Race Report | Tweed Valley EWS by UrgeBike
The Tweed Valley has once again hosted the EWS this year. It was wild, epic, unpredictable and an unforgettable experience. The weather was constantly changing from pouring rain to sun in a few seconds, harsh for the bike and our already tired bodies from the previous round.
Three massive days of practice were just enough to discover the 8 stages of this two days race. To sum up, Saturday was about being fast on the steep stages that were very tight in the woods and Sunday was about “pedal to the metal”!
We had no idea what conditions to expect when we jumped off the stages on Saturday morning. It turns out that the terrain was a bit wet and not really slippery. 58km and 4 stages later, our Flo was sitting in third and Jesse in 11th. They both felt very confident and were consistent throughout the day. Alex didn’t like the Saturday’s stages sitting in 21st, he was looking to torn his pedals on the physical stages of the next day…
The weather forecast was so bad that we woke up Sunday morning with a message from the organization saying that we would only race on the stage 5 and 8. I am not going to lie we were all happy except Alex that was looking for the controversial insanely physical stage 6.
Sunday morning was cold and windy, very windy! We all head to the stage 5 and so began the mud war! When it comes to peanut butter mud there’s one way to make it down, keep riding flowly and fast and we all know that at this game Florian is quite the man! Flying Flo pushed hard taking the stage win and enough time to be in the hot seat. The last stage 8 was the longest of the weekend and would determine who’s gonna take the victory home. It was not at all the kind of stage Flo likes but he held on and concluded his weekend at an incredible 2nd place. One step at a time, he will be now looking forward to step on the top of the box.
Jesse was not in his best day and still pushed as hard as he could. A 24th didn’t satisfy him. He identified what went wrong and will now put some work in to be after the top 10 in Samoens. Jordan concluded his European tour with at an 84th spot.
Alex had what it takes to increase his result on Sunday as he finished the last stage at a great 10th place. Patience, hard work always pays off. He looks forward to Samoens and so we are, because we know he can make it to the top 10.
For more info, visit: urgebike.com
Words & Photos: UrgeBike
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