EWS #8 Loudenvielle – First Win for Alex Rudeau and the Enduro Project Team

What a final round of the Enduro World Series in Loudenvielle! Alex Rudeau got his first win in the competition at the weekend, but also it was a first for COMMENCAL in the Elite Men’s category! It’s an incredible result when you remember that the COMMENCAL Enduro Project is in its maiden season in the Enduro World Series. Plus the META prototype P003.1, much like the team structure itself, is still in the development phase.

Alex said afterwards, "I still don't believe it! I just won my first EWS. My parents, my brother, my friends, my team, the French public… They were all there supporting and they gave me the strength to make one of my biggest dreams come true. I am so happy! Thank you everyone.”

This victory for our META is the first 100% aluminium frame to win in the competition since Sam Hill in 2016 during the Valberg round.

The weekend had started well for the team's riders on Saturday with a flurry of consecutive finishes on the Pro Stage. Guillaume Larbeyou was 4th, with Alex Rudeau and Louis Jeandel hot on his heels, finishing 5th and 6th. Also on the first day of racing, Jack Piercy from the COMMENCAL Les Orres Team bagged 2nd in U21 Men.

On Sunday, Alex Rudeau quickly got to the heart of the matter by winning S2 by more than 8 seconds! He took control of the race. As the day went on he remained very consistent, managing the pressure and the difficulties of each stage well. He won in the end with a lead of nearly 4 seconds! In fact, the weekend went perfectly for all the Enduro Project riders. Louis Jeandel finished 9th. It was also his best performance of the season despite a mechanical problem. Guillaume Larbeyou finished 17th.

Jack Piercy also managed to master his race, he achieved a 3rd place podium in U21 Men!

When the COMMENCAL Enduro Project was launched last January, the primary objective of the team structure was to call on the experience and work that COMMENCAL R&D have already done in DH, to make enduro racing a real-time laboratory. Winning an EWS round was not the goal in the first year. It was a year that was devoted to developing the bike and acquiring as much field data as possible to make the best bike. After several months of research, two prototype versions of the META and a 9th evolution of this META P003.1, no-one would have imagined going so far as to win a round of EWS in 2022! Congratulations to the team for all this hard work. The cherry on top was a win for the Enduro Project Team in the overall of this round! The best way to end a season.

“This is the culmination of a big year of work. These podiums this weekend are quite the reward! I would like to thank all our partners and the COMMENCAL team for making this possible.”
- Mikael Marque, COMMENCAL Enduro Project Team Manager.

After these results, Alex Rudeau finished 9th in the 2022 overall EWS! Teammates Louis Jeandel and Guillaume Larbeyou also had great seasons, remaining consistent throughout the eight rounds. They both finished the season in the top 20, in 17th and 18th respectively. Antoine Vidal, who missed a large part of the EWS season because he was competing in the DH World Cup, finished 39th. It’s only right to note his excellent performances when he was present, like his 10th place last weekend in Crans Montana.

In the Elite Women’s race, Lisa Baumann finished 22nd overall. After his superb final result, Jack Piercy ended his season in 4th overall!

The COMMENCAL Enduro Project finished 7th place in season overall!

Congratulations to all our riders for such a successful season!

Photos : Sven Martin / Mathieu Ruffray