EWS France: Day one, Ravenael & Rude in the lead.

After four long stages at round three of the Enduro World Series, EWS Montagnes du Caroux, it was Cecile Ravanel and Richie Rude who finished the day in the lead.

Both Ravanel (Commencal Vallnord Enduro Team) and Rude (Yeti/Fox Shox Factory Racing Team) won the first three stages of the day, making the rocky, technical tracks look tame. In the women's race, Cecile finished the day with a commanding lead of 1:08m over second placed Caro Gehrig (Norco Twins Racing) with Katy Winton (Trek Factory Racing) just three seconds back in third. Rae Morrison (Giant Factory Off-Road Team) was the only person to take a stage from Ravanel, winning stage four.

Rude finished the day with a 11 second lead over second placed Adrien Dailly (Team Lapierre). Florian Nicolai (Canyon Factory Enduro) and Martin Maes (GT Factory Racing) lie in third and fourth place respectively - but with less than half a second separating them in the results expect a fierce battle between these two tomorrow. Current Champion and series leader Sam Hill (Chain Reaction Cycles Mavic) sits in fifth place and is over 30 seconds adrift of Rude.

Ella Conolly leads the U21 Women, while Elliot Heap (Chain Reaction Cycles Mavic) did the same in the U21 Men. Tomi Misser and Daniela Michel lead their respective Mater categories.

However, with four big stages to come on Sunday this race is still wide open and is by no means a foregone conclusion.