Bike
MTB Enduro
Get up to speed on the 2021 MTB Enduro World Series
A condensed, undiluted MTB stage-racing knowledge nugget designed for digestion before the 2021 Enduro World Series season kicks off in June.
The ninth season of Enduro World Series (EWS) racing will get underway in June for 2021. It continues to be a challenging time for organisers in putting on racing but the good news is that there is racing to be had in what's regarded as one of the planet’s toughest cycling tests.
Here, then, is everything that you need to know about the 2021 season.
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How does the format work?
The easiest way to think of MTB enduro racing is to think of it as a car rally on bikes; competitors have a number of stages on which to compete against the clock and have to get to the start of each under their own steam and to a set timeframe. The times on the stages add up to represent the overall competition.
Once they leave the pits in the morning, Enduro World Series racers have to be self-sufficient. They carry their own food, tools and spares and the only other people who can work on their bike (outside of official tech support zones) are other Enduro World Series racers. They're given start times for each stage, it’s up to them how early they can get to the top and prepare for each timed run, but failure to drop in on time results in time penalties. Racing among the pros is ultra-tight, even on stages as long as 12km in length.
Check out the enduro racing skills of Enduro World Series racer Richie Rude in the MTB RAW episode below:
2 min
Richie Rude
Watch as Richie Rude rips his recently opened Rude Awakening trail at Vermont's Burke Mountain.
Where does the championship go?
This year's Enduro World Series has now been confirmed to being nine rounds. All the rounds will be taking place in Europe.
Val Di Fassa in Italy will be the starting point for the 2021 Enduro World Series campaign and will be a double round. Following that is is another double round at a different Italian stop in La Thuile. There's a final double round in Loudenvielle, France before single rounds of competition at Crans-Montana, Switzerland and Pietra Ligure, Italy. Scotland hosts the finale of this years Enduro World Series.
The Trophy of Nations (ToN), which sees national teams of three compete in a combined event and was introduced in 2019, won't run in 2021.
Round
Venue
Date
1 & 2
Val Di Fassa, Italy
June 23-27
3 & 4
La Thuile, Italy
July 8-11
5 & 6
Loudenvielle, France
September 2-5
7
Crans-Montana, Switzerland
September 9-12
8
Pietra Ligure, Italy
September 25-26
9
Tweed Valley, Scotland
October 2-3
What are the bikes like?
Top-flight enduro race machines will look familiar to anyone who rides mountain bikes on the weekends. They tend to have between 150-180mm of suspension travel front and rear and chunky but single-crown suspension forks. Perhaps more than any other MTB race bike, enduro bikes have to keep compromise firmly in mind due to having to temper brutally steep trails against long days in the saddle.
Nukeproof Mega 275 Carbon RS
© Nukeproof Bikes
Brakes are, naturally, on the large side and tyres are an ever-evolving thing as companies vie to out-do each other in a battle of grip vs rolling resistance. Basically, in a sport which has compromise and balance at its very core, these bikes are among the toughest. Any mechanical breakdown can spell disaster.
Who are the riders to watch?
In recent years, the elite women’s category has been dominated by Cécile Ravanel. The Frenchwoman won the overall title in 2016, 2017 and 2018 but her title challenge in 2019 was a non-starter after suffering a massive crash and a spinal injury that put her out for the season. Isabeau Courdurier, the rider that had been second to Ravanel in the 2017 and 2018 overalls, would go on to dominate proceedings in 2019, winning all the races featured in the eight rounds that took place last year. That's quite the achievement.
Courdurier on her way to winning the 2019 CamelBak Canadian Open Enduro
© James Stokoe/Crankworx World Tour
Ravanel is now fully healed, so we can expect quite the French shoot out between her and Courdurier when racing resumes in Zermatt. Other notable names to look out for in the women's category include Israel's Noga Korem, who was consistently in the top five of the races she competed in last year. Britain’s Bex Baraona had an excellent 2019 season with multiple top ten positions, as did New Zealand rider Rae Morrison.
Pedro Burns will be competing in the truncated 2020 EWS season
© Jean Louis de Heeckeren/Red Bull Content Pool
In the elite men’s category, the big news is that downhill legend Sam Hill will not be racing the 2020 series and will be staying at home in Australia. Hill has won successive overall titles in the last three years. The 2019 championship title race was a close battle though with France's Florian Nicolai in the hunt.
The title was only decided on the final stage of the EWS season in Zermatt. Nicolai was leading the Championship going into Zermatt, but the points for finishing second in Zermatt alongside bonus points for winning that final stage saw Hill jump above Nicolai in the overall standings. With Hill not involved now, Nicolai goes into the 2020 races as the man to watch.
Nicolai has been Mr Consistent in enduro in the last few years
© James Stokoe/Crankworx World Tour
Enduro World Series round winners in 2019 included New Zealand's Keegan Wright and Ed Masters, Richie Rude of the USA and Belgium's Martin Maes. Rude took three rounds with Maes taking two. Both Rude and Maes will be aiming to repeat that form going into the five races for 2020. Other names to look out for include Greg Callaghan, Pedro Burns, Jesse Melamed, Kevin Miquel and Adrien Dailly.
Richie Rude always supplies fast, dramatic action when racing Enduro
© Matthew DeLorme/ Red Bull Content Pool
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