Race Day Photo Epic: Loudenvielle EDR World Cup 2023

Sep 2, 2023
by Dave Trumpore  



The enduro riders enjoyed prime conditions for the five stage epic, with racing brought forward a day in order to miss a storm due to roll into the French venue late on Saturday afternoon. And if anyone made the most of the dry weather, it was the host nation, who dominated the top spots on three of the four podiums that were up for grabs. 

Series leader Isabeau Courdurier cemented her series lead with another dominant performance in the women’s category, finishing the race with an incredible 22-second lead. Fellow Frenchwoman Morgane Charre would claim second place, with Scotland’s Ella Conolly rounding out the top three. 

The French proved equally strong in the men’s race, with Youn Deniaud taking his first UCI Enduro World Cup win in front of his home crowd. Joining him on an all-French podium would be last year’s Loudenvielle winner Alex Rudeau, who was less than one second back in second place. Rudeau’s teammate Louis Jeandel posted his best Elite result to date to take third. 

In the U21 Women it was Canada’s Emmy Lan who took the win by the slimmest of margins, beating Scotland’s Emily Carrick-Anderson by less than a second. Lily Planquart took third. Meanwhile, in the U21 Men, Planqaurt’s teammate Lisandru Bertini took his third win of the season, whilst Raphael Giambi came second, with Sascha Kim in third. Richie Rude leads the men’s overall series points, whilst it’s today’s winner Isabeau Courdurier who leads the women’s title fight. They’ll be back in action on September 17, when the first-ever UCI Enduro World Cup Series Champions will be crowned in Chatel.


Welcome to the Pyrenees
Welcome to the Pyrenees

Harriett Harnden on the top of the very scenic Stage 3
Harriett Harnden on the top of the very scenic Stage 3

Light and shadow in the Loudenvielle forest
Light and shadow in the Loudenvielle forest

A little bike park section to relax on Stage 2 between the steep natural bits of track
A little bike park section to relax on Stage 2 between the steep, natural bits of track

photo

Hugo Pigeon on his prototype Scott on Stage 3
Hugo Pigeon on his prototype Scott on Stage 3

ALN in 9th
ALN in 9th

Alex Storre was in the top 15 all day until a massive crash on Stage 5
Alex Storr was in the top 15 all day until a massive crash on Stage 5

Unfortunately Raphaela Richter crshed hard in training and was forced to sit out the race in Loudenvielle
Unfortunately Raphaela Richter crashed hard in training and was forced to sit out the race in Loudenvielle

Last year s winner here Alex Rudeau was looking like the one to beat in training
Last year's winner here, Alex Rudeau was looking like the one to beat in training

Jesse Melamed took a stage or two to get up to speed and would battle to within a few seonds of the podium by day s end
Jesse Melamed took a stage or two to get up to speed, and would battle to within a few seconds of the podium by day's end

With massive electrical storms in the forecast the race was pushed up a day much to the rider s liking
With massive electrical storms in the forecast the race was pushed up a day, much to the rider's liking

Morning mist on race day
Morning mist on race day

A little dew was the only moisture that fell overnight and by the end of stage 1 the conditions were perfect
A little dew was the only moisture that fell overnight, and by the end of stage 1 the conditions were perfect

Race day... Time to burn up some brake rotors
Race day... Time to burn up some brake rotors

Series leader Richie Rude started the day strong but would lose time on Stage 2 to finished jiust off the podium in 4th
Series leader Richie Rude started the day strong but would lose time on Stage 2 to finish just off the podium in 4th

Dan Booker rounding out the top 10
Dan Booker rounding out the top 10

7th for Martin Maes
7th for Martin Maes

An unfortunate fron flat on the longets stage saw Bex Barona pushed down to 16th
An unfortunate front flat on the longest stage saw Bex Baraona pushed down to 16th

Zakarias Johansen in 12th
Zakarias Johansen in 12th

Rhys Verner had a disasterous Stage 5 to tumble down the order to 15th
Rhys Verner had a disastrous Stage 5 to tumble down the order to 15th

Another dominant day for Isabeau Courdurier to take the win by 20 seconds
Another dominant day for Isabeau Courdurier to take the win by 20 seconds

2nd for Morgane Charre
2nd for Morgane Charre

Back form injury and back on pace Ella Conolly would come 3rd
Back from injury and back on pace, Ella Conolly would come 3rd

A long overdue win for Youn Deniaud and a French sweep of the podium at home
A long overdue win for Youn Deniaud, and a French sweep of the podium at home

Louis Jeandel rounded out the all French podiumin 3rd
Louis Jeandel rounded out the all-French podium in 3rd

Alex Rudeau lead into the final stage of the day but would be pushed back to 2nd by just under 1 second
Alex Rudeau was fourth going into the final stage of the day but would be pushed up to 2nd just under 1 second

4th for Richie Rude
4th for Richie Rude

Jesse Melamed would end the day in 5th
Jesse Melamed would end the day in 5th

Jack Moir was leafing into the last stage before an off track excursion through some broken tape saw him fall down to 6th
Jack Moir was leading into the last stage before an off-track excursion through some broken tape saw him fall down to 6th

Charlie Murray 8th
Charlie Murray 8th

5th for Noga Korem despite a flat tire and crash
5th for Noga Korem despite a flat tire and crash

