The women’s race was the same old story, with Anne Caroline Chausson and Tracy Moseley reigniting the battle that has dominated the last two seasons. In the end it was Anne who led the stage wins with five of the seven and Tracy taking only two. Cecile Ravanel’s consistency throughout the day paid off, earning her the third step on the podium.
30m high geyser
Contrary to women's racing, the men’s competition was full of surprises. The first big one actually came already in practice, when reigning World Champion Jared Graves announced a shoulder injury picked up a couple of weeks earlier would prevent him from racing.
Anne Caroline Chausson
Meanwhile Jerome Clementz and Fabien Barel marked their return from injuries by taking first and second place - capitalising on their strong results from Finale at the end of last year. The second surprise was Kiwi downhiller Wyn Masters storming his first EWS to take third and delighting the home crowd in the process . Needles to say that this is a stunning result for a racer from outside the discipline!
Jerome Clementz; Photo: © Chester Boyes
New Zealand riders had a strong presence in the race with three riders in the top 10, including Justin Leov finishing fourth. Special mention has to go to Florian Nicolai after an impressive first five stages he won stage six - only to get a rear flat on stage seven - although he kept pushing and it was enough to secure fifth overall.
Hard crashes, mud or rain couldn't stop anybody kicking off the 2015 mountain bike season with a brand new stop on the Crankworx circuit - Crankworx Rotorua.
One of the world's best downhillers Sam Hill was also making his EWS debut - taking both a stage win and ninth overall - and it’ll be interesting to see how he fares at round two in Ireland in May.
Men:
Jerome CLEMENTZ (FRA) 35:20.46
Fabien BAREL (FRA) 35:33.19
Wyn MASTERS (NZL) 35:35.67
Justin LEOV (NZL) 35:36.70
Florian NICOLAI (FRA) 35:44.13
Women:
Anne Caroline CHAUSSON (FRA) 41:20.94
Tracy MOSELEY (GBR) 41:35.23
Cecile RAVANEL (FRA) 42:39.78
Anneke BEERTEN (NED) 44:45.68
Meggie BICHARD (GBR/NZL) 45:30.43
Next up on the Enduro World Series calendar is County Wicklow in Ireland on May 24. Stay tuned!
Photos: © EWS/Matt Wragg
Source: http://www.enduroworldseries.com
