Alex Rudeau 2nd, Louis Jeandel 3rd, and Guillaume Larbeyou 20th! These are the incredible performances from last weekend in the Pyrenees and they allow us to establish ourselves firmly in the team ranking!
Our 3-year project aims to root COMMENCAL firmly into the world of enduro, using racing as the guideline. At the beginning of the project in 2021, using methods we’ve learned in DH, we launched with a team of around ten people. The objective was firstly to learn and understand how to develop a high-performance bike, then develop the working tools and routines to perform at top level races. Experiment, debrief, analyze, prepare action plans and carry them through; this was the work planned for the second year and we are fully satisfied with everyone’s involvement and the results we obtained.
The META V5 was once again a formidable weapon this weekend where we needed a very versatile mountain bike to give confidence and comfort to the rider so that they can maximise their speed. But this time we made the greatest progress at rider level.
It’s the result of the last two months of work. The team supported the riders with considerable effort in terms of physical, technical and mental performance. Talking about the team, Louis Jeandel confirms, “It’s you who allowed me to get here, within a (team) dynamic like this, we only want one thing: to transcend ourselves.”
Race day was disrupted by the weather. With a big storm forecast for the weekend, the organisation chose to move the competition forward to Friday, not leaving the usual rest days after practice. We therefore had to build this first day methodically, paying attention to details, planning for changes in grip and lines on this terrain.
We used our experience from the Leogang World Cup and we know that it was a decisive step on the big day.
We once again experienced a race with suspense, twists and turns. Louis arrived at the bottom of the first stage after an intense sprint to set the best time, 4.5 seconds ahead of Richie Rude. He remained in the top 5 throughout the day (P1-P3-P8-P14-P3) to achieve his very first podium.
He said afterwards, “I still have some progress to make in riding, I lost time in stages 3 and 4. But it’s great, there’s a lot of room for improvement!"
For Alex, the day was not so easy. He crashed during the first stage, placing him in 6th position, where he climbed little by little to be 1st at the end of stage 3. A second fall on stage 4 put him into 4th place, 5 seconds behind the leader. A long liaison took riders to the start of the last stage: Kern. It was the most technical, but Alex knew he could still make up the difference. Like last year he had the best time but was unable to completely reduce the gap. He finished 0.7 seconds behind 1st after more than 26 minutes of timed racing. Alex later said, “This race was mentally demanding. It’s the first time I’ve lost everything before the last stage. But after all the work I’ve done on myself, I can handle it.”
At the end of the day, it was 3 out of 5 stages that were won by the team’s riders during this race!
For Guillaume Larbeyou, the weekend was also successful. While he was only able to seriously resume riding his META in mid-August following his injury, there were still doubts. However, he was able to be consistent over the day and take 20th position.
In the e-bike competition, Mat continues to gain experience and learn how to build his race weekends. He progressed further and took 3rd place on the first power stage.
See you in Chatel for the last round of the season.
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