RACE COVERAGE | Finale Ligure UCI Enduro World Cup

Enduro is back! The 2024 UCI Enduro World Cup season burst into life in the home of enduro, the Finale Outdoor Region.

The best in the world were all set for a five-stage test across 57km of trails, taking in 2570m of descending, deep into the mountains above the Ligurian sea in northern Italy.

Enjoy!

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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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Oakley: https://www.oakley.com/

[Music] [Music] what [Music] you got to be pushing 100% all the time it’s always important just being consistent a lot of things that have to come together winning feels pretty sweet for an overall you have to have everything when you look at the time sheet it’s so you know like difficult to actually win today when I race I’m here to win for sure want to win one again I really want to get that champagne taste again it’s always the goal to try and win anybody in the top 10 is a rival I’m fting ready I think in the women’s feel everybody’s biggest rival is Isabel probably is everyone wants to be Isa I would love definitely to go for the overall this season again big rough physical long intense pretty Savage maximum effort unpredictable oh pretty Indescribable feeling D was tough oh that is so nly good day Tren sitters welcome to the opening round of our 2024 UCI uro and E and Juro World Cup we are in the iconic finale lagur and we are in store for a fantastic week of racing here it’s been a long offseason but our athletes are ready and raring to go and our larian Coast always offers up a spectacular weekend of racing let’s check out the course now and see what’s in store for our athletes the UCI Enduro World Cup course here in Finale laga takes our athletes deep into the mountains with five stages covering 57 km and over 2500 vertical M of descending take in all of the classic uro Trails starting with base NATO we then move into stage two engineer the longest stage meets the Riders on stage three Super Gro at 7.2 km long and over 650 M of vertical descent stage four is Rocky Jani which promises a whole lot of Technical and physical features and we round off the day with a crowd please a classic downhill men’s well we know where we are and we know what we’re doing and it’s about time we show you some racing our athletes gathered in the Piaza to grab their timing tips and head immediately to stage one let’s go and check it out right now the first stage of the first UCI and Euro World Cup of the season was every bit as brutal as we expected with bikes and bodies being tested to their limits this rude awakening courau Riders off guard but just how physical it was as the heat built the speed lifted and so the rider exertion mate that’s the the flowy one and it’s hard so hard I going to get my best back first stage is super physical but the other one after will be more physical so yeah it’s a like a warm up I don’t know not too bad that was hard though I don’t know how the others are going to Morgan sha put down a fantastic run at 5 51.9 that secured her third place on the stage ahead of her was Canon’s Ella Connelly after a dramatic last season for Connelly it’s great to see her in the mix once again but neither of those runs could match the reigning champ isabo korer who ended the thir stage of the day with a 6C lead over Connelly so this is what the result sheet looks like after stage one we’ve got our top three but their positions are anything but secure with Tre Factory racings hatti Haren just under 2 seconds behind we have Italian naden elosta in the mix in fifth place and raphaela RoR and NOA kareim round out the top 10 [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] in our first wave of elite men Miro vendemia was in there like swimwear and put down a heater he was in the lead as our group a seated men were dropping into the stage and kept that lead until orb’s Martin ma bested him by just over a [Applause] [Music] second and despite slipping a pedal our men’s reigning Champion Richie Roode took out the stage win by almost two seconds Jack you’ve got a bit of dirt on your knee there what happened up there stage one trying to push uh it’s that last corner right hander just wash the front but other than that good after stage one our results look a bit like this rud’s teammate slavomir lucasi is chomping on the heels of the top three on the same second as vmia despite a crash mamed is still in the fight only 5 Seconds back taking sixth place on the stage after a testing liaison to stage two our Riders had no time to catch their breath dropping straight into our second stage of the day in janir Fier seemed to be feeling the heat as she dropped back and took fourth place on the stage hatti hen climbed back from her fourth place on stage one to take her first stage win of the Season Morgan sha bested up her stage one result and took second place on stage two El Connelly stayed in the mix with a third place on engineering after stage two cador’s lead is getting tested in the overall her 6sec lead from stage one has been sliced in half to put her 3 seconds ahead of Morgan sha the gap between the top four and fifth place raphaela RoR is an impressive 9 seconds yet Ray Morrison is quietly making moves and returns to the top 10 after stage two drama ensued for our men’s race on stage two fan favorite Jesse meled could only take a 17th on the stage Italian Miro vendemia seemed to be motivated by the larian fans and grabbed a fifth place specialized Charlie Murray took third on the stage ahead of Martin Mae who took fourth but it was a Yeti Fox Factory racing double on stage two with slir lucasi only 4 seconds behind his teammate Richie Roode who took the stage win now overall for the men’s race after stage two has little movement Roode has opened up the gap between himself and Maize and extended his lead to almost 7.5 seconds Charlie Murray enters the top 10 in style and is now sitting in fifth place Greg Callahan Dimitri torto and Adrien de round out the top 10 many riders struggled with