Excellent Italian alpine: EWS #5 La Thuile preview

Round five of Enduro World Series returns to a long-standing rider favourite venue, La Thuile, Italy. While the venue isn’t new, there’s plenty of fresh singletrack and new steep lines to keep riders on their toes all weekend.

Canadians to watch in Italy

There will be plenty of Canadians in the mix as racers battle for enduro supremacy over two days of racing in the shadow of Mont Blanc. Rocky Mountain / Race Face leads the charge, with a full complement of three top riders set to race in La Thuile. Jesse Melamed and Remi Gauvin are set to mix it up in the elite Men’s field while Andreane Lanthier Nadeau takes on the Women’s field. Melamed and Lanthier Nadeau were both in the top-10 at Round 4 in Petzen-Jamnica, and were both focused on riding steady after returning from injury. If that speed continues, they’ll both be riders to watch this weekend in Italy.

Mckay Vezina (Giant Facotry Off Road Team) has had great pace all year. He’ll be joined by Squamish-based social media favourite Yoann Barelli (Commencal Vallnord Enduro Team) this weekend, who is making limited EWS appearances this season.

Rachel Pageau (Devinci Unior Facotry Racing) is back on the EWS circuit after trying her hand at World Cup downhill racing in Val di Sole, Italy. Pageau rode well in the French EWS round, and will be looking to find that speed again with the series returning to that rocky, steep style of racing.

There’s a big crowd of privateers that have made their way to Europe for the Italy round. Brendon Edgar, Trevor Thew, and Takoda Crawford lead the elite men, with Ronny Sterckx, and Jonathan and Laurence Dube joining in. Nathan Sterckx and Adam Robbins represent Canada in the U21 field.

EWS Round #5: La Thuile, Italy

The top name in Italy has to be French powerhouse Cecile Ravanel. The Commencal Vallnord racer has won every EWS round this season, and the majority of the stages raced so far. She’ll be chased by Isabeau Courdurier (Intense Mavic Collective) and a growing field of female enduro racers, including Lanthier-Nadeau and Pageau.

Richie Rude (Yeti) is the only rider this year to steal an EWS win from Sam Hill (Chain Reaction Cycles). Rude will be looking to repeat that feat in Italy, but Hill, a former World Cup racer, has looked unstoppable when he’s on form. Unfortunately for the rest of the field, outside of a rare off-weekend in France, Hill almost always looks to be on form.