Fork choice was a mixed bag in the top spots of both the men’s and women’s fields with a split between of the burly enduro forks we’ve seen raced over the past few seasons and the even burlier forks we saw released at the start of this year.
In the men’s field, there were three riders in the to 10 on Zebs and three on Lyriks, including the winner Dailly. All the Fox riders in the men’s field were on 38s but Estelle Charles, who finished fourth in the women’s field, was on a 36. Compare this to Zermatt and only Ella Connolly and Louis Jeandel opted for the less burly fork options in the top 10 men and five women. Pietra Ligure had around 500m less vertical as part of stages and its 50km had to be pedalled in its entirety, while the Zermatt course had chairlift access. It seems riders may have found some advantages in opting for a slightly lighter set up to help them through the monster day.