The title wasbeautiful and full of promises for this 2nd trophy of the nations in thehistory of the enduro MOUNTAIN BIKE. Indeed, after a first edition won by Francein 2008 in Les 2 Alpes, everything was in question in Vars, it is the essenceof a beautiful race.

Nine teams ofthree pilots each finally appeared on Saturday morning on the starting line ofthe first timed run.

 

And the qualitywas there, with simply the best of MOUNTAIN BIKE Enduro planet. Three teamshighlighted the warned forecasters. The team France 1 was the favourite withRemi Absalon, Alex Balaud and Jérome Clementz, but everybody distrusted the USA1 composed with Brian Lopes, Mark Weir and Jason Moeschler, while Switzerland 1looked like the very big outsider with René Wildhaber, Florian Golay and FredRul.

Other teamsseemed less well-balanced but included some big names of the discipline such asRoss Shnell, Chris Van Dine, Marco Rodolico,Olivier Guincêtre, Greg Noce or Maurin Trocello.

The action camevery fast. Alex Balaud got flat tire in the 1st special and lost almost 4minutes. Not more was needed to motivate the Swiss and especially the Americanswhich, with Lopes and Weir performing very very close to the Frenchies, and soFrance began doubting.

From the 2ndspecial, Switzerland 1 lost however all its illusions with the fall and thefracture of Fred Rul’s wrist: too much pressure, haste or misfortune, in allcases Switzerland 1 was out, with a part of the suspense.

Almostsimultaneously Italy abandonnned the classification after a mechanical breakageof one of the members of the team. Then, Ross Schnell felt and injured histhumb, abandoning and so condemning USA2 who however, with Chris Van Dine inoutposts, could legally hope for a podium.

From the middleof Saturday, at the end of the 3 runs on the special 1, only 6 teams stayed incompetition. It is necessary to note that this special, which  required around 14 minutes, was selective,physical and technical and really illustrated this 2nd trophy of nations.

The 2nd specialof the day had to be runned twice and required a little more than 10 minutes.

Long specials,that allow pilots to make the difference and so, with small seconds patientlywan on Lopes and Weir and some more on Moeschler, France 1 took back its 4minutes and went back in head.

 

At the end ofthe day, the departure of the third special is given, for a single chrono. Thetrack was perfect for Lopes who won the first scratch for the USA, but it wasnot enough so that the team ended the first day in front of France 1, which isthe leader, in front of thus the USA 1 and France 2.

One good nightof rest and the 6 surviving teams were ready for the start of the 4 runs of specialnumber 4. Let us clarify that the 4th run will be a mass start.

French continuedto push the nail and knock out the race with the best scratch time of Absalonand Clementz while Balaud went each time into the top 5, which also includedWildhaber and Weir. Here are the 5 strong pilots of this E-MTN. Naturally Lopesalso fighted in this top 5 but got one flat and so lost some invaluableminutes.

At the massstart of the spectacular 4th run, there was almost no stake for the podium,time differences were too important. Nevertheless, two men were fighting likecat and dog for the glory and 1000 € of bonus on this run. Lopes made theholeshot, as a specialist, but, in spite of all his efforts, he did not succeedto face the assaults of Absalon, intrinsically faster on this track.

The final resultcrowned once again the French Team 1, which however did not dominate any moreso extravagantly as they did in the first edition, even if it remains thenation number 1 of the Enduro. The team members of France 1 won the 5000 € ofprize money.

The USA werewhere they were waited, on the 2nd step of the podium, near the robust France 2Team (Wedding, Navaro, Gally) on the 3rd step.

Jérome Clementzwon the scratch of this trophy of nations in spite of the assaults of RemiAbsalon and René Wildhaber. Mark Weir is a solid 4th in front of Alex Balaud5th, returned by far after his flat.

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