Daniel Booker snatches nail-biting win at opening Enduro World Cup in Finale

Daniel Booker waited until the last possible moment to take an outlandishly dramatic first UCI Enduro World Cup round by less than a second at the 2025 season opener, in Pietra Ligure, Finale Outdoor Region (Italy).
 
Booker had led only once across the first six stages as first Jack Moir (YT Mob), then Sławomir Łukasik (Yeti / Fox Factory Team) appeared in pole position to take the first UCI Enduro World Cup round of the season.

"It hasn't really sunk in yet.

"To come from behind and win it feels amazing," the Tasmanian said post-race.

Dan Booker moved into the overall position on stage 4.

But entering the final stage trailing Łukasik, Booker produced a blistering four minutes of descending to put all the pressure on the Pole who came up short by just three tenths of a second, with UCI Enduro World Champion Alex Rudeau in third.

Having worked so hard to build a lead over Łukasik, Booker and the rest of the chasing pack including surprise struggler Richie Rude (Yeti / Fox Factory Team), Moir threw it all away on the first stage of an unpredictable day two of the men’s race.

Jack Moir was in control on the opening day of racing.
 
 Jesse Melamed (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) bounced back from a disaster on Isallo Extasy to win Dolcenera yet was clearly the rider to beat holding a four-second lead over Łukasik.
 
However, that all went up in smoke on the 1.9km Spillpietra trail within view of the sparkling Mediterranean, as Moir finished a stunning 14 seconds adrift of Rudeau, as Booker took up the Australian standard at the front by finishing as runner-up and moving into first place overall.

Last year’s UCI Enduro World Cup overall winner Rude signalled a return to form in fourth - and he’d finish on the podium in the three remaining stages despite the damage to his chance of winning the round being done on day one - and Łukasik and Ryan Gilchrist (Yeti / Fox Factory Team)’s competitive showings kept them in contention ahead of the all-important stage five.
 
Fedeli alla Linea catapulted Łukasik back into first as Gilchrist claimed the stage with the Pole putting valuable seconds into Booker and Moir - the latter of whom failed to produce the major resurgence he needed to get back into contention - setting the stakes perfectly for the short, sharp final double-header.
 
Łukasik was the man to beat on stage six giving himself an advantage of 2.7 seconds over Booker ahead of the finale, which proved once again that the theme of this men’s race was impermanence.
 
Beginning Armuin half a minute before the Pole, Booker flew down the course with the best time of the day and didn’t have to wait long to find out if he’d done enough - Łukasik crossed the line 33 seconds later meaning he lost out on victory in Pietra Ligure by an agonising 0.374 seconds.

Dan Booker claimed his first ever UCI Enduro World Cup win.

Booker won’t get much time to celebrate though with the Pietra Ligure competition kicking off a run of five WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series rounds on consecutive weekends.

Next week, the Enduro Trails of Bielsko-Biała sees the first gravity double-header of the season as Enduro returns on 17 May, before the UCI Downhill World Cup opener takes centre stage on 18 May in Poland.

Moir and Gilchrist finished fourth and fifth respectively.

The Aussie success continued in the junior women with Lacey Adams (Yeti/Fox Factory Team) finishing in second behind Frenchwoman Lucile Metge.

Full results can be found here.