It took him a bit to get his sea legs back, but Jesse Melamed returned to the top step of an Enduro World Cup (EDR) podium this Sunday in Leogang, Austria.
Melamed's victorious result of 24 minutes and 46.028 seconds saw him overcome an inauspicious start. He placed fourth on a lengthy opening stage that looked capable of immediately separating the pack, but only produced minor time gaps in the end.
Charles Murray settled in the runner-up hole for New Zealand (25:00.008) and third went to perennial Polish contender Sławomir Łukasik (25:05.567), the latter of which remains atop season rankings.
"Honestly it was quite smooth and steady, which is saying a lot for how tricky this course is," Melamed told reporters after the fact. "It obviously poured down rain on race day but I was kind of wanting it because these trails are fast and tech at speed so I wanted to be slower. It just went smooth, I made one mistake, one crash on stage four but other than that it was really clean...I was hoping for a good overall result just for that so to win is amazing because I just felt like I was riding my bike well."
Later he added on social media: "Back on [top]. Feels just as good as the first but every win has a unique feel around it. This one comes with a big thanks to [Canyon Bicycles] and [RockShox]. I have been desperately trying to put their hard work on the top step. There’s a lot of work that happens behind the scenes and while we all love the work, it’s always nice to reward it. Maybe one day you’ll see what I’m talking about. It was amazing to have my parents here for it as well, the last race I won in 2023 they were there too. Good luck charm, I guess."
Among women, it was Ella Conolly emerging for her second gold medal of the campaign (30:04.459). Slovakian Simona Kuchyňková held onto silver (30:20.838) and bronze landed around the neck of Kiwi rider Winni Goldsbury (30:39.842).
Conolly's only major hiccup was a subpar outing on Stage No. 4, but she won the final round to cement her triumph and a near-500 point edge on Kuchyňková in the overall.
"It was a really really eventful race, I had a good few crashes, made a bit of a lead then lost time on stage four, a couple more crashes," said Conolly in a press release. "Even if I slide out, something happened I was just trying to move on all the time and thankfully held onto the win, but it got tight. The mud was crazy on the last three stages, big roots that came out that were super slippery and just kept catching you off guard."
Click here for full results from Leogang.
