EWS Season Preview – The racer’s thoughts
With the Enduro World Series entering it’s 4th year it looks set to go from strength to strength. Eight rounds across the globe, new riders, fresh terrain and with plenty of team changes it looks to be shaping into another classic. We spoke to a few racers to gather their thoughts on the upcoming season with the wheels set to touch down in Chile later this month.
Greg Callaghan – CUBE Action Team
“I can’t wait to get racing this year and seeing everyone who’s part of the EWS circus. Winter has been good for me, it’s the first time I’ve finished a season and just relaxed and recovered instead of going back to work so that’s given me a bit of extra momentum in my training and allowed me to settle into a good routine from the get go. I’ve been feeling real good on the new Stereo 160 C:68 and have managed a lot of time on it thanks to the mostly mild winter ar home, so looking forward to racing on board that new machine in all the new colours. I definitely can’t wait for the Irish stop of the EWS again this year, that was such a special weekend for me last year and I’m hoping this year will be the same. Apart from that, I’m stoked to get back to La Thuile, the riding and coffee there is so so good! I feel like I’m in a good position for this season, I can definitely be pushing for podiums at most races, anything can happen in this game though so I’ll give it my best and see where it slots me into the results sheets. I just hope to be consistent and stay healthy all year. It’ll be a good year of biking no matter what, that’s the best bit!”
Greg Callaghan Interview
Greg Callaghan Bike Check
Jérôme Clementz – CANNONDALE OVERMOUNTAIN
“I decided to stay at home this winter, and to no go to the southern hemisphere. I wanted to have my routine for training and didn’t want to spend too much energy traveling around. There are a few things that are going to be new on my bike this year but it’s too early to tell you more about that!! But I can tell you that things are changing. I’m looking forward most to 2 venues for different reasons. Ireland first because I was looking to this event last year, it was a great one but I was sick, so I would like to give it another try this year and ride well in front of this amazing crowd. Portes du Mercantour, in France. I know the area and I raced there a few time for Trans-Provence or The enduro of Portes du Mercantour. For sure it’s gonna be a mind blowing race, with rad trails and beautiful area to ride.”
Jérôme Clementz Interview
At home with Jérôme Clementz
Isabeau Courdurier – Team SUNN
“I really think the thing I need to work on is my physique, I am not fit like Cecile, Anneke or Ines… So I am really trying to catch up a bit on this and I have been doing a lot more musculation and also a lot more BMX to try and be more explosive. I’ve got a very good feeling for this season. I’ve got a custom bike that fits my small size, which is very good for me! I also really like the atmosphere, the brand, and I already know my teammates, they are very good friends so I feel very good for this year.”
Isabeau Courdurier Interview
Isabeau Courdurier Bike Check
Adrien Daily – Team Lapierre Gravity Republic
“I’m still not sure about my category this season on the EWS, although it would definitely be more fun and more challenging to move up and ride with the best riders. The thing is, I don’t think it’s gonna be that easy to win another season in Under21, plus, according to me, the category isn’t sufficiently highlighted. We are fully offset (up to 4 hours of lag between the elites’ runs and those of the U21), which means no media and no public! If that category was given more attention, I wouldn’t even think of moving up! As for the training, It’s over the winter that I can progress the most – it’s my big flaw, I come from downhill, I’m a bit lazy haha. So I’m looking forward to finding out if my first good winter training works! Even if I know I won’t become Chris Froome in 6 months…!”
Iago Garay – Santa Cruz
“Having fun while riding my bike is the number one priority for me, because if not, what’s the point of it. If during a race I see a jump on the side of the trail, I can’t help but hit it! I Have to confess that once during a race I jumped a tape and went on a way longer way just to hit a cool double. I’ve found that when I’m having fun on a track I ride it faster so it all makes sense for me! Each year there are more riders, more teams, more sponsors and more money, this obviously will make things tougher, people are training more and being more serious about racing, is a good step for the sport, but at the same time I wish that everybody remembers why they got into the sport in first place: Sharing the ride with your buddies and finishing at the bar with some cold beers! I think Being a professional IS compatible with these things! More competition means you need to work harder in order to get results. As you said I’m not solely result driven, but I don’t like losing!! This year I’m working harder than ever to break into the EWS top 20, which unfortunately involves a lot of road biking and gym, but as my wise teammate Mark Scott told me once: “we suffer training so that we can have fun racing!” and I like having fun!”
