The team will be missing Taylor who is at home in South Wales in the midst of his GCSEs and Rachel who’s chosen to sit this one out to concentrate on her rehab following the chest injury she sustained at Sea Otter.

Riders: Gee Atherton, Marc Beaumont

Mechanics: Pete Michaliszyn, Mark Maurissen, Andy Lund?

Team: Dan Brown

Bikes:

The team will be riding the GT prototype bikes which have served them well in the opening rounds of the BDS Series this season, continuing to offer feedback and data to the research and development team at GT.

Race Guide:

The team will be riding the German DH Cup on Monday, but as with Sea Otter the race is just part of the Festival Experience – they’ll have chance to catch up with Sponsors and to enjoy the atmosphere of Europe’s largest gravity festival – over 50,000 fans are expected.

Weather:

The weather should be fairly mild (about 12C) with light winds but there’s heavy rain forecast for the Monday increasing in intensity as the day goes on.

History:

Neither Gee or Marc has raced here before but they have both ridden the trails for fun – Marc went for some downtime between races in 2007 with his team and Gee rode there in 2008 with Dan and Rach.

Current perspectives.

The season is going well so far for the DH team with all riders on podium at both rounds of BDS.

Gee said this will be “ This will be the second festival event we’ve ridden this year, Sea Otter was fun  and we’re expecting to have a good time in Winterberg too – we always do have a great time whenever we race in Germany – the fans are wild, but the World Cup starts in just three weekends time so this will be an important race.”

Marc agreed – I’m looking forward to some downtime at that great jump park that they have there, and seeing the German fans who are just so passionate about the sport – It’s always a real treat when you get to hang out with these guys.”

The Opening Round of the Enduro World Series, Round 2 of the SuperEnduro Pro Series at Punta Ala.

This week Dan Atherton, Martin Maes and mechanic Matteo Nati are in beautiful Punta Ala preparing for “The biggest Enduro Race the world has ever seen.”

The Enduro World Series works by linking existing races into a cumulative points Series. This will be the first of seven rounds and has attracted a host of international riders from across all MTB disciplines and has generated a groundswell of excitement and expectation.

Riders: Dan Atherton, Martin Maes.

Mechanics: Matteo Nati.

Bikes

Martin will ride the GT Force LE

Dan will ride his early stage prototype bike with  650B wheels.

Race guide:

Local organiser Thomas Daddi says “We will have the hardest race on the world circuit. The race will take place over six hours with 65 kilometers of trail and 1,800 meters of climbing, with five timed special stages plus the prologue on Saturday.”

The race has been constructed so that the five timed stages will be long and very different in character and the transfers will be tight enough to punish any mechanicals or lack of commitment on the long uphills

Saturday’s prologue will take the form of a 1 minute downhill sprint through the town of Castiglione della Pescaia.

Weather

Last night  (Wednesday) saw heavy rains, there are thunderstorms forecast for today and Friday but Saturday and Sunday are predicted warm (23C and 21 C respectively) with light showers.

History

Dan raced here in 2012 when he was still fairly new to Enduro and wrote in his blog that it was “one of the most pedally races I’ve done so far. It was a 60k course with long connections between the stages  – a lot of saddle time!”

He came in 4^th to Andrea Bruno in an astonishingly close result over such a long race – Dan was only 3.1 seconds off the win.

It will be Martins first time on the course.

Current perspectives.

Dan said “I’m resting up today while Martin’s out getting to know the trails a little bit. Matteo and I rode yesterday, nice and simple , no dramas.”  The race is even longer than last year but I’m pleased with how the stages are – there’s plenty of downhill for me and I’m loving the new bike, that week’s set up has paid dividends. – Matteo’s got it dialled and I’m starting to feel fast.”

Martin said “I’m excited, the season has been going very well for me and I like the part of the tracks that I have seen so far so it’s good.”

Thanks to SuperEnduro for the photos from 2012!

Conditions were atrocious, the mass start stage had to be abandoned because the start was covered in snow and some commentators wondered whether the risk in riding such a technical course in such conditions might have caused a few of the big riders to save themselves for Punta Ala, the start of the World Series next weekend. But there was still plenty of competition with Enduro stars Jerome Clementz, Francois Bailly-Maitre, our own Martin Maes and Florian Golay all taking stage wins in an epic battle over a severely testing course that the riders likened to a muddy pro-downhill.  Jeremy Arnould and Remy Absalon grabbed 5^th and 6^th places respectively.

