By Rob Hancill
News
24 Comments

First ever World E-Bike Series starts race this weekend

Is this the start of something big?

Are you interested in EMTB racing? If so then you might want to check out the first ever WES race this weekend.

The first ever Round of the WES e-Bike Series takes to the hills around Monaco this weekend in what promises to be a thrilling event comprising two races and a public Ride WES day.
 
The Monaco area has an enormous heritage in the sport of mountain biking and so it is only natural that this exciting new international e-MTB series should begin its story here. Round 1 of the WES e-Bike Series will be staged on the testing terrain of Peille, just outside Monaco, with the Cross-Country (XC) and Enduro races on Saturday and Ride WES on Sunday.
 
“This is the birthplace of mountain biking: the first ever UCI Downhill World Cup was held here in Cap d’Ail in 1993, the earliest enduro races too. There are really strong links in international mountain biking with the likes of Nicolas Vouilloz, Fabien Barel, Yoann Barelli and many more top pro riders beginning their careers here. Then the Monaco side of the event – the WES e-Village will be positioned on the harbour – is all about tech, the future and great infrastructure. These contemporary and heritage elements make Monaco the perfect place for this first WES event.” – Kieran Page, WES Sporting Manager

WES XC consists of fast-paced laps of a technical circuit 3-6km in length, totalling 20-30km and up to 1,100m of climbing. All competitors start simultaneously and the first rider (with separate Men’s and Women’s categories) to cross the finish line is the winner. In WES Enduro, riders must cover liaison stages in a set amount of time to make it to the start of three timed special stages, which are predominantly downhill and raced individually.

Occasionally, shorter (sub-two minutes) climbing stages are included in the race. The three stage times of each rider are added up and final results are taken from this cumulative time. Enduro races cover 20-35km with 1,100-1,300m climbing throughout the day. Both disciplines promise drama and spectacle as the world’s best riders battle it out for the first ever WES victories.  

The field for Round 1 is diverse, with more than 50 competitors from 10 nations lining up to race in the XC and Enduro Men and Women’s categories. It is also highly decorated, with mountain biking stars such as Nicolas Vouilloz (10-time Downhill World Champion) and Marco Fontana (XC Olympic medallist) lining up in this first season for international e-bike racing.
 
As with all WES Rounds, the event isn’t just for competitors and spectating. An e-Village based in Monaco will showcase the latest technologies and team bikes, and Sunday’s Ride WES gives the public an opportunity to trial bikes and follow professional riders and guides around several ability-graded loops.

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Rob Hancill
Creator of EMTB Forums. Owner of many cameras, computers and a couple of EMTB's. I also make YouTube videos on bikes and stuff.

24 Comments

  1. This is also interesting, a press release from UCI regarding the recent[URL=’http://www.fim-live.com/en/article/fim-announce-inaugural-fim-e-bike-enduro-world-cup/’] FIM announcment[/URL] of their own series. FIM are traditional motorsport based whereas UCI are, well, cycling based.

    [I]”The FIM is delighted to announce details of the inaugural FIM E-Bike Enduro World Cup that will take place this summer. This innovative competition will be held over two days, 1 / 2 June 2019, as part of the Trophee de France E-VTT Enduro at Privas, France in collaboration with the FFM. “[/I]

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    UCI response to FIM ?

    [B]UCI Declaration concerning E-mountain bike[/B]
    The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) wishes to make it clear that E-mountain bike (electrically-assisted mountain bike) is one of the disciplines under its auspices.

    E-mountain bike is firmly entrenched in the cycling family: numerous well-known bicycle brands produce bikes used by enthusiasts of this speciality, and several National Federations affiliated to the UCI have already organised National Championships for the discipline, won by specialists of mountain bike cross-country Olympic (XCO), such as France’s double Olympic Champion and five-time UCI World Champion Julien Absalon.

    To encourage the development of this popular activity among cyclists of all levels, the UCI integrated E-mountain bike into its Regulations (Part IV: Mountain bike events) on 1 January 2019 and awarded the 2019 edition of the UCI E-Mountain Bike World Championships to Mont Sainte-Anne (Canada) which will organise the first edition of this competition in August as part of the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships presented by Mercedes-Benz. Events, several of them grouped under the WES E-Bike Series, have been registered on the 2019 UCI Mountain Bike International Calendar, and a UCI World Cup and Continental Championships will be organised from 2020.

