La Thuile Enduro Course Preview W/ Richie Rude 🇮🇹 | Whoop Uci Mtb World Series

Hello and welcome to La Tuile, Valle d'Aosta for round 4 of the UCI Enduro World Cup. Today I am joined by none other than current Enduro World Champion, Richie Rood. Richie, what is it like being back on the enduro bike? Yeah, it's pretty nice. This will be the first time riding with the World Champs stripes on some enduro tracks and yeah, pretty excited. Right, let's get stuck in. Yes, Richie! Big wall ride! Try and catch Richie back up now. Easier said than done. A little bit of style, you know. No way! Couldn't hang on to it. I can see why Richie's got them rainbows on. He's so good at carrying speed. Oops. So this is Stage 1 Tour Race and it's 4.42 kilometres long with 874 metres of descending. This stage is a monster. You ready? Right, let's drop in. Richie's already drifting around. Oh my God! This is my first ever time following a World Champ down a stage. I can see why Richie's got them rainbows on. He's so good at carrying speed. Here we go into some tight turns. No way! All the drifting with the feet on is crazy. In the weeds. He's just playing around now. Oh, a little inside. That was a bit of a roll of dice. A bit of a line choice up there at least. A little rock jump over. Almost made that one. Calming up the pace. Couldn't hang on to it. Oh my God! Oops. The tape's down. There's a Scandi flick and then there's a Scandi whatever that was. Okay, so we just fixed the tape. Now we're going into the river. Back into this loose dirt. Oh, this is so loose. Oh, a little gap. That is nice. Oh, a good gap there maybe. How does it feel being back on the enduro bike? It feels kind of good. Let's see if I can hang on to the current world champ through this steeper section. Oh, he's going. Oh, he slows down so well. Oh, tight trees. A little bit of style, you know. We'll just stop here, dude. We'll have a look at this little line choice bit here. We're just having a look at this turn. It seems like there's a few options. It's loose. There's lots of loose rocks dotted about everywhere and the catch in the turn's already quite blown out. So in race runs, it's already going to be way further back than it already is. Richie, any ideas? Yeah, it's a tough one. There's probably one main line, maybe another one coming into it. It's got a tight apex and it goes into two more tight corners, it looks like. And they kind of left it a bit wide, so you can maybe trim over the inside. I know Elliot was thinking about jumping it. But that one's always tough when you're probably a couple minutes into a stage that's already quite long and it's quite risky looking. Usually, sometimes I like to just ride the main line and ride it hard, but I think you're going to want to carry speed well here. There's all these cow paths that are quite confusing, so you've got to be able to spot your line and pull out a good corner as you come through these. Couldn't have said it better myself. So yeah, so Richie, main line with confidence. Yeah, I might set up and go over the edge of the grass, but we'll see how it actually turns out when I ride it. Let's go and give it a go, see where we end up. Drop her in. Oh, that was wild! I pulled the trigger, Richie! Big wall ride. That thing's huge! Try and catch Richie back up now. Easier said than done. He's a big fella, but he's so nimble. Look at him throwing dust everywhere at me. No way! That was huge! It's faster than on the grass. This has been unreal. Bit of a fast section here. Okay, and we're coming into the final straight, and that is the finish of stage one. Oh, Richie, thank you so much for your time, mate. That was awesome to follow you down. How was it being on the enduro bike after all? It was super fun, I think. Bit of the way in, I was getting comfortable again, and jumping around, and yeah, I'm a few surprised out on track for getting a break too much for some things, but yeah, that was good. What do you think it's going to be like to race that track for the races on Saturday? Yeah, it'll be tough for sure. Just being at altitude and it being a bit longer of a stage, I think just up top it's quite loose. You have to be calm to start, and then I think you can kind of open up at the bottom as the track gets a little more bed in, but it'll be a tricky one, and just keeping it smooth through all the tight stuff. Well, good luck for the dyno season, mate. Thank you. And yeah, hopefully we'll see you soon. You join me at the top of stage two, Belfast, on the wild side of Mont Blanc. This stage is only 1.43 kilometres long, but it has 525 metres of descending, and after that huge stage one, this is going to be a seriously fast stage for the racers. Let's get stuck in. OK, and we're dropping in now into these big berms. This is well different to how we've raced it in the past. Oh, God, it's like a motorway. We're already picking up wild amounts of speed. Yo, dude. Whoo! Oh, this is sick. Oh, you wouldn't want to go off there, that's for sure. Someone has put a lot of effort into this track, and it's very much appreciated by me and the racers, I'm