Friday was an important day for the team in that Martin Maes and Dan Atherton rode a full day together, smashing out runs on stage 3, the stage that Martin was to win on Saturday, taking 5 clear seconds from Jey Clementz. Dan said “ Martin was riding really confidently – that stage was steep and rooty, and it suited Martin’s flat-pedal style – Matteo and I knew that he could take it. Martin rides very differently to me his style is loose, more flamboyant – it was great to get to know his riding in more detail.”

Dan took the decision not to ride on Friday so that he could concentrate on testing the brand new prototype bike he received from GT just hours before flying out to France. Dan said “I love this bike! Metabief has a chairlift so it was perfect for testing different things and getting the bike dialled for Punta Ala, I needed those two days of flat out testing and riding to get the bike ready so we took a call. I think it was absolutely the right decision. Martin rode so well and did us proud– he’s immensely talented and has great attitude, it’s easy to forget that he’s still a junior.”

Results

The Fort William track is notoriously gnarly – even in the best of conditions, and this weekend was cold, wet and windy – so much so that seeding was brought forward to Saturday afternoon because of fears that the gondola might have to be closed. The combination of talent, track and the tough conditions that the riders faced this weekend have led to this event being dubbed a “Mini World Cup”

Seeding went well for Taylor in the junior category – he put a clear 3 seconds into Loris Vergier.  Marc Beaumont seeded third in the Elite – only 0.8 seconds behind the leader, Danny Hart but Gee went down hard in the top section, sliding out on some wet rocks and going over the bars to land in a nasty, boulder strewn gully.

Gee said “ The riding felt brilliant, I guess I got a bit carried away! I’ve got a few bruises and I’ve grazed my hands, forearms and messed up my right leg a bit but nothing serous – it’ll all come good with a bit of a scrub!”

By Sunday, spells of sunshine between morning showers had allowed the track to dry out a little but the wind had strengthened even further.

Taylor was first up. He’s been nursing a shoulder injury sustained at Combe Sydenham but once he’s on the bike, any thoughts of injury disappear. Taylor put in a strong run but was pipped for the win by 0.3 seconds by Noel Niederberger. He said “It was good to ride the big track before the World Cup next month – I’m happy, I gained a lot, learnt a lot, and it’s always rad to be with the team.”

Because of his qualifying fall Gee was the third man down the hill in the Elite category. He put in a blistering run of 4:47.745  to take the hotseat – and remained there through more than fifty elite riders, only Danny Hart , the last man down could better his time, taking the win by 0.8 secs.

Marc Beaumont put in another strong run to take fifth – only 1.6 secs behind Hart and 0.02 secs behind Greg Minaar in 4^th.

RESULTS

ELITE MEN – Sponsored by Schwalbe

1st Danny Hart, Giant Factory Racing 4:46.880
2nd Gee Atherton, GT Factory Racing 4:47.745 (+0.855)
3rd Matthew Simmonds, Chain Reaction Cycles/Nukeproof 4:48.178 (+1.298 )
4th Greg Minnaar, Santa Cruz Syndicate 4:48.460 (+1.580)
5th Marc Beaumont, GT Factory Racing 4:48.482 (+1.602)
6th Josh Bryceland, Santa Cruz Syndicate 4:48.983 (+2.103)

JUNIOR MEN – Sponsored by Fox
1st Noel Niederberger, Gstaad-Scott 5:00.328
2nd Taylor Vernon, GT Factory Racing 5:00.640 (+0.312)
3rd George Gannicott, Dirt Norco Race Team 5:02.417 (+2.089)
4th Innes Graham, MS Mondraker 5:10.114 (+9.786)
5th Gian Luca Vernassa, Devinci Global Racing 5:10.611 (+10.283)

All photos: Laurence Crossman-Emms

They will travel to France for the Metabief Open Enduro supported by Kali.

The race will be the last training race in their individual build up to The Enduro World Series and their first working together.

Riders: Dan Atherton, Martin Maes.

Mechanics: Matteo Nati.

Race guide:

Metabief is a good all round track, not super steep.

We know that there will be five timed stages and that links will involve a chairlift as well as pedaling.  There isn’t a practise session so riders will be tackling the course blind.

Bikes:

Martin will ride the GT Force LE

Dan will ride a very early stage prototype bike using 650B wheels.

Dan is very comfortable on 650B wheels and so is working with GT’s engineers to develop a race bike adapted to Enduro’s specific requirements, as a team we relish in making these bikes as fast as possible and we’re lucky to have the ability to do this with GT away from any restrictions.

