This weekend we’re looking forward to the final round of the 2019 Enduro World Series at the stunning new venue of Zermatt, Switzerland. After some unbelievably close EWS racing a few weeks ago in Northstar, it’s almost certainly going to be another battle to the very end in the men’s category. The overall title is most likely down to Sam Hill and Florian Nicolai.
Zermatt is a new EWS venue, so none of the top-dogs will have a home race advantage. It’s also a big change for the last round – traditionally held in Finale, Italy. The scenery under the Matterhorn mountain is incredible, with what looks to be an amazing trail network mixing high alpine, technical switchbacks through the forest and lots of natural singletrack. The weather looks pretty good for race-day, which is Saturday.
Hold on tight, here’s what’s coming:
- The action starts on Friday, when riders will be on course all day for practice.
- This is a one day race on Saturday with 18km of racing over 5 stages, with 2875m descending. Pedal transfers add up to 28km, with 866m of climbing. The rest is by ski-lift.
- The men’s race is set to be another close battle, with series leader Florian Nicolai just 60 points ahead of Sam Hill. Sam will be going for his third overall title in a row, but Florian won’t be giving in without a fight.
- In theory, there are 3 more who could take the overall – Kevin Miquel, Adrien Dailly and Dimitri Tordo. But they would have to win and all the others have a disastrous weekend.
- Of course there are also pinners like Martin Maes and Richie Rude who will be going all out for a race win. Even if they are not in the running for the overall, after missing several races.
- In the women’s category, Isabeau Courdurier has already wrapped up the overall at the last round in Northstar. Noga Korem is safe in 2nd spot ahead of Andreane Lanthier Nadeau.
- In U21 men, Antoine Vidal is fresh back from racing DH World Champs in Mont Sainte Anne and has the EWS overall title pretty much sown up, with a solid lead over Brady Stone.
- In U21 Women, Lucy Schick has just a 140 point lead ahead of Leah Maunsell with a max of 160 points available. Another close battle ahead.
- Not forgetting the gentleman racers – the Masters Men, Karim Amour and Cedric Ravanel will be fighting it out for the overall.
- Masters Women has Louise Margareta Paulin 115 points ahead of Alba Wunderlin. There’s a max of 160 points going in this category, so either can take it.
- The queen stage (longest stage of the race) is number 5 and it could play a big part in the overall results as there are an extra 40 points for the winner
- But just don’t talk about prices… the shops in town have fancy watches on display for 30k plus! If you have to ask you probably can’t afford it!
