ENDURO RACE COVERAGE | Combloux UCI Enduro World Cup

The village of Combloux in the Haute-Savoie region of the French Alps might have been making its first appearance on the UCI Enduro World Cup stage, but this corner of France’s status as the beating heart of the format makes this weekend’s racing something of a homecoming for the sport.

Its debut WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series course wasn’t welcoming riders with open arms though, providing a stern test across six stages featuring 2,530m descent, while the total course (including liaisons) would see competitors tackle a 39.2km with 1,685m elevation gain. Combined with a slick track from rain earlier this week and baking hot conditions, and the field had their work cut out for them just to make it to the finish line without succumbing to time penalties.

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The UCI Mountain Bike World Series unites mountain bike’s major formats under a single brand for the first time. The new UCI Mountain Bike World Series includes the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup for Cross-country Olympic (XCO), Cross-country Short Track (XCC), Cross-country Marathon (XCM), Downhill (DHI), Enduro (EDR) and E-enduro (E-EDR).

Comprehensive coverage from the races captures the excitement through exclusive interviews, analysis, reactions and event highlights. In-between events and through the off-season there are regular features covering technical and rider-based topics. All embedded with the latest mountain bike action from the world’s best riders.

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[Music] [Music] we are Al through every detail [Music] matters you can’t let any second go to West time is a super tight it’s hard to stay focused eyes are always on the pr put everything on the line you’ve got to dig deep we’re all fighting for that TOP Step good day trend setters welcome to the Magnificent con hoo here in France we’re lining up for round four of our UCI uro and Induro World Cup Series there have been some incredible performances in 2024 so far which means our World Series points battle is up for grabs on every single level we have a stunning brand new venue here in kblu Ho SVO and the racing is going to be just as spectacular let’s check out what our athletes have in store now on the roll out Riders will take a gondola to a pedal liaz on stage one a mixture of natural and physical Trails will start the day the longest liaz on to stage two will begin at the rider’s raw and natural stage stage three is as technical as it is physical and will be a key part in today’s race stage four is by far the most technical and challenging Trail of the entire day Riders will take a second Gondola before a pedal liazon stage five the penultimate stage stage six will be the longest the highest speed and the fastest stage of the entire race classic Alpine weather greeted riders with heavy thunderstorms amongst the summer heat and a brand new course in comu Ho savoir awaited a nod to the classic French Enduros of yester years this ho savoir course would challenge riders in every aspect of in Euro racing from stage roll out riders with leaz via chairlift onto rolling Alpine Meadows to arrive at stage one conditions would be triggy to start and difficult for many had handen struggled with the slip and slide nature wrestling her way down the stage in one piece but slightly off the pace in sixth Ray Morrison opted for some dramatic bike changes in the leadup to prepare for the unpredictable conditions the reward was a strong fourth place series leader isabo cier would suffer a slight Dera mechanical midstage but held on for third Ella Connelly enjoyed the difficult stage and started her day with a second place Morgan Sha enjoyed the condition and rode off with an air of magic about her to claim the stage one Victory jar leads by 3 seconds ahead of Connelly despite the mechanical mishap cier Trails by 6 seconds really physical I think because it was a bit mudy and it’s drying you need to push out on the pedals a little bit of dry up top kind of made you bit more secure than you should have been I think and then into the woods and The Roots were out and it was like a river our Elite men’s category was joined by some familiar faces of our UCI e and Juro World Cup start list including series Contender Ryan Gilchrist Dimitri torto started well despite the testing conditions Hugo Pon started the day with an impressive fourth place the yeti Fox Duo continues their strong season form with slavomir lucasi claiming third and series leader Richie Roode sliding into second a fresh face but no stranger to the UCI and Euro World Cup Podium Luke Maya Smith will take the first stage of the day times are tight with Roode sitting 1.4 seconds behind Luke Meers Smith lucasi and pigon are a M7 Seconds Apart kind of dry and fast but this uh River Crossing and uphills are nasty like it takes so much energy from me with the heat rising the long draining liaison would begin to take its toll on the Riders as the day progressed W Haddy hen continues to search for her flow on the technical slippery stages and claims fifth just behind Ella Connelly in four French athletes dominated stage two with Melanie pan taking third