Action came thick and fast in Tasmania, Australia. In the eight minutes it took for riders to descend the first stage of round one at the Maydena Bike Park, EDR already proved it had its rightful place in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. The stage was 4.14km long, descending 667m. It was dry, dusty, steep and fast… with some familiar downhill riders lighting up the racing.
Women Elite Stage 1: titanic battle
UCI DHI World Champion Valentina Höll (Rockshox Trek Race Team) was amongst those who had ventured from home in Europe to the season openers Down Under. She showed her mettle immediately, going quicker than France’s Morgane Charre (Pivot Factory Racing), holding the fastest time until 2022 Enduro World Champion Isabeau Courdurier (Lapierre Zipp Collective) ran, when the Frenchwoman put 3.4sec into the Austrian.
Men Elite Stage 1: Aussie strength
Troy Brosnan (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) – twice Junior downhill UCI World Champion and a podium finisher no fewer than seven times at Elite level – went fastest. “That’s messed up… that’s hard,” said the Adelaide man. “I tried to chill and not overcook it and be ready for the bottom.”
His fellow Australian and National Champion, Luke Meier-Smith (Giant Factory Off-Road Team - EDR), who competed in every downhill round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup last year as well as numerous enduro races, went faster. Then their compatriot, Dan Booker (Nukeproof SRAM Factory Racing) went faster still.
Big names of enduro and downhill set about chasing them down, including Canada’s Remi Gauvin (Rocky Mountain / Race Face Enduro Team) along with the top three from last year’s EWS (Enduro World Series): Canada’s Jesse Melamed (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Enduro Team), Belgium’s Martin Maes (Orbea Fox Enduro Team) and USA’s Richie Rude (Yeti / Fox Factory Race Team).
Only Rude managed to make the top-three of the first stage. With five more stages to go, the top three men were Booker, Meier-Smith and Rude.
History makers
Stages 2 to 5 were shorter but dramatic. Höll and Courdurier each took more wins before the Austrian crashed on stage 5, dropping time.
In the men’s competition, just four seconds separated the top 5 men before Melamed punctured and rolled into the technical assistance zone after stage 3 in 71st, slipping to 8th overall. Brosnan won stage 4, crashed on stage 5 and dropped to 7th as Meier-Smith edged out Booker. Relentless drama!
On the final stage at Maydena, 4.9km long and descending 800m, riders set off every 30 seconds.Despite a broken chain Ella Conolly (Cannondale Enduro Team) came 3rd, the first of a trio of Brits – Conolly was followed by Rebecca Baraona (Yeti / Fox Factory Race Team) and Harriet Harnden (Trek Factory Racing Gravity) -, leaving two French women to decide the top spots. Charre won the stage and Courdurier held on to make history, taking the first ever UCI Enduro World Cup win!
The Men Elite’s 6th stage remained on a knife-edge until Booker and Meier-Smith ran last, and it was the new Giant Factory rider who won by just 0.02-sec to claim both the stage and the UCI World Cup round. “So stoked, I just kept it clean all day!” said Luke Meier-Smith. With Australian Connor Fearon (Forbidden Synthesis Team) holding off his Canadian team-mate Rhys Verner for 3rd, the all-Australian podium was reminiscent of the French clean sweep of the downhill podium at Les Gets in the 2022 UCI World Championships.
Derby day
After Maydena, the EDR circus travelled to the North-East of Tasmania where Derby – host of EWS races in 2017 and 2019 – welcomed the second EDR round of the 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. Round two’s 42.2km dropped 1400m as the cowbells and chainsaws brought the European DHI vibe.
As Australia’s Zoe Cuthbert joined Britain’s Harnden and Baraona on the first Women Elite podium, Yeti Fox team-mates Rude and Slawomir Lukasik (POL) took the first of a series of 1-2s in the Men Elite competition. Courdurier was suffering from a practice crash injury while Meier-Smith struggled with illness. Melamed’s stage 3 win promoted him to 3rd as Rude extended his lead to 4-sec over Lukasik.
Into stage 6, British women held the top three spots ahead of the French pair who had dominated a week earlier. Rebecca Baraona ran last, winning the stage by 1sec and taking the UCI World Cup round by 8-sec from Harnden, with Conolly +25sec.
Melamed got onto the second round Men Elite UCI World Cup podium (3rd), and Rude crossed the line 1.8-sec quicker than Lukasik to take the round victory by 7.6sec from his team-mate.
Rebecca Baraona leads the Women Elite overall standings with 847 points from Courdurier (830) and Conolly (778). Richie Rude’s 782 points put him top in the Men Elite standings ahead of Booker (708) and Meier-Smith (689). But it’s far from over: the season-long battle for overall dominance in EDR will keep fans gripped.
Next up in the 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup it’s cross-country Olympic (XCO), cross-country short track (XCC) and cross-country marathon (XCM) in Nové Město na Moravě (CZE) in May, while EDR returns at Finale Outdoor Region (ITA) in June.