Race Wrap: 2025 Enduro World Cup – La Thuile, Italy
Sławomir Lukasik and Simona Kuchynkova take the wins and the Elite titles were both decided during a dramatic 600-metre floodlit night stage that capped off the event.
The penultimate round of the 2025 UCI Enduro World Cup featured a demanding 46.77-kilometre course, with over 2,700 metres of descent. Riders tackled three challenging daytime stages, beginning with the 3.4-kilometre Kappa Trail, which started at over 2,500 metres above sea level. A long transfer climb then led competitors up to Col Croce, followed by a steep 3.9-kilometre descent dropping 941 metres. The final daytime stage, Chaz Dura Express, spanned 5.9 kilometres and featured a descent of 988 vertical metres. The final stage was a 600-metre night stage under floodlights, featuring a fast and steep 151-meters drop.
In the Men’s Elite race, Lukasik edged out Charles Murray in a nail-biting finish, winning by a mere five hundredths of a second. The win also secured him the overall Men’s Elite UCI Enduro World Cup title—with one round still remaining.
“It was a really good battle with Charles (Murray) today, it was really great day. I can’t believe I’ve won the overall, it’s an amazing feeling and I’m so stoked about that. I’ve never been to Haute-Savoie so I’m excited about that race but more relaxed because I took the overall win. It will be fun to ride and more focus for the World Championships.” – Slawomir Lukasik
The four South African riders flying the flag were Luca Zietsman with a P22 in Juniors, Keira Duncan finished P28 in Elite Men, Jason Boulle in P51, and Keagan Brand P86. Here’s a few words from them on their race weekend..
“La Thuile World Cup was a demanding event but a really awesome experience. Four stages might not sound like much but it was a big day out and aside from stage 4, the stages were long and physical. Racing a stage in the dark was both a first for me and for the World Cup series. Pinning it down the night stage was definitely a highlight moment that’ll be stored in my memory bank forever. Lesson learnt: you have to get out of your comfort zone and push the limits a lot if you want to contend with the top dogs. Overall it was a tough but rewarding experience. The competition was fierce but I was stoked to claim my best World Cup result yet — up against 170 elite men entrants. World class event, world class trails in a truly beautiful area.” – Keira Duncan
“A bit of a bittersweet one for me in La Thuile this weekend. On the one hand, my best ever finish (51st) and best stage result (38th on Stage One) which I’m really stoked about but on the other hand, I felt that I could build on that Stage One result throughout the day by cleaning up my cornering and braking in particular — and I just didn’t manage to do that. That left me a bit disappointed with what could have been but nevertheless, really stoked to see some progression at this round. Keira was flying this weekend, super inspiring to see! It’s definitely spurring me on to work harder and smarter to close the gap. Now for some rest and a good training block in Andorra before Round 7 in August.” – Jason Boulle
“Another World Cup under my belt, and I’d be lying if I said I’m not a little disappointed with where I finished. I had a really good Stage One — I let it hang out all the way, and it paid off. But I couldn’t keep it together on Stage Two and had a relatively huge crash, losing a lot of time. I then tried to make up time in the next two stages; however, that led to lots of little mistakes, like missing braking points and squaring up corners. All considered P22 in the end is not to bad pace is there just need to do some fine tuning. It was a successful two-race weekend, and a lot was learnt. Now, back to the training blocks — I’ll be back.” – Luca Zietsman
“I had a pretty big crash in stage 1 needing to straighten my bars on stage — losing a fair bit of time. From there onwards I had some clean riding, I’ve been sick coming into this race so breathing has been a big issue on the long stages we had in La Thuile, definitely enjoyed the night stage the most as it wasn’t so physical on the lungs and got away with p54 on that one. I learnt that I should keep my eyes up at all times, there were some spectators in the corner I crashed in, I don’t know if the rocks were placed there intentionally but they weren’t there in practice, my eyes were set on these rocks and that drove me into them causing me to crash. In general I always pick up that I’m using too much brakes or braking for too long into a corner or section where I think I should rather brake more intensely for a shorter amount of time before going into that section, I’ve been working on this all season and getting better every race so just needing more time on the bike to improve that. Also learnt that I should carry more carbohydrates on me so the next race I do I’m going to try carrying a backpack so I have more space to carry supplements, food and water as I’ve learnt it is crucial to have loads of that whilst I’m out on the bike for so long. I think most importantly I learnt that I should be pushing with more intensity on the super long stages, it was a bit of a struggle this weekend being sick but I believe I’ve got the potential to do much better so super keen for the next one! The race was so good, definitely some of the best Enduro tracks I’ve ever ridden, liaisons were super long but we had a lot more time then usual to get up which was awesome. My best stage result was 54th and I managed to climb my way up to 86th after my crash.” – Keagan Brand
In the Elite Women’s race, Kuchynkova managed to hold onto her lead despite a crash on the final stage, finishing just two seconds ahead of British privateer Ella Conolly. Conolly’s second-place finish was enough to clinch the women’s Elite overall title ahead of the final round in Morillon, Haute-Savoie, France, next month. Full results here //
