Going full euro, er, I mean enduro.

The 11th season of the 7idp Enduro Series and the 5th as FFC French Cup just had its opening round in Blausasc.

It was under summer conditions and a nearly full house that the fight started on the technical and tricky trails of the Alpes Maritimes.

The new format which includes a full day of track reconnaissance on Saturday and a race day on Sunday did its job to provide a better equity between all riders.

Coupe de France 7IDP Enduro-Series #1 Blausasc from urgebike on Vimeo.

But local riders remain local especially when they're called Nicolas Vouilloz who was riding his back garden or Florian Nicolai his neighbourhood.

The battle was intense, tight and beautiful, but it's the living legend of our sport who finally took the win after making a big gap on the long and physical stage 3.

No surprises as the "international" riders, those taking part in the EWS, were in front of the "national" riders. Good performance from Alex Cure who finished 3rd, exactly where he's expected. The order could have been shaken up by the talented Adrien Dailly and also by the impressive Dimitri Tordo. Flats and mechanical problems would unfortunately keep them out of the contention for the podium. Special mention to Julien Camellini, luxury freelance local, who took a nice 5th place.

The interesting deal of the week-end is for Nico Filippi 4th, Benoit Clement 6th, or Baptiste Gaillot 7th who are fighting for the French Cup and therefore placed themselves as favourites for the final title. We will also have to look at Camille Servant in this battle, unlucky with a derailleur in Stage 3.

In the female category, it’s kind of the same deal as the 2 international riders Cecile Ravanel and Isabeau Courdurier dominated and Julie Duvert, proving by the way that her 2014 title has nothing to do with chance..

Big and promising line-up for the Junior category with more than 50 entries and a nice win for Valentin Brulat. Gilles Doze took the win in front of the Widmer brothers in Master 1 and the returning and legendary Patrick Bonifay wrote his name on the records of the new Master 2 category..

Blausasc has also welcome the newly created E-MTB Trophy by Giant and it’s Olivier Giordanengo, an experienced rider in both endure or E-MTB who took the victory after a tough fight. He finished in front of a small but hi level bunch of 25 riders. This category has a big potential and interest the top riders and also the amateurs who think their physical conditions isn’t up to speed. In any case, the scratch win of “Giordy” on the Stage 3 made people talk and this is just the start, history and well and truly on going.