Enduro racers need a bike that allows them to be fast on any kind of terrain, as efficient uphill as it is downhill. This is a different approach to a All Mountain bike as there is an added racing factor to be considered, the bike needs to be fast….. simple. The World Series and key races like Metabief will take Dan on to many different terrains, perfect for the kind of direct feedback needed to perfect the bike’s design.

This bike may evolve considerably before GT even decide to take it to the market, its a R&D project with no set timeline at present.

Weather forecast

Moderate rain, heaviest on Saturday morning then becoming colder with a dusting of snow on Sunday morning. Mild temperatures (max 7°C on Saturday afternoon, min 1°C on Sun night) with a fresh wind on Saturday night calming by Sunday night.

History

It’s 10 years since Dan raced Metabief but he has fond memories of the place as the first race he ever rode with a chairlift as part of the South West’s On a Bike series!

Current situation  – Dan’s Perspective

“Martin’s coming into this race with 4 out of 4 wins under his belt so it’s going to be great to ride with a new team-mate who’s so on it and in such fantastic form.  I had a good time with the win at Afan but was disappointed with the 4^th at Riva del Garda so I’ve some work to do.

Actually what I’m most excited about is getting the new bike built up and riding it, then riding it some more – there’s a lot to do before I even think about the racing.

The key thing about this weekend is going to be us working together, getting used to having each other in the pits, how we both work with Matteo – this will be the first time out for us as a full team set up – Matteo’s only had to manage us one at a time up till now. It’s all about preparation for next week and the kick off of the World Series – it seems crazy that it’s time already!

This weekend they’ll travel to Fort William – but they’ll be without Rachel who’s still nursing a chest injury sustained at Sea Otter.

Riders: Gee Atherton, Marc Beaumont, Taylor Vernon
Mechanics: Piotr Michaliszyn, Mark Maurissen, Andy Lund

Bikes:

The team will be riding the GT prototype bikes first seen at Combe Sydenham, continuing to offer feedback and data to the research and development team at GT.

 Race guide:

The course is probably the toughest on the BDS circuit and quite possibly the hardest of the UCI World Cup which comes to Scotland on June 9^th, it will be physically and technically challenging with natural rock slabs and wooded rooty sections littering the track.
The course is long (2.82 km) and steep with a vertical descent of 555m along its length.

Competition is set to be intense, just four weeks before this same venue hosts Round 1 of the World Cup Series. With a stacked field of World Cup riders approaching the peak of their training expect to see times in the 4.50s, weather conditions permitting.

Weather forecast 
Mild (high 11 degrees C) with light rain on Saturday and heavier showers Sunday.

History
Gee loves Fort William and the crowds love him. He’ll come to the race fresh from victories at Combe Sydenham and the Pearce Cycles event at Bringewood two weeks ago and with the positive associations of a 2010 WC win under his belt.

Marc has more mixed emotions about the course, he has won here in the past but in 2012 he fell foul of a slippery wooden bridge and was devastated to finish way down the field.

Taylor has also raced the course before, taking 6^th place in last years BDS series.

Current situation – team perspectives

Gee: ”I’m so up for this. I feel strong, I love the crowd up at Fort Bill and it feels like 2013’s really kicking off, It’ll be great to have young Taylor along with us too!”

Rachel: ”I would have loved to race Fort William before we head into the World Cup but I’m still banged up after that fall at Sea Otter. I’ll be working intensively with Darren Roberts and my physio to get back to race condition.”

Taylor: ”I’m excited for it. Arm’s still sore after banging into that tree at Combe Sydenham and the physio’s been none to gentle with me but bring it on.”

Marc: “We’re ready! If I can ride as fast as I rode last week we’ll be in a good place!”

 Not that we expect the riders will always appreciate the scenery – given that over the 9 days they’ll be climbing nearly 15,000 feet – that’s equivalent to 13 times up Alpe d’Huez.

Tim will be accompanied by 7 fellow mountain-bikers, all riding in aid of Cancer Research – a cause close to all of their hearts. Tim was diagnosed with tongue cancer last year but thanks to an operation he is now on the mend. On Tuesday night we called Tim in John O’Groats to ask about what was making him most nervous – “It’s got to be the distance – no one has ever ridden more than 100 miles at a stretch and for the next 9 days we’re going to putting in 100 – 110 miles a day, every day. “

Luckily support will be at hand in the form of Karen Tim’s partner in Podium Catering (and life!) who’ll be cooking up a storm – if anything can get these guys through a couple of extra miles it’s going to be Karen’s famous Brownies and Flapjacks – hey it’s always worked for us! There’ll also be Lauren from Cool Bus driving the all important support vehicle.

