Enduro World Series Round 1: A preview of Punta Ala

The Enduro World Series is almost upon us, with top flight racers from all over the world coming together for the first time!  With the countdown to the first event now measured in weeks rather than months, the stages have been set and excitement is building.  Enduro Magazine caught up with Matt Wragg and the Life Cycle team as they checked out some of the special stages in Punta Ala.

There are some beautiful views on the descents.

In many ways, Punta Ala is the perfect location for the first round of the Enduro World Series. It is a world away from the high, alpine environment where the sport was born. Lying in the heart of the Maremma, on the southern tip of Tuscany, it is a strip of golden sand surrounded by dense scrub forests and rolling hills. While some of the hills reach as high as 600m above sea level, which technically makes them mountains, they aren’t real mountains in the same way the alps are mountains. More like bigger hills. But that’s the point, this is the evolution of enduro. This new style of the sport no longer needs chairlifts and 1,000m descents for incredible racing (although those things will always be close to our hearts).

This way to the stages!

Manuel Ducci keeping it low and fast.

Come 18 May, when the world descends here for the first round of the Enduro World Series, riders will face a race that is both physical and technical enough to challenge riders of every level. With a 62km course, 1,600 vertical meters of climbing and descending, and more than 20 minutes of timed stages to race over, it’s going to be brutal race, have no doubt about that. This is the growth of enduro as a format that can be translated across the world. With good trails you can put on an enduro race wherever you happen to live and ride…

Time to head home…

Possibly the most beautiful place to end a ride in Italy?

Words and Photos: Matt Wragg

To find out more about the Life Cycle team, check out their website

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