Following a couple of weeks after the UCI MTB Downhill and XCO World Champs in Andorra is the first ever UCI Enduro World Championships! The race is being hosted in the Val di Fassa region of Trentino, Italy and will be a one day race over 5 stages. South Africa has 4 athletes racing (out of the 6 that were invited to attend) and you can find all the info below on what is going on and how to follow.
The Schedule
Originally scheduled to take place on Saturday, the race has been moved to Sunday with extreme weather predicted for the weekend including snow and sub zero temperatures! It is going to be a wild one!
Friday 13 September
20:00 – 21:00 Opening Ceremony
Saturday 14 September
08:00 – 17:00 – Course Practice
Sunday 15 September
08:00 – 17:00 – UCI Enduro World Champs
The Course
Riders will take on 5 stages totalling 2800m of descending over 14.1km worth of track. 1200m vertical will be pedalled by the riders with the remainder of the elevation gain being done in ski lifts. Here is the breakdown of the stages below.
Full course: 42.2km, 1200m D+, 2818m D-
Stage 1 – Titans: 3.1km / -634m
Stage 2 – Glühwein: 1.2km / -194m
Stage 3 – Tutti Frutti: 3.7km / -622m
Stage 4 – Infinity SE: 4.7km / -659m
Stage 5 – Ciasates: 1.4km / -244m
Our South African Riders
23 years old from the Karkloof in KZN, Keira has done several European racing campaigns over the past few years and is building speed to match the European locals! Climbing 49th at the recent Enduro World Cup in Switzerland (the best ever South African result at an Enduro World Cup), he is pushing the sport of Enduro forward for South African riders.
“Really looking forward to the race this weekend, I’ve been on a 3 month campaign here in Europe and have built up some good strength and confidence for World Champs! It’s gonna be Epic!”
Racing in Europe for the 2nd time in his career, 26 year old Jason has been focusing on training optimally for Enduro and getting in as much South African racing as possible this season.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be back in Europe racing my bike and Val Di Fassa is one of my favourite places that I’ve been fortunate enough to visit to do that! It is taking a bit of time to get used to the rough and steep trails in this area but the speed is coming and I’m getting very excited for race day. I’m honoured to be repping the SA flag here with these other guys and hope we can do everyone proud!”
Keagan is also from KZN like Keira. The 19 year old has recently switched focus from Downhill racing to Enduro.
He has also been on a big European racing campaign like Keira, learning the ins and outs of World Cup Enduro racing.
“I’ve been over in Europe for the last 4 months and it’s been good out here! I’ve just been trying to get better and better at racing.”
The youngest rider in the squad, 17 year old Luca Zietsman from Paul Roos in the Western Cape is doing his first ever international race this week! He has been chomping at the heels of the top elite racers at the SA Enduro Cups as well as going full gas on the local XCO circuits!
“It’s my first time racing in Europe and I’m super stoked to have been selected to represent South Africa at the World Champs. The European riding is definitely different to what I’m used to but I’m loving it!
Matthew Lombardi and Frankie du Toit were invited to participate but were unable to attend due to the late notice. The event was only announced recently by the UCI with guidelines for the federations on rider selection shared at the end of July. Cycling South Africa aims to have next year’s World Champs teams selected 2 months prior to the event dates to avoid issues like this occurring again.
For a bit of insight into what the riders have been getting up to in Canazei in preparation for the race, you can watch Jason’s Vlog below.
How to Follow
Jason Boulle will be sharing stories from the event over on our @wildairbike Instagram page so you can following along there to see how our riders go through practice and the racing!
Beyond that, there will be live timing from the stages here that you can keep up to date with on Sunday.
