Wow this course looks gnarly, there is going to be carnage. https://www.pinkbike.com/news/ews-france-course-preview-video.html

looks awesome. my money is on another win for hill.

Looks great – I really like the Caroux for walking and climbing, Never actually ridden a bike there!

It’s quite different terrain to most of Southern France. The Caroux massif is a big lump of granite, so the rocks, soil and vegetation are very different to the stereotypical limestone countryside all around. Looks like most of the trails will be free from the piles of slippy chestnut tree leaves that build up in the autumn, and most exposed rock will be pretty grippy. But it’s steep round there!

Looks incredible. And gnarly.

Really looking forward to the footage. Although it looks very difficult to cover due to all the trees.

Some more preview from Vital with the photogs
https://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/features/SVEN-MARTIN-VS-ENDURO-WORLD-SERIES-FRANCE-Course-Preview,35410/sspomer,2

My mate is there racing this weekend. Got some updates from him yesterday. Loads of climbing! So much so, as he was climbing he was thinking it was beyond him. He says the descents are very very rocky and technical and after the the long climbs, it’s pretty shagged for the ride down.

Stats yesterday were 31 miles, 8300 ft climb! Bear in mind he has to do the other stages today and then race them sat and sun. He will be shafted. I’m not sure what the score is with uplift, but the elites will be getting plenty of practise using uplift and feeling relatively fresh for the race, plus having ridden the stages more than once. Not saying that a privateer will get anywhere in results, but sounds like you are screwed if you don’t have uplift for these events.

He also raced Inners and pmba graythwaite the last 2 weekends (and has driven to all). Basically he’ll do incredibly well just to get round.

Mountains look stunning though. I didn’t realise they were so big. France has it all doesn’t it!

I thought uplifts were banned? Didn’t Dailly get penalised for using one in the Colombian round.

Tracks look amazing though. Good to see Ric walking one section!

looks brutal and fun!

Yeah  Baller says, a little secret ” i didn’t ride this bit last time”

Dailly didn’t use uplift. Very misleading article. He didn’t follow correct transition route.

I expect it’s down to venue if uplift are banned. That s7 was the first my mate rode. Looks terrifying Tbh. Not fun for most except very top riders. Fun to ride with mates, but not fun to try and race unless you know it well. It wouldn’t be out of place for a DH race

Stats yesterday were 31 miles, 8300 ft climb!

Holy moly. I did 25 miles and a little over 3300 last weekend and was feeling pretty smug about it!

EWS rules say this about uplifts for this round

Training Days: Racers can use vehicles to transfer to the start of Stage 1 (Day 1) and
Stage 5 (Day 1) – but shuttling between stages will not permitted during training.

Superfli, The rules this year are that riders are only permitted to do one training run of each special. They have marshalls at the start of each trail with the full entry list and tick off the racer number before they’re allowed to set off.

As far as privateers are concerned, here’s a punt for you: Youn Deniaud on the podium this Sunday. 😎

Our daughter is out there, Feedback from yesterday is that the trails are awesome but hard and she is feeling it in her collar bone which she broke 8 weeks ago.

One slashed front tyre on Stage One practice which held with a couple of plugs, some super glue and the sealant did it job. She has saved her spare tyre to fit for the race.

Going to be a long weekend for me not been there.

Fair enough if only allowed 1 run each. I hope you don’t have to practise each stage as my mate is having day off to save his legs. Racing blind for one of the days is probably better than being too fatigued.

Sounds brutal.

Nephew has just posted on FB that he is out, crashed and suffered broken rib.

That looks brutal 😳

Holy Cow … that looks brutal and incredibly steep and rocky even with the GoPro effect….

Riding it is one thing but at race speed … that looks beyond gnarly… nothing but respect for anyone who can ride that at race speeds.

Abigale is back from practice. Get the impression that she has had a better day. Will be keeping my fingers crossed over the weekend that all goes well

People say it looks hard and technical, think about the race the area is know for the Epic Enduro it’s like the 2 day EWS in one day. You have to love a bit of French rocky tech.