with the tily aison times and it proved that it was not only the core stages that were reminiscent of the early days of uro with yet another physical stage stage three super Groo gorier took another hit in the rankings to fifth place on the longest stage of the day despite a crash Ray Morrison took an impressive second place with Ella Connelly hot on her heels in third py Hon’s offseason training seems to be doing her favors as she quickly takes her stage win count to two for the year the longest St of the day stage three proved to be the defining moment in both overall battles isabo kodura has slipped two places since stage one and now sits in third place overall but it’s a great British one and two as Harriet hen and Ella Connelly take the spots respectively we’re here with L and Morgan Morgan’s it’s a very physical and fast start to the day yeah it’s really physical and we don’t have much time to get to the stages so it’s really like a Marathon today we’ll let you carry on to the stage big big physical stage 7 km for stage three how was that that was so Savage I felt like I was just running like a passenger between all the climbs and flat sections and yeah just trying to hang [Applause] on Richie rud was feeling the effects of the physicality on the course and had to set off for fifth on the stage Jesse meled bounced back from his mishaps earlier in the day and took third on the stage 4 seconds back from Charlie Murray who took the number two spot stage three seemed to take a liking to slir as he takes his first stage win [Music] Legion times are pretty tight but it’s quite nice for me it’s like uh you don’t have time for like make boring and or something so it’s pretty exciting and it’s feed me well pretty so physical just crazy I think one of the most hardest R of my life unfortunately due to an incident on stage four in the under 21 women’s category this stage was cancelled and they were redirected to the fifth and final stage downhill men’s well just like the weather here on the larian coast things are really starting to heat up from our race day stay tuned for all the action from the final stages as I go and get a lemonade and some more sunscreen [Music] well I’m having a great old time down here by the beach but all my buddies are still up on track racing their little hearts out over 13 km so far 1,500 vertical meters of descending on a super hot day to start the season stage five is upcoming we headed out on the track earlier this week to check it out let’s take a look on a track like downhill men’s your line selection is he it’s such a garly track and it’s the kind of track that it’s like a roller coaster once you strap in you’re in that line until the very bottom now as you pop out of the trees there is some lines that will develop the left hand line in this particular section is the tried and true you know exactly where it goes but on the right this inside Line’s going to develop it is risky it is gnarly but remember we’re chasing the smallest of time gaps here and this section funnels into the next bit it’s a massive scenario of risk first reward it’s mainly looking for what not to do on this stage last line of the day I just want to make it home safe you have to be careful and check the the good one yeah I’m not sure but inside or outside I have to check oh not like this oh y teammate don’t do that here I’m going to see where I come in and where I end up I think if there’s a Highline after this corner but I’m not Hing that High Line cuz there’s quite a pool to get onto it so I think it matters less where I go around the corner so wherever comfortable and flow I’ll go L seems like you got to set up quite early on a lot of this track ehy maintain that momentum yeah definitely and the loose surface makes it quite tough to do that what does that feel like to come through here with such a crowd like it’s like a tunnel isn’t it yeah it’s amazing it’s there’s nothing like it like DH man is Iconic so it’s yeah it’s I’m really really St us back in the course and we got that feeling again [Music] this is where the results for the first UCI and Euro World Cup will be decided ill Connelly charged her way back onto the podium with a strong third place on the final stage Morgan sha managed to take the second spot on the final stage but it wasn’t enough for a Podium spot isabo would recover and lean into her years worth of experience as she took the final stage win of the Season which secured her the second step of the podium to kick off her 2024 campaign but it was hady Harden who thrived in these physical conditions and despite taking a fifth place on the final stage she kept her lead from stage three and this is how we round out our first UCI and duro World Cup of 2024 in the women’s field we have some familiar faces return to the top 10 with Ray Morrison sitting in fifth place Melanie puan in seventh raphaela rcta remains wanting as she settles for sixth place a commanding lead from Hardon sets her up perfectly for next week last time we were in Finale was a very or in this region was a very different situation um so it feels good to come here and make and have like a positive experience you know being back on GH man it’s so amazing I think every Spectators are going to see it from the from the images it’s insane it’s such a cool moment with all of the Italian cheering for you and I’m super happy I will take that with me for sure oh it feels amazing I definitely didn’t think this was going to happen I actually don’t think I’ve been so doubtful of my abilities before like before the race and then actually completely turned it around and yeah I don’t know came out pretty good the physical strain from the first three stages visibly took its toll as their attention turned to the final stage Italian local mirco vendemia does his homeland proud and finishes the day in fourth place Martin May conquered the formid B downhill mens and took second place specialized Charlie Murray put down an impressive run taking third on the stage and Slots him nicely into second place for the day the battle between the teammates was down to under 1 