This weekends UCI Enduro

Not seen much about it. Bit of a shame that it’s slipped down the UCI ladder in promoting Enduro.

It’s in a new venue Aletsch Arena Bellwald, Valais

Course preview on Pinkbike looks good. Might be worth a visit if the trails are open throughout the summer.

Anyone ridden the trails. Any good for a few days

It is a small fish in a small pool. With the Tour on and Olympics about the start I’m guessing those that are control branding/marketing aren’t looking at the smaller events and enduro seems to be a small event, despite the number of people on here that follow it.

They had the last round on a Wednesday or Thursday, didn’t they? They could not give less of a **** about promoting Enduro

Moi Moi TV doing all the heavy lifting via Youtube. It’s the only enduro coverage I’ve seen all year. Come to think of it I have no idea who’s winning or doing well.

Not seen much about it. Bit of a shame that it’s slipped down the UCI ladder

Slow round of applause for Chris Ball…

enduro seems to be a small event

Except it’s not. So far this year

Round 1 – 419 racers

Round 2 – 401 racers

Round 3 – 327 racers

Round 4 – 461 racers

The organisers just dont care about it anymore since they took over running the DH world cup

It looks a great course. I was suprised that Graham Innes did the preview instead of Josh as I would have expected him to be racing

Enduro just doesn’t seem to be a great format for the screen. The UCI XC and downhill races, despite some dodgy camera work and editing have been really exciting viewing. Enduro is probably the most popular/accessible form of racing for most average MTBers.

It will be interesting to see what manufacturers/teams do after this seasons dismal coverage. I am half expecting (hoping) Yeti drops EWS and returns to DH racing with the bike they have been testing.

I think Enduro was best a few (maybe more) years ago, the you had Ric chasing someone (can’t remember who – turns out it was Chris Ball…) down the stages with a Gopro on, giving a commentary the day before the race (edit – found a link to the one from La Thuile – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAurcWQntzo&t=404s ). He’d do a 30 minute or so follow up program building the hype with what headed last time and who was predicted to do well at this course etc. Through the race weekend there’d be a quick end of day one recap with who did what and who needs to do what etc. Then after the event he did a full run down on what happened.

I remember really looking forward to those programs. Yes the logistics of filming the stages is hard, but you can still tell really good engaging story without covering every corner of every stage.

I hope that Enduro coverage increases. I know that it is less marketable – since it’s not a DH 2-3minute run. But honestly, I much prefer watching the Enduro summaries on YouTube. I like the format – I like that there is pedalling involved and fitness is clearly important. For me, the Enduro races seem to have a lot of the good stuff of DH in a better format.

however, I’m pretty sure many, or most, MTB-ers disagree and prefer to watch DH. To be fair, I love DH a lot too.

Its been moved to Sunday to be run alongside the E bike race due to predicted storms arriving

I’ve managed to spectate at quite a lot of the EWS races when my daughter was competing pre COVID and if you pick the right spots and can get between the stages then its exciting to watch

I think without doubt been at the side of the track near the end of DH Men stage in the Trophy of Nations and seeing the team riders on each others wheels flying down the rocks in unison takes some beating

Enduro just doesn’t seem to be a great format for the screen. The UCI XC and downhill races, despite some dodgy camera work and editing have been really exciting viewing. Enduro is probably the most popular/accessible form of racing for most average MTBers.

Very much ^^this^^

The format is great its more reflective of what ‘mountain biking’ is for most people, makes for a good spectator event, but is an expensive nightmare to organise TV/streaming coverage for and there probably isn’t quite the audience for it that other forms of cycling draw.

I Flipped across Eurosport the other day and the Les Gets XCC was on, which however you might feel about it actually makes for good TV and isn’t so pricey/complex to cover, they maybe had 4 cameras to cover it, both mens and Women’s Elite races done in an hour, fits a Schedule slot nicely, provides some YT content after the fact. good bang for buck if you’re a TV Exec, Cyclocross is a similar proposition, provides a tidy 2x 1hr races with optional pre-ambles to fill a Sunday morning slot or two…

Then try selling them Enduro?

“Yeah you’ll need to cover most of a mountain side for a few days if you want to cover practice/quali and expend even more effort editing that all down because you’re not going to be doing it live… and the TV audience isn’t actually that big”

The Grand Tours are different, the audience is massive across Europe and the I believe organisers own the broadcast rights rather than the UCI (correct me if I’m wrong?)…

I think without doubt been at the side of the track near the end of DH Men stage in the Trophy of Nations and seeing the team riders on each others wheels flying down the rocks in unison takes some beating

I’ve said before that I think the only way the EWS gets decent filming is to go to a pairs/trio team format and mandate that the rear rider has a camera.

I’ve been watching some of the course previews – the trails for this event in particular look spectacular. I’d be interested in trying to find a way to ride those trials afterwards. I wonderful if they’re permanent bike trails? Or at least permanently accessible in summer for mountain biking?

Absolutely stunning looking place I agree.

Yeah, I was saying to the Mrs earlier how amazing but the trails and scenery looked. Innes certainly seemed to enjoy them.

We have put it on our agenda for next years Alps trip. Was going to add it to the front of our Finale trip at the end of September but not sure if the lifts are running.

The course map is available to download for future reference but I can’t get it to save