Race Day Photo Epic: Bielsko-Biala EDR World Cup 2024 – Pinkbike

The UCI Mountain Bike World Series made its Polish debut with the opening race of this weekend’s Bielsko-Biała UCI World Cups. Enduro got the action underway at the Beskid Mountain’s venue, and athletes were tasked with five technical, twisting stages that took in 36.5km of trails and 2,074m of descent. Unlike last weekend’s race in Finale Outdoor Region, it would be a new experience for most riders who would have to adapt quickly and learn fast on the constantly changing course.

Stage 1 saw riders take on the Kamieniołom trail, a 2km stage that featured 275m of descent on a technical, rocky course. The local crowd was out in full force, experiencing a World Cup field of riders on their home trails for the first time. Early casualties on stage one included Dimitri Tordo, who was left battered, bruised and in 42nd place, and Martin Maes, who was forced to abandon after he was unable to fix a puncture that he suffered at the bottom of the stage. Midway through saw the first drops of rain, which would go on to play a crucial role in the rest of the race.

In the Women’s race, Harriet Harnden showed that she thrives in these unpredictable conditions, recording multiple stage wins to open a 2.2-second lead over Isabel Courdurier going into the final stage.of the day. Unlike last week, where Harnden had enough of an advantage to take it easy on the final stage, the gloves were off in Bielsko-Biała, and riders threw caution to the wind. It was Courdurier who landed the winning blow, the experienced rider showing why she won four of last season’s seven UCI Enduro World Cups and improving on her second place in Finale. It wasn’t to be two-from-two for Harnden, who lost more than two seconds to Courdurier on the stage to finish just 0.236 seconds behind in the overall, while Chloe Taylor settled for third, Estelle Charles fourth and Ella Conolly in fifth.

The men’s race would finish even closer, and it would be heartbreak for Poland’s Slawomir Lukasik, who won three consecutive stages but missed out on his first World Cup win by 0.095 seconds. Murray was the man to break the local’s hearts, retaining the position he’d held since stage two and just doing enough on the final stage to take his first-ever win at an Enduro World Cup. Last year’s overall champion and last week’s winner in Finale, Richie Rude, would finish third overall, with Jack Moir and Jesse Melamed rounded out the top 5.

With two races in the history books, Isabeau Courdurier and Charlie Murray take the leader’s jerseys into the next round in Leogang, Austria