Jesse Melamed is trending in the right direction, but hardware eluded him nonetheless at the Enduro World Cup (EDR) this weekend in Loudenvielle, France.
The Sea to Sky veteran's time of 22 minutes and 42.489 seconds landed him in fourth. Instead Daniel Booker grabbed gold for Australia (22:20.157) in a pitched battle with French silver medallist Alex Rudeau (22:30.797) and Slawomir Lukasik of Poland, who earned bronze (22:37.882).
"This race was a good one for me," wrote Melamed on Instagram." The dry conditions gave more grip and a bit more margin for error, which meant I could really focus on pushing the bike and exploring the limits without the constant worry of unpredictable traction. That allowed me to ride more aggressively and really feel out where my edge is.
"Mentally, this was a confidence-building race. I’ve been riding with a bit of hesitation this year—probably because I’ve been carrying a fear of crashing from the elbow injury that’s hard to shake once it’s in your head. So being able to push hard, ride near the limit, and still stay in control was exactly what I needed. Looking forward to another chance next weekend!"
Booker said in a press release: "Very exciting to get the win here, I never had a super standout result here but I’ve loved the trails every year. Even if I made mistakes I was still carrying speed, I was happy and the trails were running good so it was a great day, I was loving riding. Nice to climb back up a bit, had a bit of drama in Poland so hopefully we can keep going with the first places."
Lukasik, however, remains first in season standings to date.
Women's results
Ella Conolly bolstered her lead atop the women's EDR comfortably, or as comfortable as one might possibly be whilst pelting down five stages featuring an average downhill gradient of 20 per cent.
The talented Brit blew away her opposition (25:22.107), with runner-up Morgane Charre of France not particularly close to authoring an upset (26:02.381). Kiwi athlete Winni Goldsbury held onto third place (26:40.074).
Despite her overall success, this is Conolly's first win of 2025.
"The race was amazing, it was really cool to race here in Loudenvielle in the dry," Conolly told reporters after the fact. "It was a big contrast to last year and a big contrast to our previous World Cup round in Poland.
"My race day went pretty smoothly, I started really fast and had a bit of a slide, a little crash so decided to be a bit more calculated, a bit smoother through the race and pushed everywhere I could. Leading the World Cup still, so happy with that."
Click here for more results from Loudenvielle.
