Barel and Moseley win Enduro World Series opener

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The Enduro World Series kicked off at the second pro race of the Superenduro powered by SRAM season. Everyone was waiting for this weekend after months of anticipation.

Before the race, it was almost impossible to guess who would be victorious. With the level of the field, there were more than 30 riders all in with a real chance of winning.

Over the course of the four special stages, French mountain bike legend, Fabien Barel (Canyon Factory Team), emerged as the winner. It was on the trail named Rock-Oh, the longest and most technical stage of the race, where he stamped his dominance, winning the Red Bull Time Rush in the process.

Winner of stage 1, Jerome Clementz (Cannondale), pushed hard to catch him, but finished 13 seconds behind his countryman. Third overall went to the former four cross specialist Jared Graves (Yeti-Fox Factory Team). Narrowly missing out on a podium was 16-year-old Martin Maes (GT Factory Racing) from Belgium, who will definitely be a talent to watch for the future.

With Barel, Clementz and Graves on the podium, there was a downhill world champion, a four cross world champion and one of the world's top enduro specialists.

"I'm not surprised that there are riders on the podium from different disciplines because the enduro is about all of the mountain and that's what we do every day!" said race winner Barel.

"My legs hurt, my ass hurts, I've never eaten so much. Now beer and the beach!" said Cedric Gracia as he ended his weekend in Punta Ala.

EMBA advisor and former downhill world champion, Tracy Moseley (Trek Factory Racing), won ahead of the another former downhill world champion Emmeline Ragot (Lapierre International). Cecile Ravanel (GT Skoda) took the third spot.

The road to enduro began six years ago for the Superenduro. The young discipline has been evolving ever since. Among the riders were different wheel sizes, prototypes and top secret electronic suspension we will see in the future.

The Enduro World Series takes a two-week break before the circuit heads to Gemona for the third round.