Martin Maes – GT Factory Racing
“It is going to be a big change without Atherton Racing alongside GT bicycles. I’ve always been super stoked to work with these two great sponsors. I guess it was time for some changes and having the opportunity to keep working with a brand such as GT was definitely super exciting. All the team is super excited to perform and have great times together for the next three years. I’d love to win an EWS! But hopefully being consistent all year long with some solid top 5 and podiums. This is my main goal for 2016. After that, doing well at some downhill World Cups and performing as well as I did in 2015 at the Sea Otter dual slalom and Whistler Dual Slalom!”
Rae Morrison – Team Lapierre Gravity Republic
“Most of all, I am looking forward to travelling and riding my bike around the world. It’s going to be a great circuit this year! Starting the season off in South America will be especially exciting as I’ve never been there before. I’ve no idea what to expect, but that is exciting in itself. I am just so fortunate to be able to travel and race around these beautiful countries and stunning landscapes. There is also the wonderful added bonus of sharing these experiences with friends and meeting plenty of other great people along the way.Absolutely everything has changed for me this season. I have joined the ’Lapierre Gravity Republic’ team, which is full of legend riders such as Nico Vouilloz and has bikes to match. This will be a game changer for me, especially after such a tough season last year living in a van on a tight budget. This off-season has seen more of an emphasis on enduro-specific training through the help of my fantastic coach, Laurent at eXtrain. I am extremely excited about the upcoming season and feeling strong after a good New Zealand summer of training, racing, adventuring and spending quality time with family and friends.My aim is to improve on my results, become more consistent with my racing, and, of course, have a some fun along the way!”
Cecile Ravanel – COMMENCAL VALLNORD ENDURO RACING TEAM
“I think my goals are easy to guess for this year ;) but I’m going to fight to reach them! With who? The list can be long. I’m lucky with a sport like enduro to fight with the clock, so no direct comparison with other riders. I have some very interesting changes on my bike, for 2016 I will ride with Rock Shox suspension, I can’t wait to see what it will do to the times :) It’s really exciting to collaborate with brands that listen to the riders, for example, I am working with Tioga to make a women-specific saddle, KS to develop new handlebars with different angles and with Kenny on their 2017 enduro range!”
Bryan Regnier – YT Industries
“2016 is coming soon and I have been training so hard for it! Winter is a really important period, I have to work with my trainer Nico Philippi we live really close, I have everything to get a really good feeling and I really need to trust him.. And he does the perfect job, you know it’s really hard to stay motivated all the year, you need to push yourself every day and if you don’t have a good people around you, you can’t train well! You need to understand and have cool people around you, I live really close to Yannick Granieri my teammate at YT industries. Last month I did a lot of training with him, he is super cool and it’s always a good time at his place, big jumps, airbag, skateboard, buggy, his place is like Disneyland but for riders! This season I will have 1 video and photo trip surprise and I’m also working hard to get the wild card for the red bull rampage!”
Mark Scott – Santa Cruz
“For 2016, I’m just happy to be part of a super solid setup with Santa Cruz, it’s a dream come true really! Racing a full EWS schedule plus many other events with Iago and the Loosedog himself, doesn’t get much better?! The 3 of us should hopefully be doing a bit travelling together with races and possibly some other stuff lined up to, so no doubt some raw video and Instabanger action emerging from us as well as banging race results and banter! Regarding season goals, for me, I really want to crack an EWS top 5 and be consistently fast all year. I’ve managed a 6th this year and a top 15 overall position so I don’t see why I can’t take it bit further this year, especially with the new team and bike setup! The winter so far has been solid, it will be 2nd year working with Alan Milway, which I’m delighted about. I’m always building from previous years and really starting to figure the whole training thing out and specifically for enduro. It takes time but things are slowly but surely piecing together I feel, here’s to a big 2016 and beyond!”
Katy Winton – Trek Factory Enduro Team
“My main focus will be the full EWS, but really my main focus is on looking to become more consistent and keep moving up the ranks. There’s a whole lot to learn, new bikes, new team, new everything, so I just want to keep working hard and take another step forward. I have been working a lot on cornering and my general mobility to improve downhill speed, in XC we always used the downhills to recover, but you cannot do that in Enduro. There’s no particular thing really, it’s more I need to improve everything so I will be working on all those little things to keep moving forward.”
Katy Winton Interview
Katy Winton Bike Check
Words: Ross Bell Photos: Trevor Worsey, Ross Bell, Alejandro Cubino (Iago Garay Portrait), Variable Visual (Cecile Ravanel Portrait), Rod Bardsley (Rae Morrison Portrait), Crankworx / Clint Trahan (Rae Morrison Action Shot), Matthew DeLorme (Katy Winton Action Shot), Gary Perkin (Mark Scott Action Shot + Portrait)