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Isabeau Courdurier’s foot impaled by stick during Valberg race

EMTB event ends in emergency for current EWS series leader

Isabeau Courdurier Valberg

Enduro World Series’ leader Isabeau Courdurier suffered a freak accident while racing an eMTB enduro even in Valberg, France on the weekend. The French rider’s foot was impaled by a stick while racing on Sunday.

“Well I did not expect my first E-bike race to end like that,” Courdurier shared on social media. “I went a little too outside in a turn and my front wheel lifted a sharp branch. I did not crash. The branch perforated my shoe (upper part) and foot entirely.”

Courdurier was leading the Valberg EWS-E event, a parallel electric mountain bike series that runs alongside the human-powered EWS, at the time. The freak accident happened during the sixth of seven race stages.

“I had surgery yesterday night to remove it and get rid of the unicorn foot,” the French rider added. “It went well and apparently I have no broken bones and tendons which is a miracle! ”

Amazingly, given the incredibly low turn-out of EWS’s electric series, Courdurier still ranked third at the end of the day.

Courdurier added a note of explanation, and warning, that this type of accident is unlikely but impossible to avoid.

“I am sharing this because it can happen to any of us racing or riding in Enduro!” Courdurier explained, adding “I have to say that it is very unlucky and that it could have happened anywhere and with any MTB shoes. I was in very good hands with the safety team in Valberg and I can’t thank them enough for the help.”

You can see Courdurier’s injury in the slides below.

*Warning* As Courdurier warns, the third slide is quite graphic. Do not click through all three if you’re squeamish.

Courdurier is currently leading the regular EWS series with 1595 points to Morgane Charre’s 1210. The Lapierre Zipp Collective rider has just over one month to heal up and get back up to speed before the next EWS round. That takes place on August 5 in Whistler.

Until then, you can watch highlights of the rest of EWS-E’s visit to Valberg below.

Race Highlights – EWS-E Valberg