Richie Rude and Bex Baraona triumph at Derby Enduro World Cup

All photos: Piper Albrecht

The second round of the 2023 Enduro World Cup (EDR) ventured north from the first round's steep and deep trails at Maydena Bike Park, west of Hobart, Tasmania. Some drove up, others chose to pack up and ride their enduro rigs to the north east as a bikepacking route.

Derby offers a totally different experience to Maydena, with more slabs of rock, and a lot of pedalling. Would the same riders who found success be on the top steps at Derby? Time would tell. 

Practice was wet, with flashbacks to the 2017 Enduro Wet Series round in Derby. But as riders washed their clothes, and cleaned and repaired their bikes from a day of carnage – the sun came out. Firstly for the Opens race on Friday, and then a glorious Tasmanian day for the Elite race on Saturday.

The wins were taken by almost all new faces compared to round 1, save for Sascha Kim, who has now won both rounds in the U21Enduro World Cup. Erice Van Leuven won the U21 women's, while Bex Baraona won the Elite – no doubt benefitting from her time on the trails at the TransTas earlier this year. Richie Rude made a return to the top step in Elite men.

All the action at Derby

In Elite Women, all the stage wins were shared by Bex Baraona, Harriet Harnden and Ella Connoly, who also finished the day in that order. While Harnden won the first stage, Baraona took charge on the 2nd, before Connoly won the third.

Baraona on the hunt.

Leanna Curtis stomped to 7th as the top Australian, a huge ride, with Zoe Cuthbert in 19th. Rachel Hore was 26th.  

Elite women
1st. Bex Baraona: 29:52.010
2nd. Hattie Harnden: 30:00.230
3rd. Ella Conolly: 30:17.740
4th. Isabeau Courdurier: 30:40.730
5th. Morgane Charre: 30:41.860
6th. Barbora Prudkova: 30:50.600
7th. Leanna Curtis: 31:02.090
8th. Raphaela Richter: 31:02.730
9th. Katy Winton: 31:04.290
10th. Kate Weatherly: 31:13.240

In U21 women, Erice Van Leuven from New Zealand took a clean sweep of the 6 stages, and Australia's Lia Ladbrook was 3rd overall, including a second on stage 5. Taylor Sherrif and Connor Mielke were 7th and 9th respectively.

U21 women
1st. Erice Van Leuven: 31:40.050
2nd. Elly Hoskin: 33:16.230
3rd. Lia Ladbrook: 33:17.520
4th. Xanthe Robb: 33:25.240
5th. Emmy Lan: 33:27.140

In Elite men, eyes were on Luke Meier-Smith. He'd pretty much lived at Maydena with a lot of the younger generation ahead of the opening round, would his success there transfer to Maydena?

In the end, it was a return to the favourites with Richie Rude, Slawomir Lukasik and Jesse Melamed taking all 6 stages between them, and finishing on the podium in that order. Gven the two Yeti Factory riders had raced TransTas, some familiarisation clearly helped.

Jack Moir was 4th and Dan Booker came in 8th in a highly competitive field. Luke Meier-Smith and Ryan Gilchrist were 17th and 16th respectively. Connor Fearon was 24th and Dean Lucas 33rd. Josh Carlson was 38th while Andrew Cavaye and Jake Newell in 45th and 50th rounded out the Australians in the top 50.

Elite Men
1st. Richie Rude: 25:52.860
2nd. Slawomir Lukasik: 26:00.450
3rd. Jesse Melamed: 26:17.910
4th. Jack Moir: 26:21.420
5th. Martin Maes: 26:24.610
6th. Youn Deniaud: 26:28.180
7th. Charlie Murray: 26:29.240
8th. Dan Booker: 26:31.550
9th. Matthew Walker: 26:32.050
10th. Ed Masters: 26:32.090

In the U21 men, Australian Bailey Christie stomped home to a commanding win on stage 1, before Cooper Lowe and Sascha Kim traded stages, with Kim winning overall ahead of Lowe, and France's Lisandru Bertini in 3rd. Christie finished the day 6th overall, with Australian Harvey Lee in 5th. Tom Locke was 7th and Lee Witzerman 10th. Bow Haberman was 20th and Remy Meier-Smith 29th, just ahead of Will Hynes in 30th.

U21 Men
1st. Sascha Kim: 27:02.420
2nd. Cooper Lowe: 27:09.710
3rd. Lisandru Bertini: 27:12.490
4th. Lief Rodgers: 27:24.410
5th. Harvey Lee: 27:30.520

After a wild fortnight in Tasmania, the World Cup calms the farm for a couple of months, until hitting the dirt in Finale Ligure, Italy, for round 3.