With the nerves out the way, the Enduro World Series returned to some slightly soggier stages that it enjoyed during the opening round.
The second round of the 2021 Enduro World Series stayed put in Val di Fassa but with a slightly different format. Friday evening saw the Pro Stage catching a lot of riders out, with a re-run of the original three of the four stages from Saturday.
U21 Women
Polly Henderson would not have it her way in round two with Sophie Riva showing that she can transfer her downhill World Cup winning skills to enduro with a 25 second win over Jess Blewitt. The Scot would have to settle for third with Anna Newkirk not far back in fourth. Expect these four to be trading places all season.
U21 Men
Jamie Edmondson would make it two from two, but only by a whisker. After 31 minutes of racing, he’d beat Luke Meier-Smith by 0.69, with the Scot taking two of the four stage wins in the process. No doubt these two will be having a good ding dong for the rest of the year.
Master Women
Leonie Picton did it again. A clean sweep of all four stages with just shy of a fifty second margin on second place Stepanka Fejola Nestlerova. Can anyone beat the Kiwi this year? At this rate, we’d say maybe not, but it’s a long old season.
Master Men
Karim Amour would yet again pull a near two minute gap on second place, with all four stage wins. The battle for second between Michael Broderick and Nigel Page went down to the thousandths of seconds, the CRC Nukeproof manager rocking his new Barry Sheene liveried Giga for this round.
Elite Women
The Pro Stage wreaked absolute havoc with the women’s Elite field, with a good result on Friday evening seemingly having no bearing on Saturday’s race. Only one of the eventual top 10 overall would get themselves inside the top 10 on the Pro Stage.
Melanie Pugin would shrug off the Pro Stage with a 10th, then win two of the remaining three stages. 3rd would be her worst finish on Saturday. She’d come away with the win and a 35 second margin. Morgane Charre would prove that she’s well up for the fight for the overall with second.
Harriet Harnden would prove she can mix it with the Elites with a third overall, backing up her stage win from mid-week. Isabeau Cordurier would be just off the podium but seemed happy enough with her riding this week. Ella Conolly would be back on form and into 5th.
Healing vibes to Bex Baraona who took a real slam on the Pro Stage and didn’t race on Saturday.
Elite Men
At the sharp end, the Pro Stage did not cause too much havoc in the running order. Moir and Rude would be out front and trading stage wins. Moir would prove his mettle, battling a blown shock on the Pro Stage to end up second and come home at the end of the race with a monster fourteen and a half second gap on Rude.
Charles Murray made good his stage win from earlier in the week by taking third.
Sam Hill would be off colour throughout and finished in 43rd, some two minutes twenty off the pace. Will we see the three-time World Champion back on form in La Thuile?