gadura overcoming her drivet train issues claims second and sha taking her second stage victory of the day but the Brits fought back on stage three with handen and Connelly replacing Kura and fan for the second and third spot bouier would settle for fourth while Morgan sha continues her magical home soil ride to make it three for three the mid- race overall looks like this despite struggling with Mechanicals and the tightly AIS on times isabo korer sits 12 seconds off the lead in third Connelly remains in second and sha holds a healthy 11sec lead I can’t believe it I think we’ve been out there 5 hours now we still got like three more stages to go it’s wild wild Times best l in some place is but uh is riding pretty good he so F stage two times are extremely tight with a mere 5 Seconds separating first to 10th Charlie Murray would ride into fourth and Richie Roode would play Third Italy’s Miro vendemia continues his strong season form to slot into second on home soil Alex Rau stepped up to claim his first stage win of the day tight racing and close times would continue on stage three as lucasi recovered from from a stage two mishap to claim fifth just behind a resurgent Jack moer in fourth Richie Roode stays in touch in third behind a charging Charlie Murray in second rudo maintains his form to claim backto back stage wins after three stages of racing our overall standings has rude passing Maya Smith for the lead J Murray takes third and despite taking two stage wins rudaux sits in fourth place just 6 seconds off all the arena just like cutting the rout so nice and yeah really fun out there just pushing hard every stage is dry the next one so you got to just like keep on turning up the pace handen claimed fifth place as she searched for her speed on the unpredictable stages despite battling illness hjan claims another for isabo maintains her consistent Championship ride holding on to third Ella Connelly riding carefree and confident maintains second and speaking of confidence Mor surged to a fourth stage win the overall mirrors the stage four results with isabo now 22 seconds back in third just over 2 seconds behind Connelly in second Moran Sha’s dominance rewards her with an impressive 20 second lead since stage one I’m having some Mechanicals so I’m trying my best to save time but it’s really tough transfer are super tight so I don’t have a lot of time to do what I can on the top and yeah I’m struggling today it’s a hard one thank you succumbing to huge crash on stage four Chie Murray fell back to 11th Place Stone was rewarded with a top 10 stage result after an impressive six while climbing the overall rankings Lucas sik returns to the pointy end claiming fourth Richie Roode would also crash but recovers to take third spectacular return of Daniel Booker in presses as he claims second on the most technical stage of the day but it was Alex rudaux who has his eyes on the prize in front of his friends and family to take his third consecutive win as the physical and tightly aans take their toll stage one winner Maya Smith slides down to fifth place while the familiar faces of Charlie Murray holds down fourth and lucasi third the battle for the lead emerges as a two-horse race rau’s dominant run lands him just under two seconds back from the now overall race leader Richie Roode Alex rudaux it’s been a physical physical start to the day stage four was a big one yes big one but super cool I it’s drier than yesterday and yeah really it Riders now fac two demanding stages that stage five would set the scene for a battle royale after 6 hours in the saddle Ella Connelly would slightly falter and slide back to fifth on the stage her first time outside of the top three puan continued the fight and held on to Fourth isabo Kier not riding with the aggression she is searching for would have to be content with yet another third Harriet handen finds the speed and form she’s been searching for for claiming an ecstatic second despite managing a leaking rear tire Sha’s impressive dominance continues claiming her fifth successive stage Victory sha predictably holds on to her healthy lead as she extends the gap between herself and curer Connelly drops down into third the penultimate stage would see Richie Roode slightly falter to place fifth Luke Meer Smith rebounds to claim third keeping his Podium hopes alive Alex rau’s winning streak would end as takes second but gains valuable time on rude in the overall it would be Jack Moyer putting an end to Alex’s dominance taking the stage win by a marginal 167 of a second Luke returns to third keeping his Podium hopes alive Richie’s mishap on stage five now sets up The Ultimate Showdown heading into the final test of the day just 0.052 now separates Alex rudaux and Richie Roode it’s been a huge day out in the mountains for our elad leetes Riders are still out on course right now it’s time for us to take a break but we will see you [Music] shortly what a spectacular location here in con BL in the hoir region of France while we’re in France they have some of the most talented and fastest uro Riders we have ever seen what makes them so fast we caught up with them earlier to find out I started when I was really young but just like pretty much every the kids that just had a bike and I would just