New Plymouth's Wyn Masters on his way to winning the 2017 Giant Toa Enduro on Sunday. Photo/Fraser Britton
New Plymouth's Wyn Masters on his way to winning the 2017 Giant Toa Enduro on Sunday. Photo/Fraser Britton
Rotorua was treated to a thrilling Giant Toa Enduro on the weekend, despite wet conditions.
The star-studded international race was the first round of the 2017 Enduro World Series and this year's curtain-raiser to the Crankworx season yesterday. New Zealand athlete Wyn Masters, from New Plymouth, officially lived up to his top billing taking out first place after mastering a challenging seven stage course in a time of 37m 31.72s.
Weather reports predicting rain would hit early in the day proved all too accurate as the racers, only half an hour into the race, found themselves riding messy mud bogs capable of throwing even the best riders.
Masters said he found stage three [Hatu Patu, Dammit Janet] the most challenging.
"it was the stage I was most looking forward to," he said. "Someone told me I was second in the race at the top, and then I tried to go way too hard, and it was the biggest mess. I've never seen that stage look like that - I couldn't get out of the ruts.
The track in question, Hatu Patu, was billed as crash and carnage central even on a sunny day, and having bounced off the bike quickly, Masters was under the impression he was out of contention until hearing he was just 20s behind his brother, Eddie Masters, going into stage 6.
"I would have been stoked to be on the podium with him, but I had to be above him," Wyn said.
This is the first time at the top of the podium for Masters in the Enduro World series and Crankworx, and he was, in the end, joined by his brother, who took third place.
Meanwhile, fellow Kiwi and Kawerau rider Matt Walker, last year's winner, was thrilled to finish second in a time of 37m 35.40s, for this first big race of the season.
Kawerau rider Matt Walker in action on the weekend. Photo/Fraser Britton
Walker, a King of Crankworx contender, said he was delighted with the "comeback" result after spending much of 2016 in recovery due to an injured hand.
"I know it's a really long season, so starting strong wasn't really a focus, but it was definitely in the back of my mind," he said. "This is something that I wanted to achieve this year - definitely some good momentum today."
If there was one man who couldn't seem to catch his rhythm, it was 2016 Enduro World series champion Richie Rude (USA), who finished 20th. Seeded in top spot coming into the race, Rude had the misfortune of riding last on the well worn trails.
"I would say I did the best I could have... there were three, four hundred people in front of me just chewing the tracks up... it's hard to go last," Rude said.
In the women's field Enduro World series champion Cecile Ravanel (France) dominated, finishing three minutes up and winning all but one stage, clocking an overall time of 44m 36.63s.
Ravanel said she was pleased with her results and admitted she had nerves coming into the day.
"It was the first international race of the year, so it's hard to say if I'm in good shape or not," she said.
The Giant Toa Enduro podium finishers from left, Matt Walker, Ines Thoma, Cecile Ravanel, Wyn Masters, Eddie Masters and Anita Gehrig. Photo/Fraser Britton
She won the first six stages handily after gambling correctly she would need a tire set-up for mud, but nevertheless looked exhausted by the time her seven plus hours of riding finished at Village Green on the edge of Lake Rotorua.
Ravanel was beaten in just stage 7 [Corridor, Eastern Spice, Turkish, New Exit, Old Exit] by Great Britain's Katy Winton - her first Enduro World Series stage win ever.
Ines Thoma and Anita Gehrig, second and third respectively, remained consistent throughout.
Thoma remained in the top three or four from stages two through to seven, and Gehrig never slipped further than sixth spot in the same stages. They finished 16th and 18th on the first stage in the pouring rain.
This year's event saw the athletes ride 64 kilometres, with 2,079m of elevation drop during the seven stages of racing. None of the top 30 Enduro World Series riders hit the podium, though the women's field held steady to predictions.
For all the 2017 Enduro World Series, Rotorua results here:
