Race report: Rallye de Levens – Urge 1001 Enduro Tour 2014
Once again, the Maritime Alps were to host the opening event of the enduro season with the Rallye de Levens, the first round of the Urge 1001 Enduro Tour. Now in its 8th year the French Riviera enduro championship series was established by www.1001sentiers.fr.
All the top riders were there on Sunday, February 16th, to hit the three impressive special stages. All were technical, steep and muddy, and some were even covered in snow!
Even if Yoann Barelli and Aurélien Giordanengo preferred watching the Olympics on TV that confronting the tough special stages, the field was still extremely strong, with riders from the Rocky Mountain Urge Rally Team (Florian Nicolaï & Alex Cure), KTM Kenny (Xavier Marovelli & Loïc Piazzon), Lapierre Gravity Republic (Loris Vergier), and Ibis(Anne-Caroline Chausson), etc..
With over 237 riders and 3 special stages which were as hard as they were beautiful, Florian Nicolaï won with a 1:02 min lead over Alex Cure and 2:15 min lead on Xavier Marovelli.
Anne-Caro was a strong favorite and proved her skills by dominating the womens ranking! Taking a superb 32nd place in the scratch, and a clear womens victory ahead of Isabeau Courdurier and Morgane Jonnier. Finally, downhillers Loris Vergier (4th) and Kevin Marry (6th) won the junior and cadet rankings, and the 3 masters classes go to Cédric Jacopini (M1), Yann Beunard (M2) and Theo Bertarini (M3).
Words & Photos: 1001sentiers.fr
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