Emmy Lan wins Loudenvielle World Cup enduro by narrowest of margins

Emmy Lan extended her Enduro World Cup winning streak with an extremely narrow win in Loudenvielle, France on Friday. The young Vancouver Island racer earned her fifth EDR win in six starts by just 0.52 seconds to take the under-21 women’s win.

Lan wasn’t the only Canadian moving fast in France. Jesse Melamed surged in the later stages of Friday’s elite men’s race to finish fifth on the day while Andréane Lanthier-Nadeau was ninth in elite women. Wei Tien Ho and Johnathan Helly added two more top 10 finishes for the Canucks in fourth and sixth in the u21 men’s race.

Emmly Lan’s day-long duel for the win

Emmy Lan rolled into Loudenvielle, the first enduro World Cup in nearly two months, looking to pick up her winning streak where she left off in Val di Fassa, Italy. Scotland’s Emily Carric-Anderson had other ideas. Lan traded stage wins and placings with Carrick-Anderson over five timed stages on Friday. Each rider won two stages but Carrick-Anderson pushed hard to take a solid win on the final stage. With Lan finishing third on the fifth and final stage, the overall victory was decided by less than a second.

In the end, Lan takes the win but by the narrowest of margins. Her fifth EDR victory of the season comes with the narrowest winning margin: just 0.52 seconds after 32 minutes of timed racing. Carrick-Anderson is second with Lily Planquart (Lapierre Zipp Collective) third.

Elly Hoskin, second behind Lan in the overall, placed fourth in Loudenvielle after several strong stage finishes. That should preserve her position in the series standings going into the final race of the year next week in Les Gets, France.

Jesse Melamed leads Canadian elites in France

In the elite races, Jesse Melamed (Canyon Cllctv) earned the top Canadian finish. The Canyon rider surged late in the day, winning the fourth stage and finishing second on the fifth and final stage to move up the ranks to fifth overall. That result keeps Melamed’s hopes of defending his series win alive. Melamed landed in France sitting third behind fellow Canadian Rhys Verner and the U.S.A.’s Richie Rude. With Rude fourth and Verner 15th in Loudenvielle, Melamed still has a long-shot chance at taking the title.

Kasper Woolley (YT Mob) was the next Canadian across the line after Melamed and Verner. The new YT signing had a stellar return after a long series of injuries, finishing 22nd in the elite men’s race. Jack Menzies (Polygon) was close behind in 25th overall.

It was the French dominating in Loudenvielle, though. After Jack Moir went off course while leading on the fifth and final stage, Youn Deniaud (Giant Factory) led a French sweep of the men’s podium. He was joined by Alex Rudeau and Louis Jeandel, both of the Commencal Enduro Project, on the podium.

The French took the top two women’s podium positions, too. Isabeau Courdurier (Lapierre Zipp) locked down the women’s EDR season overall title with another win while Morgane Charre (Pivot Factory) followed in second. Scotland’s Ella Conolly (Cannondale Enduro) rounded out the podium in third.

Andréane Lanthier-Nadeau (Rocky Mountain Race Face) was the top, and only Canadian in the pro women’s race, finishing ninth.

Wei Tien Ho leads Canada in under-21 men’s race

To keep the day’s theme going, two more French riders topped the under-21 men’s podium. Lisandru Bertini earned another win for Lapierre Zip, his third of 2023. Raphael Giambi (Specialized) finished second with Australia’s Sascha Kim (Raw Racing) ending the French run in third.

Wei Tien Ho and Johnathan Helley (We Are One) were just off the under-21 podium, finishing fourth and sixth on Friday. Lief Rodgers (Giant Canada) followed not far behind in 12th.