French riders dominate the Vittoria EWS Pietra Ligure

Practice was a big day for all the racers, especially so for Isabeau Courdurier carrying an ankle injury.

In the women’s category, it was Isabeau Courdurier who was the fan favorite. Going undefeated in 2019 and winning the first round last month in Zermatt, she was the one to beat. Isabeau unfortunately sustained an ankle injury the week prior to the race but still chose to line up for Pietra. Her first two stages started off super well winning both convincingly but it was fellow Frenchwoman Melanie Pugin who took the most important queen stage (stage 3) and sealed Isabeau’s fate.

Melanie already had an EWS-E trophy to her name, and now she can add an EWS one too!

Fresh off of a E-EWS win in Zermatt, Melanie Pugin conquered Pietra Ligure and ended Isabeau’s winning streak. Isabeau still managed a respectable second place finish with Pivot Factory Racing’s Morgan Charre rounding out the podium in third, making it an all-French podium!

Adrien Dailly, charging to his first EWS win since 2017!

Taking 2/5 stage wins, Adrien Dailly (Lapierre Zipp Collective) would find himself on the top step of the podium with an impressive and dominant 20-second lead in front of Florian Nicolai who obtained his first podium on Trek Factory Racing, finishing in second. Finishing the day in third place, it was none other than Jack “Shark Attack” Moir (Canyon Collective). This would mark his first ever EWS podium finish and for sure won’t be his last! Jesse Melamed (Rocky Mountain Race Face Enduro Team) would take a stage win but could not back up his win in Zermatt and finished seventh on the day.

Hattie Harnden (Trek Factory Racing) won U21 Women just as she did at the last round in Switzerland. In the U21 men category, Antoine Vidal (Commencal Enduro Team) would remain dominant and take the win by 47 seconds over Brady Stone (Theory Global Racing) who finished second with Jamie Edmondson who was hot on his heals in third.

Karim Amour brought home the win in Master Men, followed by Cedric Ravanel (Commencal Enduro Team) in second and Bruno Zanchi in third.

In the Team competition Pivot Factory Racing were team of the day, followed by Lapierre Zipp Collective in second and Rocky Mountain Race Enduro in third. With no overall individual series points on offer this year, it’s only the teams fighting it out for the series rankings, and it’s Pivot Factory Racing who once more led the scoreboard. Rocky Mountain Race Face Enduro Team is in second and Trek Factory Racing third.

The series will next travel up the coast a few miles to the Bluegrass EWS Finale on Saturday, September 26.

Full results can be found by clicking here

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