Race Day 1 Action from La Thuile Enduro World Series

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Richie Rude simply dominated the field today. Winning all three stages by 15, 5, and an incredible 33 seconds respectively. -Lee Trumpore

Cecile in a league of her own in the women's field today with three stage wins and a minute lead on second place. -Sven Martin

Sam Hill. Flat pedals, inside lines, and three 2nd place finishes. We've not seen Sam this excited about a race in a long time. -Lee Trumpore

Post race trainer cool down and a beer. You think Sam's enjoying himself? 2nd place so far today. -Lee Trumpore

Switchback after glorious switchback. With hundreds of corners to cut-off, slide, and rail it's no surprise to see Sam Hill sitting in second. -Lee Trumpore

Rae Morrison started stage one looking super fast but had a crash in the woods injuring her shoulder, unable to continue. -Sven Martin

Despite being caught and passed by Richie Rude on Stage 3, Damien Oton still posted the 3rd fastest time and also sits in 3rd overall. -Lee Trumpore

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Richie passing Damien Oton. Insane. -Marco Osbourne

Francois Bailly-Maitre with an XC background has been doing well on the steeper, more tech stages. He's perplexed by the success, but is within striking distance if he finds the rhythm tomorrow. -Sven Martin

Florian Nicolai has a good chance of moving up a spot or two with stages five and six suiting him tomorrow. -Sven Martin

Sleeper fact of the day: Adrien Dailly, leading the juniors, also has the third fastest scratch time of the day. The future of the sport looks good with young riders like Richie, Maes and Dailly leading the charge. -Sven Martin

Jared Graves had an 'interesting' start to the day followed by a 30th on Stage 1. But a 4th and 8th later in the day hints at far more speed on tap. -Lee Trumpore

Richie didn't have a perfect day despite his time and place. He's just that fast and gives it 100% each run. -Sven Martin

Troy Brosnan sideways hovering out the start gate of stage one. Top 20 ain't bad for the Downhill specialist. -Sven Martin

Yes Jesse! Sixth place for the Canadian youngster who has been showing so much promise, but often having bad luck these last few seasons. -Sven Martin

Anita Gehrig sitting in third after over thirty minutes of racing. Only a day away from a possible podium. -Sven Martin

Caro Gehrig sitting in Top 5 dodging downdrafts and low-flying rotors. -Sven Martin

Vein McKay sitting in 16th has to be stoked. One of his best results so far in EWS racing. -Sven Martin

Blenki had the best and fastest line into the second corner on stage two. Set up high and swooped in super-pinned and perfect into the otherwise tight corner. -Sven Martin

The highline into turn two didn't work out for all, as Iago found out. #stillclippedinbro -Sven Martin

Curtis Keene getting loose on the top of stage one today and into the Top 10 after day one. -Sven Martin

Nico Lau making sure not to blow this exposed left-hander up on stage one. His blind racing prowess paying off on these long, wild stages. -Sven Martin

Greg Callaghan had two great stages (3rd and 7th) but then front flatted (171st) on stage two, messing his chances for a podium finish this weekend. -Sven Martin

Jerome Clementz on his rampage run. -Sven Martin

Three Rocky riders in the Men's Top 10. Alexandre Cure blowing by Mt. Blanc. -Sven Martin

Isabeau Courdourier at the top of stage three. A 2nd, 4th and 2nd today has her in 2nd place overall. -Sven Martin

Maes, still a few weeks away from racing his bike, took it out on dirt today for the first time. Riding the liaison up on to the top of stage one. -Sven Martin

The race got underway with a 1000-vertical-meter road and singletrack climb up to the start of Stage 1. -Lee Trumpore

Ines Thoma, uncharacteristically off the pace in 7th, will be looking to claw back some time on Sunday. -Lee Trumpore

Miranda Miller sitting just outside of Top 5 with a third place in stage two today. -Sven Martin

Josh Carlson smashing rocks on the way to two Top 10 stage finishes and 14th overall after day 1. -Lee Trumpore

Isabeau Courdurier is going to win an EWS soon enough, but right now she will likely have to settle for 2nd at more than a minute behind. -Lee Trumpore

Troy Brosnan tackling World-Cup-DH-worthy sections of track with a lot less bike than he's used to. 17th overall is pretty impressive. -Lee Trumpore

After winning the very first stage of the season in Chile, Jermone Clementz has struggled to find his race speed. An uncharacteristic crash on Stage 3 pushed him back to 18th. -Lee Trumpore

With 2.5 hours allowed for the liaison, riders grouped together to chat, smell the flowers, and take in the views. Misery loves company. -Lee Trumpore

Mark Maurissen and Chris Ball spent the day sweeping the tracks between the men and women, and casually shredded 2500 meters of descending in the process. Somebody has to do it. -Lee Trumpore

You know it's rough when racers break out the180mm forks. -Lee Trumpore

Evil's Toni Ferreiro continues to impress and is currently sitting in 11th. -Lee Trumpore

Joe Barnes made up huge chunks of time on Sunday the last time we visited La Thuile. Sitting in 12th he'll surely be looking for a repeat performance tomorrow. -Lee Trumpore

Back from injury, Andreane Lanthier is already within striking distance of the podium in 4th. -Lee Trumpore

An unknown rider about to leave the rocky upper slopes for the steep, loamy goodness of the La Thuile forests. Stay tuned for the final day of racing from this epic landscape! -Lee Trumpore

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Richie Rude and Cecile Ravanel decimate the EWS fields and World Cup legend, Sam Hill sweeps 2nd place after the first day of racing in La Thuile, Italy.

Men's Results after 3 stages