    In the light of the strong development of the discipline, the UCI was very surprised and disappointed by the announcement made by the International Motorcycling Federation (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme – FIM) concerning the organisation of an FIM E-Bike Enduro World Cup in France on 1-2 June, with no regulatory basis.

    The UCI had already notified the FIM in September 2017 that it considered E-mountain bike events to come exclusively under its jurisdiction and that the respective roles of the two International Federations (UCI and FIM) were clear and would not be called into question.

    The UCI Regulation, approved by its Management Committee in September 2018, stipulates that an E-mountain bike’s electric motor must not exceed 250 watts and that pedalling assistance is permitted up to a maximum speed of 25km/h. This definition corresponds with the applicable European regulations (EN-15194), which gives an unequivocal definition of a “pedal cycle with pedal assistance” (cycle equipped with an auxiliary electric motor having a maximum continuous rated power of less than or equal to 250 W, where the output of the motor is cut off when the cyclist stops pedalling and is otherwise progressively reduced and finally cut off before the vehicle speed reaches 25 km/h).

    The UCI wishes to announce that events in domains under its exclusive jurisdiction that are registered on the FIM calendar or those of its member Federations will be considered “banned events” in line with its Regulation. Consequently, any UCI-licensed rider participating in one of these events would risk disciplinary measures.

    Commenting on this subject, the [B]UCI President David Lappartient[/B] declared: “I am delighted by the boom currently enjoyed by E-mountain bike, a specialty that enables a new public to take up mountain biking – a demanding discipline – and which is also appreciated by high-level riders. The UCI means to develop this activity which, as with other forms of cycling, comes under its exclusive jurisdiction.”

    Meanwhile, [B]double Olympic Champion and five-time UCI World Champion Julien Absalon[/B] declared: “Electrically-assisted mountain bike is a new challenge for me. I won the first French Championships and I cannot wait for the UCI World Championships in Mont-Saint-Anne in September. In 10 years’ time I will be able to say, “I was there!” Electrically-assisted mountain bike is an extension of cross-country Olympic. It’s good that bodies such as the UCI take new practices seriously. The manufacturers, athletes, and public are there. The electric bike is a social phenomenon that contributes to the development of our sport. It is great that it is also recognised at the highest level.”

    [B]Francesco Di Biase, organiser of the WES E-Bike Series [/B]said: “We join the UCI Mountain Bike International Calendar for the first time this season with several rounds. We are expecting a very high-level field of international athletes. We are very proud of this recognition from international bodies and intend to continue working hand in hand with the UCI for the development of electrically-assisted mountain bike.”

  3. [QUOTE=”Randles, post: 66386, member: 3388″][USER=1]@Rob Hancill[/USER] Do you know if its televised or available to steam anywhere?[/QUOTE]
    Not that I can see (other than some dodgy link on YouTube). I’m not sure if they are at the stage of live content yet. They definitley will have some video content availible soon though. I’m personally really interested in this series, how they will manage the riders / bikes / tech etc.

    Here is a live timing link if thats of any use:

    [URL=”https://www.worldebikeseries.com/results/”]results – worldebikeseries[/URL]

  7. Odd Vouilloz didn’t win on his local trails.

    Anybody know which motors were used by each the mens top 10?
    If de-restriction is not allowed surely it could be a massive advantage on some stages simply having a motor with no drag above the limit versus some of the draggier systems. Same with mode control and torque outputs of the various motors. clever track design could sort this out to some extent. but Enduro being enduro I can’t really see that happening.
    I get why you’d want to race Emtbs for fun. but I honestly can’t see how any world E-bike race series can hold any legitimacy when certain bikes/motors clearly have huge advantages over others.
    So yeah.. it does sort of make the racing closer to motor racing than cycling unfortunately.

    More of a mini DH stage race format with steeper more technical (less pedally) tracks/stages that require minimal pedalling on timed stages would seem a far fairer contest IMO..

    [QUOTE=”Rob Hancill, post: 66389, member: 1″]I’m personally really interested in this series, how they will manage the riders / bikes / tech etc.[/QUOTE]
    Same as Rob. I’m interested in the tech used by the top riders. The actual racing not so much.

