduro World Series race. Another first of the weekend was Anneke Beerten who took the first stage win and the first of her EWS career. After being consistently in the mix with the top ladies she took the win and over the weekend she closed the points gap to Cecile Ravanel in the overall to just 10 points.
Stage 1
Mens | 1st Rude – 2nd Graves – 3rd Ropelato
Womens | 1st Beerten – 2nd Chausson – 3rd Moseley
Stage 2
Mens | 1st Rude – 2nd – Barelli – 3rd Graves
Womens | 1st Chausson – 2nd Moseley – 3rd Beerten
DAY 2
For day two the riders started out in the bike park but then went off piste to unridden stages away from the bike park. Graves started the day with a bent rotor after catching a rock but with some well places blows with a stone got things working again. Team Yeti still dominated with another one two but the places changes with Graves ahead and Rude in second. Rene Wildhaber landed 3rd place on Stage 3 and after this weekend’s racing is now just 20 points behind Leov in the overall. Joe Barnes has been improving all season after his podiums in Scotland and La Thuille, he couldn’t get there this weekend but a third on stage 5 showed he’s still got the pace.
Tracy Moseley took a win on Stage 3 but it was Chausson who landed wins on the other two stages of the day. Beerten couldn’t quite get to the podium places on the second day, it was Cecile Ravanel, Isabeau Courdurier and Yet’s Rosara Joseph who were chasing down the top two on the longest day of the weekend. It wasn’t just the men who had brake issues either, Hannah Barnes would need her rotor straightening out before the race was over, great to see everyone mucking in when things go wrong.
Into the wilderness and Graves was on fire, he powered through to win the last two stages of the day. Anne-Caroline did the same and both riders went into the final day with a good lead.
Stage 3
Mens | 1st Graves – 2nd Rude – 3rd Wildhaber
Womens | 1st Moseley – 2nd Chausson – 3rd Ravanel
Stage 4
Mens | 1st Graves – 2nd – Rude – 3rd Ropelato
Womens | 1st Chausson – 2nd Moseley – 3rd Courdurier
Stage 5
Mens | 1st Graves – 2nd – Barnes – 3rd Wildhaber
Womens | 1st Chausson – 2nd Moseley – 3rd Joseph
DAY 3
With an extra day of racing in Colorado it was key to balance the efforts made on days one and two with the final stages not letting the riders relax for a second. Unless you are Graves of course, he took the day steady and with a 40 second lead he was relatively comfortable but one mechanical and he could have been out of the running. He kept his foot on the gas for stage 6 but then let off on the last stage where Richie Rude landed another win with Ropelato in second and Justin Leov in 3rd.
Leov mentioned that it took him until the last day to get into the riding here and with Moseley suffering with the thin air just showed how tough some of the tracks were.
Even if Tracy was finding it tough she still managed to win both stages on the final day of racing but it wasn’t enough to dent the lead of Chausson. Tracey Hannah followed the lead of the young DH racers in the Men’s category and got 3rd place on the last stage of the weekend.
Stage 6
Mens | 1st Graves – 2nd – Wildhaber – 3rd Rude
Womens | 1st Moseley – 2nd Chausson – 3rd Ravanel
Stage 7
Mens | 1st Rude – 2nd – Ropelato – 3rd Leov
Womens | 1st Moseley – 2nd Chausson – 3rd Hannah
Every stage in the men’s race was won by a Yeti rider and with only two departures from the top two positions for Richie Rude it was a hell of a weekend for those boys. Graves became the only rider this season to win more than one event and with two events to go has a 190 point lead over Damien Oton of the Devinci team.
The Women’s race saw Anne-Caroline Chausson take the win and diminish Tracy’s points lead to just 50 going into the penultimate race in Whistler. If Anne-Caroline can reproduce her win at Crankworx last year the last race of the season could be the decider for the women. It was also a race that favoured Graves as he took the win over Clementz with that stunningly fast last stage.
DirtTV will be there to capture all the action from Whistler and if you missed any of the videos from the weekend then check them out here:
Full results below:
