On a chaotic day that saw high winds force the cancellation of Stage 3, Elly Hoskin rolled with the punches to add a World Cup bronze medal to her resume.
The Squamolian navigated through four punishing stages in 34 minutes and 29.098 seconds. Only two other U21 ladies were faster: Emily Carrick-Anderson who grabbed gold for Great Britain (33:18.619), plus Slovakia's Simona Kuchynkova who went home with silver (34:14.035) and the season overall.
For Hoskin, it's another quality performance to back up her Canadian Open Enduro victory in July.
Meanwhile, fourth place was enough for British rider Harriet Harnden to clinch the pro women's overall world title. Morgane Charre prevailed in the race itself (28:45.070) over runner-up Mélanie Pugin of France (28:50.490), relegating Canadian Open Enduro champ Ella Conolly to third (28:54.545).
Noga Korem finished fifth, and Andréane Lanthier Nadeau was 12th.
"I feel like I’ve finally cracked it," Harnden said in a press release. "Beating Isabeau [Courdurier] is insane. She’s unstoppable, so it’s really special. I just wanted to ride like myself, just be me...if it was meant to be, it was meant to be. It turned out pretty good. I can’t believe it still. It feels super special. I don’t know what 2025 is going to hold yet, but I hope it will be something close to this. It doesn’t happen often and I’m just going to enjoy the moment."
'It was a good battle'
Richie Rude has won many things in his illustrious career, including the 2024 Garbanzo DH. Now he's earned a fourth Enduro World Cup season crown.
Rude powered his way to the second step of the elite men's podium (23:44.687), though he couldn't supersede victorious Belgian Martin Maes (23:29.244). Greg Callaghan made Ireland proud in third (23:46.360).
Jesse Melamed wasn't so fortunate, scratching and clawing his way to a 20th-place result in a campaign full of adversity.
"Slawomir [Lukasik] and Charlie [Murray] were there all season. It was a good battle. It feels amazing," Rude told the media after his event. "I’ve had a really good season this year...it’s been one of my best so far. I wasn’t off the podium all year, which is pretty crazy. I’m so stoked and it feels great to back up last season and charge this whole season.
"Starting strong reassures you that whatever you did in the offseason is paying off. Winning in Finale, being strong in Poland and doing well in Leogang, carrying that momentum. Some days where I didn’t feel as strong, I was still there fighting for it. I think those moments are the ones that assured me that I was still on pace. The Switzerland race, I put a lot of pressure on myself, and I wanted to do well there and have that little bit of leeway here. That was a tough course: so many rocks, so many things could have gone wrong. I stayed consistent and didn’t have any problems.”
Full results from Loudenvielle are available here.