second between slavomir and Roode disaster struck lucasi on stage five with an early front flat tire which would spoil his chance for his first World Cup win Roode Focus his energy into the wild and famous stage to put in a dominant performance bringing home the win in true Richie smash fashion our men’s overall result at the end of the day has last year’s number two Jesse meled 30 seconds behind and taking sixth place on the day just ahead of Greg Callahan slavomir lucasi would have to settle for fifth place Richie Roode took a commanding lead with 15 seconds between himself and second place which went to Charlie Murray Martin ma returns to the podium in style to take third place for the day after a difficult uh 20203 PR season it’s good to be back on the podium first race um yeah just super happy the way I rode h of hard work um big shout out to the coach Brad Shaw always keeping me honest but also had a lot of time off to kind of reset and uh get the Mind fresh coming into the season which has helped a lot pretty stoked to get get that first win out of the way it feels like you can kind of start the season maybe like a little more relaxed and I know everybody else would be kind of wanting to push more and more so yeah feels good to do that I didn’t get out way what a spectacular start to our 2024 UCI in Juro World Cup season opener here in Finale lagura now round two we head to a brand new venue bco baa in Poland and that’s right that sound you can hear that’s the fans screaming already we cannot wait to get stuck in and right now let’s check out all the action from our UCI Ean dururo World Cup let’s take a a look at our UCI e and Euro World Cup course here in Finale stage one base NATO riders with then Le a to stage two for kabanka from kabanka we head back through the hills to inine from inine we head across the valley and start with our longest stage Super Gro after the Taz Zone Riders will have their first Power stage of the day stage five legano from stage five they head to the purpose built stage six borderline from borderline Riders will head back up to the rocky Jani trail from stage seven Riders head to stage eight and drasa for heading to the coastline for Stage Nine downhill mens [Music] Loop one had a battle straight out of the line as Tracy Mosley dominated the first three stages taking the first stage win and only 0.7 seconds behind Alia marcelin on the second stage yeah really good one big uh lift to the top and then we’ve just been pedaling all day since so it’s just awesome the trails out there there’s so many turns we saying it’s almost like Corner fatigue from just constantly left right left right left right trying to stay focused for yeah a lot of racing time already so B Ace Florencia esera last season’s number one squared up to Mosley’s time and headed into the technical assistance Zone The Leader by 6 seconds we had to save battery we were going only tour for the Leons for me it’s tough to race this kind of stages that are flat and easy but that’s where the gains are tricky to get so a massive part of this iano race is the Tech Zone the technical assistance Zone Riders got to come back and swap battery get their bikes ready bodies ready fuel themselves up and what’s going on here right now in the Tech Zone what are you getting ready for yeah just getting ready for them to come through do bolt check tires battery change and make sure everything’s safe no issues physical start to the day here you’re straight into the technical assistance Zone how was 1 2 3 4 oh honestly I’m just riding my bike having fun painful stages but I know that uh pain means Fast Times so the more of that the better and I think there’s a lot more of that to come someone tell me if I isas I say know pretty much all the time over the engine so light bike was definitely the the bike to have we had a different stage winner for one two and three the overall heading into the Tech Zone was decided by stage four Ryan Gilchrist came out on [Music] top Loop two started with a bang Laura Charles moved up in the rankings after Loop one to take home third place away from Alia marcelin who dropped to six Mosley and espir are swapping stage wins all day to the Finish [Applause] Line despite losing three stages out of five to Mosley it was the final stage that sealed ESP panero’s fate they kept their lead from luk one to come out Victorious ahead of Tracy Mosley defending the title everybody expects you to do good and first race of the season you never know how you how it’s going to go and the heat out there didn’t make it easy that’s why I trained for I was in Chile so I’m used to this [Applause] temp Ryan Gilchrist seem to struggle on the power stages handing the two stage wins to Kevin Mary and Thiago Ladera despite this his lead after the power stages were sitting strong at 25 seconds ahead of Jose boures in [Applause] [Music] second he would follow up his Loop one success by taking out two of the three stage wins after the power stages which was enough to get him the gold every time there was something painful I made it my business to go fast and go faster than anybody else big years just getting started and I hope we can keep the ball rolling Ryan Gilchrist takes the top spot with his first win in the I Ando category with Jose boures and CER caman just behind him in second and third the French dominate The Men’s top 10 with five 6 7 and8 going to Damen oton Daman jordano Kevin Marie and Hugo Pon Flo esera continues their domination from last year and takes the top step ahead of Tracy Mosley and Laura Charles Sophia ven Roth sits hungry for more in fourth place Louise Pauline and Justine Henry round out the women’s field in finale L what a weekend of racing now I did miss being on the starting line but there was more than enough excitement down here on the beach watching from the sidelines stay tuned to all of our racing action and all things mountain bike on our social channels UCI Mountain Bike World Series and eurosports cycling and we head to a brand new venue so stay tuned as we check out bco baa in Poland just next weekend ciao a [Music]