My money is on Sam if he has no mechanicals but a lot of the French riders will be up there, Flo And Dimtri of the Canyon team are ones to keep an eye on too

I thought it looked ace. Much better than the dusty/muddy first two rounds. Good test of riding, for sure.

Rude in the top spot after day 1. Hill 30s back.

http://www.enduroworldseries.com/live/live-results/

No1 spot on all three stages as well.

Can’t believe how tight the times are over 6 minute stages. 3 seconds separating 10 riders. Unreal

Jesus. Spoiler alert for day 1 results in a thread titled course preview would have been nice.

Dont worry, nairnster, Rude will have a mechanical or a puncture like he usually does, probly.

That and the fact that it’s lashing it down right now and the forecast isn’t looking like much of an improvement in the morning. It’s going to be very messy tomorrow

Is there any footage of the racing anywhere ?

Good luck to Abigale!

misswintonThe spirit of Enduro was strong yesterday… here is the story: so, it started with me unknowly dropping a selection of items… like my jacket which @beckycookracing picked up for me, then my goggles and cheek pads for my helmet which @edmasters @remigauvinmtb and @richie_rude1 spotted on the way to stage 2 and kindly brought them up…. then a puncture at the end of stage 3 which didn’t cost me any time in the stage but did require a 14min effort on a flat at an average HR of 178 (My average for stage 3 was 180) to make it back to the pits before stage 4 for a rapid tyre change… can’t thank Cecile @ravanel_mtb enough for pushing me a good chunk of the way back and kept me trucking hard all the way even when I started to fade and a huge thanks to Becky and the boys for being lovely humans helping the numpty out and my amazing mechanics @tywest33 @althelizard for a quick tyre change so I could race stage 4. PHEW. Less drama today heopefully, times are tight and tracks are WET!!!#fearintheeyes #ews #drama #butwemadeit

from Katy Winton’s insta feed, sounds like a tough day!

Mate snapped his brand new burgtec carbon bars and lost a stage!

Sounds tough out there!

Good to see the Man child  back on form, we have a competition.

Tracey, Abigale is one tough cookie! As she looks like she took a nasty stack last weekend at Steel city, (I be still limping about milking it! 😉 )and that on top of recovering from a broken collar bone!!

Top riding.

It was touch and go as we didnt get the all clear from the Consultant that she could race till a week before. The big crash at Steel City didnt help so she travelled out battered and not as fit as she would have wanted. Rich at Fit4-Physio in Sheffield had worked wonders to get some mobility back in it. The plan was to try and finish the race and then work on the fitness when she gets back home.

I think her Instagram comment sums it up

At the time I hated it 😣 looking back over the weekend while I’m still in bed at 10:35am I LOVED it! So stoked to go home and get some more riding done before the next round now!

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Is there any footage of the racing anywhere ?

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^wot he said

I watched the course preview the other day. Mental. Sketchy!

hasnt this quote / copy function been sorted yet? surely there’s a better bloomin option than this crap?

Vital has some footage up. Jesus Christ….. One chute where so many people, including Katy wonton, go down. Looks absolutely brutal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1TI0Uw9-48 if it works

theres a quality vid on the Rideitout facebook page of the rock shoot / 90 deg corner that was catching a few folk out.

see if you hand on heart would have even seen that line let alone used it !

Just watched that Vital footage and yeah Katy’s OTB looks brutal, complete with little scream. Great to see Abigale did well and came out unscathed. She is a better rider than me hands down!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1TI0Uw9-48 if it works

Call me an Ambulance, i won’t be long ! I can’t even comprehend that !

one of the sweary northerners managed a 6th place I think. 5 minutes behind Tommi Misser

good effort Dan.

see if you hand on heart would have even seen that line let alone used it !

be interesting to see how it was ridden in the race.

that place looks awesome fun and terrifying at the same time. that rock garden at 5min on in the video!!! its kinda nice to see the top riders in the world make a complete hash of it as well….