    Good to see the UCI (Unione Corrupt Internationale) are still consistent 😉

  8. Looks like a mix of Shimano, Bosch and Yamaha – also interesting that a lot of the bikes are ones that in a group test or on here would not be top of anyones wanted list, except perhaps for the Giant

  10. I’m expecting that somewhere down the line for there to be a official race chip that manufacturers will build into there ebike motors. This will let officials set the race limits of all motors such as torq on all the bikes, it would also let officials validate that the motor is not direstricted or tampered with then lock off user accessibility to the motor controls until after the race has finished. (this could be set on a timer so that after so many hours the motor would return control to the user). this chip could also send out a signal to becons throughout the course to say “yep im still ok and not tampered with” it could also interact with gps and let race controlers know exactly where each rider is and how they are doing. thus opening up potential for race tracking for the media, with not just live timings but live positioning.

  11. Unless there were some significant climbing portions in the dh sections, the top guys are so fit pulling the battery and having an empty motor case could be a bigger advantage than having a motor for all the over 25kph sections. Any rules against it?

  13. [USER=1]@Rob Hancill[/USER] it would be good if you got the chance to go out to one of the events and do a report/pit check – any chance?

  14. [QUOTE=”R120, post: 66600, member: 291″][USER=1]@Rob Hancill[/USER] it would be good if you got the chance to go out to one of the events and do a report/pit check – any chance?[/QUOTE]
    I’d love to do this ?

  15. I think it would be well in there interests to get you down to one – whole point of these races for the brands involved is to promote the bikes, and what better place to do that!

  16. [QUOTE=”Rob Hancill, post: 66596, member: 1″]Some exclusive pics of Nico’s bike that I’ve been sent by the WES 🙂

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    Thats a modified Lapierre, it looks like it has the odd sized wheels and the shimano lapierres don’t come with those.

    I want those hand protectors on my lapierre.

  18. [QUOTE=”Rob Hancill, post: 66596, member: 1″]Some exclusive pics of Nico’s bike that I’ve been sent by the WES 🙂

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    not one single Ebike specific part on nico’s bike?

    That boy aint daft 😉

    *I’d be interested to hear the weight of Nico’s bike (him being the original DH bike weight weenie)

    Thanks for sharing [USER=1]@Rob Hancill[/USER]

  19. [QUOTE=”Rob Hancill, post: 66601, member: 1″][QUOTE=”R120, post: 66600, member: 291″][USER=1]@Rob Hancill[/USER] it would be good if you got the chance to go out to one of the events and do a report/pit check – any chance?[/QUOTE]
    I’d love to do this [emoji106][/QUOTE]

    Won’t it get in the way of your tea making duties at Berkshire Cycles? [emoji2957]

  20. I’d really like to try my hand at emtb racing, I race a ktm motorbike and love it. It would be nice if a manufacturer teamed up with a courier and provided us with easy means to get our batteries to the races. Very difficult/ impossible a the moment.

    If I’m to be banned from competing if I dare to enter a competing organisations events the they can ban away. WTF.

    Personally I’d prefer to race an unrestricted bike. I know WOR offroad organised a few unrestricted races in the uk which is what I’m interested in.

  21. Jey Marechal’s Giant is pretty sweet – I am out in France at the moment and picked up a copy of E-Bike Magazin (French emtb mag) and lots of interesting bikes in it, including a feature on WES bikes. He is running 223mm Galfer Rotors on it and a full Ohlins set up, along with the new Michelin E-Wild tyres. In the same magizime the E-Wilds win an EMTB tyre group test against the likes of the Eddy Currents

    [MEDIA=instagram]BwIBWctl3CM[/MEDIA]

  22. Don’t forget that when looking at what components a rider is using, check to see if they have a sponsor for that component. Most pros have different sponsors for things like tyres, shocks, pedals, bars, grips and brakes.
    If they are sponsored they might not have a choice what to run or they might have to pick something within the sponsors brand. for example a maxxis rider might have free reign to choose any maxxis tyre or he might have to run the latest greatest tyre designed for the kind of riding he is doing.

  23. uh huh…

    [IMG]https://images.uline.com/is/image//content/dam/images/H/H0500/H-384BL.jpg?$MediumRHD$&iccEmbed=1&icc=AdobeRGB[/IMG]
    :whistle:

  24. Anybody know who is showing it on the TV? I am in the US, and couldn’t find it anywhere. Hopefully, Red Bull will put it on their broadcast!

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