Last weekend’s round of the Enduro World Series in Aspen and Snowmass in US of A saw some of the longest and loosest racing action in this season’s EWS.

What else happened that’s interesting?

Pic: Enduro World Series

1. He’s not in Rude health anymore

Last time in La Thuile we commented on Richie Rude’s immense fitness. Well, he still is fit but he’s now a bit broken. A hefty crash during the first day’s practice (watch the video above) saw Rude suffer a first degree tear in his AC joint in his shoulder. Oof! Rude sat out of the rest of the practice days but did return for the race days albeit significantly affected.

Pic: Enduro World Series

2. Clementz recovered just fine thanks

After our misgivings about Jerome Clementz’s performance in the previous rounds of the EWS he clearly took this to heart and used it as inspiration for his comeback result at Aspen-Snowmass. The length of the tracks and freshly-cut unpredictable nature of the tracks on day 1 no doubt played to the Enduro Traditionalist’s strengths.

Pic: Enduro World Series

3. Americans like it big

Some of the highest altitude racing of the whole EWS. And some of the longest stages too – stage 4 was over 5 miles long! The racing was so big that it took over two separate mountain resorts (Aspen and Snowmass). ESW Rd5 seemed to supersize everything. And film it in widescreen. And 3D.

Pic: Enduro World Series

4. Australians like it big too

Aussie Jared Graves took the overall round win. He won four out of the five stages. He did it on big wheels. A Specialized Stumpjumper 29 to be exact that was setup quite a bit differently to the standard Stumpy 29.

Pic: Enduro World Series

5. Cecile Ravanel has ze moste aut-raj-uhss ack-sonte

Ravanel continues to utterly dominate the Womens racing. But we still never tire of hearing her speak in the post-event videos. ‘Allo ‘Allo Enduro!

Pic: Enduro World Series

6. The U21 category is the most interesting category

Rude’s and Ravanel’s ownership of the Mens and Womens crowns is not in doubt. The ding-dong battle between Adrien Dailly (pic above) and Sebastien Claquin in the Mens U21 is actually the most interesting story from a racing perspective.

7. Hurray for privateer racers

Graves won all the stages bar the final sixth stage. Who won that? Only good ol’ Plucky Privateer Brit racer Matt Stuttard. Congrats Matt! And what about fellow privateer racer Brit Bex Baraona who’s currently lying in 7th place overall in the Womens? Great stuff.