Top 10 for Slawomir Lukasik
Top 10 for Slawomir Lukasik

A hard day in the office for everyone out there
A hard day in the office for everyone out there

Harriet Hardne s new high pivot Trek in 4th
Harriet Harnden's new high pivot Trek in 4th

A big crash on the final stage couldn t keep Ella Conolly off the podium
A big crash on the final stage couldn't keep Ella Conolly off the podium

Teammate Josh Carlson with first time winner Youn Deniaud
Teammate Josh Carlson with first-time winner, Youn Deniaud

Alex Rudeau and Loius Jeandel celebrate their podium finishes with team owner Max Commencal
Alex Rudeau and Loius Jeandel celebrate their podium finishes with team owner Max Commencal

Richie Rude holds onto the overall series lead with one round to go
Richie Rude holds onto the overall series lead with one round to go

Isabeau Courdurier Morgane Charre and Ella Conolly celebrate on the Elite Women s podium
Isabeau Courdurier, Morgane Charre, and Ella Conolly celebrate on the Elite Women's podium

A french podium sweep with Youn Deniad Alex Rudeau and Loius Jeandel
A French podium sweep with Youn Deniad, Alex Rudeau, and Louis Jeandel

Yeti Factory leads the team overall
Yeti Factory leads the team overall

Merci Beacoup Loudenvielle
Merci Beacoup, Loudenvielle


Author Info:
davetrumpore avatar

Member since Feb 26, 2008
269 articles

22 Comments
  • 18 1
 Pics are always great. Video is non-existent. Right up the road the UTMB trail race is going on and there is alive footage of the top runners where video people are running behind them for miles and miles on trail, up passes, down technical terrain etc. And there are live videos stationed throughout the 100 mile course at different points. Yet EDR thinks it's impossible to provide live video anywhere on course. Not saying it's the same but cmon.....
  • 5 1
 They have full teams of people with live video for each top runner. 1 person will follow a runner on a climb, it'll swap at the top to someone else, it'll then swap to someone on a bike if its more open fire road etc. The coverage and professionalism on this is insane. And then utterly depressing when compared to edr...
  • 10 5
 @wilsonians: since people love to offer criticism without offering ideas/solutions... Lets here it. Tell the world how to replicate following a mass start running race but in an enduro race on bicycles, traveling 10-35mph in an individual time trial... All ears (p.s. the UTBM is not up the road from Loudenvielle by any stretch of the imagination)
  • 2 1
 @davetrumpore: guessing having a major automotive sponsor for the series helps with budget for production/filming staff too.......
  • 2 0
 @davetrumpore: not saying it would be replicable exactly. Don't expect people following riders, that's not realistic. But cameras at points on each stage even if it's just the major cheering sections, feed station interviews, GPS tracking on maps like UTMB etc. There are options to provide some level of interaction and live following other than just typed updates.
You are highly involved with the pics and media of these events. You can't believe that post-event pics and wyn TV are the only options for media coverage here....
  • 4 0
 @davetrumpore: the picture epics are always incredible, and usually the best part of the race weekend media. But every time these races happen the comments are people literally BEGGING for other options of media consumption, especially live. They used to have more but it sort of died off in the last few years.
  • 1 0
 it should be raced as a live GC, having the real view of the GC on the track... so getting first 2 stages raced individually and then when the gaps are big enough get inverse GC order so the fastest rider starts first and then the second just after the time gap till the moment.. for example 2 seconds (having an automatic gate) and so on then it would be exciting following the live race.. it was done already into a french race "terres rouges" I think many years ago and the footage was incredible...
  • 2 0
 @wilsonians: actually, motorcycle enduro does exactly that. not for every rider, but some. It would be very difficult to cover all the stages and all the riders for sure. Maybe drone squad?
  • 15 1
 Hey PB, ans @davetrumpore, great pics, absolutly stunning photos.
Its not said enough, this is great content!

Really appreciate it
  • 1 0
 Thank you! We appreciate it.
  • 4 0
 Wonder if anyones reviewed Deniaulds GoPro, or any other riders, to see if they cut that corner?

Bet there have been a few ‘accidental’ deletes of footage after this race.
  • 5 0
 Sportsman of the Year to Jack Moir. He followed the rules even though it cost him. Mad Respect.
  • 2 0
 Exactly the same photo used on the separate first look Slash article posted yesterday!

But always a good day to see a gratuitous flat pedal close-up in an Enduro race. Good on ya Morgane! Smile
  • 6 1
 Moir was robbed!
  • 2 0
 Great pics. Would have added a pic of Gloria, she was running in podium position till a flat and crash on the last stage
  • 3 1
 Who is ALN and why do you assume we should know this? All other riders have their names next to their photos....
  • 2 0
 Andrea Lanthier Nadeau. She was consistently a top three woman, bit of an off couple of seasons for her. She's fairly well known in ews/edr circles...
  • 3 0
 Wish we could watch these races
  • 2 0
 There you have itRed Zebb's Motherfu*ckers!!!!!1
  • 1 0
 Great pics.

Side note, why was whistler removed from the calendar????
  • 3 0
 Bizarre. Especially since they ran the Whistler Enduro anyway, and lots of top pros raced it.
  • 1 0
 I'm still curious to see the uphill section of such a stage.







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