Four of the lads are Shrophire based so there’ll be a bit of a shindig at the Trailhead bike shop on day 6 of the ride into Shrewsbury (May 13th). There’s more details on Tim’s blog at http://endtoendchallenge.wordpress.com/ But there’ll definitely be a Barbie and a signed jersey from Rachel’s World Cup Winning 2012 DH season, up for auction.

The guys have already completed their first day in the saddle so join us to wish them all the best and if you get chance go onto http://www.justgiving.com/etoechallenge to send them a donation.

One last thought, there is no leeway in this ride. Tim’s friend and co-rider Matt Lake is getting married in Cornwall on Saturday – so if the guys aren’t there to meet the Thursday night schedule… we dread to think what might happen!

Good Luck!

Once the prologue was done a huge thunderstorm that had threatened the festival for days broke over Riva del Garda. It looked like the torrential rain might cause problems for Saturday’s race but in the event only stage 1 was adversely affected.

The race kicked off with a long climb to set up three downhill stages. All of the tracks were very natural, maintenance is kept to a minimum so they remain rough and rocky. Dan said “Stage 1 was pretty slippy, Joe Barnes put in an amazing run to take the stage win.”

By Stage 2 the sun was out and warming everything up, to everybody’s relief. Stage 3 was probably the most technical stage of the day, Dan said “It would be really easy to overcook it and blow off line, I rode it too reserved which was the story of the day – I always forget just how fast these guys are and hold it back too much.”

Stage 5 was great fun for many of the riders, probably the steepest stage on the course with lots of loose rocks. Dan said “It was pretty full on”. Then Stage 6 down to the finish was the most pedally of all the stages and Dan’s fitness showed through, allowing him to grab the stage  2^nd. Summing up the weekend  he said “It felt amazing to start racing again – I’ve really missed those pre-race nerves. This winter’s fitness training has obviously paid off for me, I just need a bit more time on the bike, to focus on the technical.”

Ranking, Men

1          BAREL, Fabien            Canyon Factory Enduro Team

2          CLEMENTZ, Jerome    Cannondale
                                   + 00:08,46

3          LAU, Nicolas                Cube Action Team                       + 00:16,92

4          ATHERTON, Dan          GT Factory Racing                        + 00:40,55

5          BRÜCKNER, Petrik       Rose Vaujany MTB Pro Team      + 00:43,46

Next week Dan will travel to Metabief.

All Photos: Victor Lucas

This weekend Dan Atherton will be at the Lake Garda Festival in Italy where he will take part in Round 2 of the Specialized Sram Enduro Series as the penultimate training race in his build up to The Enduro World Series.

He will be joined by Matteo Nati, Enduro mechanic for GT Factory Racing Team and Andy Lund who is usually to be found supporting Rachel on the Downhill circuit.

Rider: Dan Atherton

Mechanics: Matteo Nati, Andy Lund.

Race guide:

This will be the 20th Bike Festival in Riva del Garda. 25,000 visitors and 140 exhibitors from all over Europe are expected to flood the area.

There has been a great deal of excitement about the Enduro race with the 350 places oversubscribed from an early stage.

 This race is the second of seven rounds of the Specialized Sram Enduro series. Practice and seeding will take place on Friday and the main event on Saturday.

 We know that the start and finish will be at Torbole, not far from the main festival site but the exact course is still under wraps.

Bike: GT Force LE

Weather forecast: 

Warm and showery 19-21 C max with the heavy rain on Thursday night before practise.

History: 

Neither Dan nor Matteo have raced at Riva del Garda before, but they are coming into this event after a winter’s intensive training behind them and with one win out of one previous outing.

Current situation  – Dan’s Perspective:

“One of the biggest things about this race is Matteo being really excited to get started on the season proper. We’ve raced before at Finale Ligure and at Afan but this time he’s in charge, we’re in his home country and it’s a significant race with lots of World Series racers set to appear. It’s good that he’s got Lundy here to support him and make sure everything goes to plan.

It’s been a long winter of lots of training and even more riding, I can’t wait to put it all together at the race, especially with the excitement that’s grown up around Enduro, It’s part of a really big festival and I think the atmosphere will be great. I’ve been really surprised at the level of hype and at how quickly Enduro has come to the forefront of mountain biking. These next two races (here and Metabief) are a vital part of the run up to the World Series and I have that very much in my mind, in a work-up situation like this every race counts, in fact every stage counts.

I’m amazed that heading into another season after 15 years of racing bikes I’m probably more excited than I’ve ever been.”