sure, because this is phenomenal. Oh, just turns all the way down. We don't get as many built-up trails in enduro that are this good. Just got hit in the face with a butterfly. Whoa! Oh, my God. OK, we're dropping into the trees now. Oh, you can have a big set-up for that turn, that's for sure. Oh, this is steep now. Whoa! Oh, my God, it's so steep. OK, I'm off the brakes. Carrying speed. Oh, and the track just points straight down the hill. I can't even explain to you how steep that is. And these turns are like talcum powder with rocks in. Oh, no. I'm in the bushes. Dude, that is so steep. Crazy. Like, look how steep that is. And into a flat turn. Oh, I don't think I'll be the only one doing that this week. Actually seems quite long. It's going to be very fatiguing on the hands just because the racers are going to be on the brakes so much on the way down. You don't really get to have a minute. It's just flat out, 180-degree turn, flat out again. And here's another one, look. Oh, at least these are built up. You can really lean into them. And here we are through the finish of Belfast. That was absolutely unbelievable. That stage is mega. It's got a bit of everything. It's got a bit of natural stuff, natural rocks, a little bit of rooty stuff, and then it's just flat out, wide open, bike-party-style turns on the side of the Alpine Mountain. That is going to be so tough. You now join me at the top of Stage 3, Cambodia, which I'm sure you can work out the English translation. It has 826 meters of descending across over 3.5 kilometers of stage. This one is an absolute beast, and with only one stage after it, this is where the race is going to be won or lost. Okay, and we drop into the first turn of this monster of a stage. Oh, we've got big rock drops already. It's so loose, it's so rocky. That seems to be the flavors of the trail here in La Thuile de Aosta. Big slab, oh, my God. The mortal rock slab is brutal. Look at that. It doesn't even look rideable. I nearly crashed at the top. That would have been horrendous. Trying to explain that to my producer. Cambodia, like a notorious stage here in La Thuile de Aosta for being flat out and open to the elements. If it's raining up here, it could be absolutely ridiculous. Okay, this is nice. We're carrying a little bit of speed. We've got a bit of sandy dirt. Look at that waterfall. What the hell? It doesn't even look real. Oh, a little jump. That's always nice. Oh, they've done some nice bit of work to this trail. Oh! Let's not get carried away again. This is unreal. Back flat out. Pointing straight down the mountain. The riders will be tucking along here, trying to get their breath back before we get into the trees. Chunky. It's steep. There's not a lot of support in these corners, and my fingers have not come off the brakes for a good minute now. An uphill after that is going to be horrendous, but I guess it gives the riders a chance to stretch the fingers out. Got some riders on course. I just cut the tree with my handlebars. A little hand stretch. Open up the fingers before we drop into some more hand-cramping, steep, rough terrain. Oh! What's the line, bros? Oh! Just point it straight down and hold off. Woo! Oh! Oh, God. Fatigue is going to play a big part in this. Into this little karcher zone. Oh, I remember this. Oh, my God! Oh, that is so steep. I can't believe I just rode down that. Oh, my God. That was not on purpose. And through the finish, three and a half kilometres later, 826 metres vertical. That was a tough one. On to the final stage, the night stage. The shortest one we have here. Let's give it a go. This is stage four nightfall, the final stage of the day, and it has a monster rock garden right slap-bang in the middle, and then it's got steep, tight technical turns just before the finish. This is the final chance for racers to put it all on the line and see who comes out on top. Okay, and we're in. We've got some open turns in the piece to start off with. Oh, this is blind. Okay, we're all right so far. Oh, this is steep. I hope this isn't wet, because it'll be... Whoa! Jesus, it goes down. Oh, I'm down again. I'm down again. Okay. Okay, this will be so easy to blow up at the end of the day. And here is that rock garden. I think I'm going to have to hold my breath going through it. Oh! Okay. Yes, we're through. Rock garden. Well, we saw last time how much carnage there was in this section, and I don't think it's going to be any easier this time. The rocks are way more prominent than what they were last time I rode it, so it's just going to be a case of hang on and grit your teeth and try and make it to that finish line, I guess. Oh, God. That rock garden claimed so many victims last time here, but it didn't get me. I've been nervous about that all week, and we've come into the final turns. Oh, really tight, really steep, really technical. Oh, okay, into the final turn. And that is a wrap on course preview here in L'Etoile d'Aosta on the wild side of Mont Blanc. Four amazing stages, super physical, super technical. This venue has it all. Stay tuned for practice day tomorrow. Catch ya.