like ride in the in the garden I start with b miix race at 9 and I ride like from some years and after yeah I just W to mountain bike it was like more more fun I did my first bike competition in bike Tri when I was 7 years old my first race was at 5 and then straight after I joined the local Club it’s been so many years from now I think there is like two types of riders in France like the one who lives really in the South and are who rides lot of rocks and like Dusty terrain and the other one who lives like or in NE or stuff like that and they like often ride like mud and wood I think it really helps the French Riders to be able to ride on different kind of ter French fans they love it they love the sport I think it’s just like a a sense of party we bring into the sport it’s amazing to see all the fan and people so yeah it’s something special they are not afraid to be loud they are not afraid to come with a you know like crazy stuff they love to support the French as well and also your other writers but probably especially the French I’m deep fried Caro I’ve had a fun but tough day honestly I’m completely empty right now so I’ll try to go smooth and pedal where I can I I love this Teran it’s it feels like home um and yeah now I’m I’m getting a bit tired yeah it’s uh it’s tight I think it’s like 05 and yeah that last stage on stage five I really wanted to push and make a little bit of a gap CU I was like if I do that feel more confident coming to this last one cuz Alex has been pretty on it it comes down to this the fastest and longest stage of the day com blue 4.2 km remained for our Riders to solidify their place in the fourth round of the UCI and Juro World Cup here in con BL H savoir despite the threat of a flat tire Morgan sha would rely on her years of Championship experience to ensure a faultless final stage she settles for fourth physically exhausted isabo rallied to take third place in the final Ella would continue to ride carefree and smooth on stage six to take second as hadie held on to her late race form and claimed of the victory on the final stage she showcased her Superior physical form the final overall standings has Harriet Harden in fourth Ella Connelly claims an impressive third place thanks to a day full of consistent stage results the defending Champion dug deep to earn second place with five out of six stage wins and in front of her parents friends and family Morgan sha would be rewarded with an ecstatic victory at home in France claiming the win by a commanding 23 seconds um really happy to keep it consistent today some really physical stages with wet spots dry spots you had to push and then hold back and yeah so I’m happy to stay on my bike now with such a few rounds and so intense racing you can never like stop pushing you really to dig deep on every single race I loved it and I had such a good feeling today I was feeling really confident so I’m so happy with my riding and I had so much fun and really happy to take the win now overall Championship Standings have little movement from round three cier maintains her lead with handen following closely in second an impressive day of racing from Morgan cha sees her overtake Connelly to claim the third overall spot with Ella dropping to Fourth a pressure packed finale between Richie Roode and the French national champion rudo awaits with 052 between them there is nothing left to chance with his heart and soul on the line rud’s final Corner mistake would prove loly as he would have to settle for eight on the stage Richie Roode would Thrive under the immense pressure despite a slight mistake he salvaged fourth Jack moer would continue his late race form and come home with third slir recovered from earlier mistakes in the day returning to Second Place Luke Meers Smith would take his second stage Victory proving his late entry to be worthwhile what an exhilarating way to and a huge day Charlie Murray would hold on to sixth to keep his championship hopes alive and slir lucasi comes home in fourth Alex rudaux suffers a costly mistake on stage six which relegates him to a respectable third Luke Maya Smith makes his UCI in Juro World Cup return in emphatic style but Richie Roode would Prevail and come out Victorious yet again I was so close from Richie at the top of the stage so I knew it was a big one a physical one and Richie is normally better than me on physical part so I said okay you have to push I pushed to my limits bit too much I crushed after the pedaling part I yeah didn’t really expect this um just was having fun all day it was good yeah to test my fitness and stuff I wasn’t really sure where I’d be and yeah definitely surprised myself so stoked yeah when I was in it I was like man this is my stage I can push hard and you just keep the momentum going and really kind of loving it just in there and trying to FL and I feel like those like you know top of the world stages where you’re just flowing and trying to push super hard Richie Roode maintains his first place in the overall Championship with lucasi bypassing Murray for second Alex Rau now sits in fourth what a spectacular day of racing that’s mimicked only by the views the dust almost dust has just settled from our UCI and Juro World Cup racing the times were tired and the action was a plenty don’t go anywhere our UCI and Juro World Cup action is coming right up Loop one of our UCI e Enduro World Cup here in con BL hoo encompassed some favorites from the previous day of uro racing with a slippery and Technical power stage to [Music] start Greg weather is better than predicted right up your alley yeah loving it loving it it’s been a while since we’ve had like a fully wet race really consuming you know like sticky on the ground yeah it’s really tough our season overall Champions would struggle in Loop one number two Gilchrist finishes the loop in fifth place almost 24 seconds behind really really proud of how I’m riding um hard conditions out there bit of a setback a Leo gang and I’m just putting that past me and overall leader Jose boures would face a similar fate and rolls into the Taz in 15th Place Hugo pan taking the confidence from his results in the UCI and Euro World Cup sits in second place just ahead of Damen oton in third after two stage wins Anton R would head into the technical assistance Zone leading the race I’m just not taking too much risk we just need to P our like really OD the French dominate the leaderboard as positions one to four bear the red white and blue [Music] George Swift takes her first stage win on stage five and finishes the loop in fourth position High bikes Alia melini would stay consistent in the first Loop staying within the top three on every stage she sits in third position after the first Loop Flo espan despite winning two out of the first five stages would end the loop in an unfamiliar second position there’s nothing in it considering how technical this race is what do you need to pay attention to here uh give it all for the win or nothing but it is frenchwoman Estell Charles who comes into the technical assistance Zone almost 5 Seconds ahead of espan yeah it’s impossible not to crush if you want to go fast Charles leads over espan by almost 5 seconds with marcelin in third position Laura Charles remains wanting as she sits in seventh so common thing we’ve heard from the Taz zone is a lot of riders tried to go with dry tires to start the day and that was not the right choice the or guys over my shoulder are going to go to wet tires for Loop 2 hopefully get a bit more grip bit more stability on these wet and treacherous conditions Loop 2 would begin with a power stage followed by four slippery and Technical stages the everchanging conditions would prove treacherous for Riders as they navigate bike setup and the the drying conditions with five stages to go it is all to play [Applause] for after struggling in Loop one Yeti Fox Racing Ryan Gilchrist takes two stage victories to finish the day to be able to pour it back and to win those last two stages like I think that’s more more special to me the winning finale Antoine Rose despite struggling on the power stage stayed within the top three on four out of the five remaining stages it was so much fun but was uh it was tough so like the Damon would ride a smooth Loop Two showing his skills on the power stage as well as the downhill stages after a hectic day in the mountains the elite men’s results would look like this Ryan Gilchrist battled through a disappointing Loop one to take third just ahead of Hugo Pon in fourth Damen oton would take the silver medal home after an impressive and consistent day but it would be Frenchman Antoine Ro who would finish the day Victorious although finishing third overall on stage seven and eight a huge mechanical on stage eight ended melini’s race George Swift confident from a stage win in Loop one would keep a name in the standings and stay close to the battle of Charles and espan Flo espan and Estell Charles continued their battle and it would be the overall series leader espan who would find enough gas in the tank to take the final two stage Wings despite this frenchwoman Estell Charles capitalized on her early lead after Loop one and kept the gap between espan with three stage wins in Loop two yeah clearly there is my parents and they don’t come often so yeah it’s quite cool so yeah just for that it’s cool to win in Friends specialized Estell Charles takes Gold by over 5 and a half seconds here in con hoo George Swift would take her best UCI urro World Cup result to date as she takes the number three spot on the podium the battle between Charles and espano was decided and for the first time this season espan loses the battle and takes home Silva Florencia espan keeps their leadership Jersey as they remain leading the overall Championship ahead of Laura Charles and Sophia vidro Ryan gilas returns to the top spot and now leads the overall with Jose boures dropping to Second ahead of Hugo Pon in third what an incredible two days of racing here in con ho savoir the UCI andur and E andur World Cup racing has been spectacular almost as spectacular as the views here in this brand new venue we’ve got two rounds left to go for our UCI Ando and E andur World Cup Series you can stay tuned to all the action on Euros Sports cycling and UCI Mountain Bike World Series social media channels we head to another French round I’m getting getting well adjusted to my French culture here and then onto a brand new venue in alch Glacier in Switzerland stay tuned and we’ll see you track side [Music]