Luke Meier-Smith wins Enduro World Cup at Maydena Bike Park

Photos: Piper Albrecht

The first round of the 2023 Enduro World Cup (EDR) landed in Tasmania, with Maydena Bike Park playing host to its first international event. In A1 conditions, a huge crowd amassed at the bike park to see Australian Luke Meier-Smith win the opening round, as Isabeau Courdurier won the women's race, starting her campaign for her 3rd world title in the best way possible.

A new look for 2023

There are a few changes to what we knew as the Enduro World Series for 2023. Firslt,y each event is one day only – there is no pro stage on Saturday arvo. Every stage has points up for grabs, so every metre counts.

The final stage is also run in order of the standings, or reverse order. The fastest rider to that point will be hitting the final stage last. Talk about keeping the action high!

Another change is a hefty tighten up of the points system to qualify for the elite races. This has seen a number of people miss out on the elite race, instead racing the Open race on the Saturday. But by all accounts, that was still a solid day on the hill.

All the elite action at Maydena

With the first two rounds of the Enduro World Cup taking place in Tasmania, it has been cool to see the top international stars hanging out at different trails. And why not? Australia has some serious pedigree in enduro and downhill, so they should be coming to see what we get up to in the off season.

These rounds aren't running as double headers with downhill, like some in the season, so there were plenty of downhillers in the mix including 2022 World Champion Voli Hoell, and our own Troy Brosnan.

But after Hoell sustained a crash, she wasn't in the chase, leaving Courdurier to fend of Morgan Charre for the top step. Leanna Curtis came in 16th with Zoe Cuthbert in 22nd. Shelly Flood was 27th and Lucy Hill was 33rd. Lia Ladbrook finished 5th in U21 women.

Elite Women

1st. Isabeau Courdurier: 33:15.930
2nd. Morgane Charre: 33:25.510
3rd. Ella Conolly: 33:53.650
4th. Bex Baraona: 33:56.010
5th. Hattie Harnden: 33:59.530
6th. Rae Morrison: 34:02.390
7th. Kate Weatherly: 34:15.730
8th. Melanie Pugin: 34:22.850
9th. Noga Korem: 34:23.180
10th. Vali Höll: 34:34.750

U21 Women

1st. Emmy Lan: 35:28.900
2nd. Erice Van Leuven: 35:32.580
3rd. Elly Hoskin: 36:43.800
4th. Xanthe Robb: 37:15.380
5th. Lia Ladbrook: 37:21.150
6th. Sophie Riva: 37:30.060
7th. Lily Boucher: 38:39.170
8th. Justine Henry: 41:24.140

In Elite men, hometown hero Dan Booker got the party started on the first stage with an Austraian stage win. In fact, only Jesse Melamed had a stage win outside of Australian riders. Meier-Smith was charging, and Brosnan also took a stage win.

In the end, our Downhill National Champion took the win ahead of Dan Booker in second and Connor Fearon in 3rd. Jack Moir was 18th, Josh Carlson was back on a non-eMTB for 30th. Jake Newell scored 42nd with Australian Enduro National Champ Tim Eaton in 45th and Jordan Prochyra in 50th. All results are on the event site.

1st. Luke Meier-Smith: 28:55.210
2nd. Dan Booker: 29:01.040
3rd. Connor Fearon: 29:14.450
4th. Rhys Verner: 29:19.780
5th. Troy Brosnan: 29:21.920
6th. Ryan Gilchrist: 29:28.920
7th. Richie Rude: 29:30.280
8th. Ed Masters: 29:40.300
9th. Youn Deniaud: 29:43.860
10th. Zakarias Johansen: 29:46.710

In the U21 men, Australia took the top 3 steps with Sascha Kim in frist, Remy Meier-Smith in 2nd and Will Hynes in third. As always, Australia has plenty of taltent coming up out of the younger age groups.

1st. Sascha Kim: 29:26.110
2nd. Remy Meier-Smith: 29:44.900
3rd. Will Hynes: 30:06.450
4th. Lisandru Bertini: 30:11.020
5th. Johnathan Helly: 30:32.310
6th. Jack Piercy: 30:32.950
7th. Lee Witzerman: 30:34.190
8th. Harvey Lee: 30:37.370
9th. Alexis Icardo: 30:47.260
10th. Bailey Christie: 31:00.070

Next stop – Derby!