Uhhh, Isn't it Summer? Enduro World Series La Thuile, Italy

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<b>The photo with the snow and the photo on the poster are basically the exact same spot at the top of Stage 1. The only difference is that Mont Blanc isn't visible today, as Mongo the weatherman points out. Uhhh, isn't it summer? Welcome to Italy.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>If this was World Cup football, the score would be sketchy Russian media shuttle truck 7, and bikes 1. $500 dollar truck + $50,000 in carbon bikes = #mediashuttlefail #nobrakes #cliffsideparking</b> -Sven Martin
<b>The climb up to a snowy start was 15-degrees with 35 mph winds. The collective media almost felt bad driving by the riders in a shuttle truck. Almost. New driver, no crashing.</b> -Lee Trumpore
<b>Cedric Gracia pedaled up to the start of Stage 1 before deciding it was way too cold. He hightailed it back down to lower elevations.</b> -Lee Trumpore
<b>Anka riding off the top of Stage 2 after an hour climb into the most sublime hiking/riding singletrack which is so different to the rest of the stages.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Richie Rude grew up in the Northeast and knows a thing or two about racing in sloppy, snowy conditions.</b> -Lee Trumpore
<b>John Parkin filming for 'This is Mongo' and 'Won't Silverback Down.' #captionoftheyear</b> -Lee Trumpore
<b>The stages all start high above the treeline but end in corner after corner of some of the deepest, softest loam imaginable.</b> -Lee Trumpore
<b>Curtis Keene drifting like a dream. He went on to practice the rest of the day on flat pedals. #boss</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Ben Cruz getting sideways in the tight, steep, pine forest on Stage 2. </b> -Sven Martin
<b>Love it here. This is not a North American Super D. North American ripper, Ben Cruz discusses the challenges of Europe.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>We had a chance to preview a few of the stages on the Wednesday before official practice, and we woke Thursday to completely different tracks at the top of the mountain.</b> -Lee Trumpore
<b>Jamie Nicoll lives in the Southern Alpes, so he understands how it can be winter here "up North." Race organizer, Enrico in audio.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Lines a-plenty up top of 3, 5 & 6. These stages all share the same start as Enrico continues in the audio. #whatesyourline</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Adam Craig making good use of the Defender. </b> -Sven Martin
<b>Chris Seager wins the media award today for getting stylie with the heaviest pack. He's carrying a big filmer's tripod and steady cam. He knows #magenta is a Vital slideshow favorite.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Cunny soaring where others brake check.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Nico Lau enjoying the wild quality singletrack here in La Thuile. </b> -Sven Martin
<b>Jerome Clementz may have not ridden dirt today, but he set some strava records up some of the cols today.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Hannah Banes shows us the new Met Parachute.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>JB, the Polygon filmer, is hard as nails. No gloves and NFG up top in sub-freezing conditions.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Chris Ball bending like the surrounding metamorphic rock extrusions. #rocknroll</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Congrats to Justin Leov on the birth of his new baby boy, not even one week old yet and papa paying the bills here.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Jon Cancellier riding a tricky chute during media recce ride. A high-side here will leave you quite cold, wet and closer to sea level. </b> -Sven Martin
<b>Lee Trumpore and John Parkin up high on Stage 3.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Nature's colorway with Sven, take 2.</b> -Lee Trumpore
<b>First race back for Dan Atherton, and he's here more to get back up to pace than race for the podium. Following Martin Maes is a good place to start.</b> -Lee Trumpore
<b>Almost every rider took the easy line to the left. Anneke Beerten jumped the rock right behind Curtis Keene on her first run.</b> -Lee Trumpore
<b>Jerome Clementz isn't racing this weekend, but he's here to cheer on his girlfriend Pauline.</b> -Lee Trumpore
<b>Adam Craig enjoying a leisurely summer liason in the Italian Alpes.</b> -Lee Trumpore
<b>No stranger to racing in sloppy conditions. Fabien Cousinié is one of the World Cup downhillers pulling the strongest results in the EWS this year.</b> -Lee Trumpore
<b>The Hoff is a boss. He rode to the top of Stage 1 and had staked out his territory in the coldest, gnarliest spot an hour before the rest of the media circus rolled by in their warm 4x4.</b> -Lee Trumpore
<b>As if the snow wasn't enough, riders immediately got to warm up their frozen hands on some massive rock sections. Josh Carlson isn't slowing down because he probably can't feel his fingers anyway.</b> -Lee Trumpore
<b>California's Aaron Bradford rails one of the 100 loamy corners at the bottom of Stage 3.</b> -Lee Trumpore
<b>9 riders out of 10 will take the main line. François Bailly-Maître, and the fastest enduro racers, always seem to know where they can skip corners and push the edges of the track, even on their first run.</b> -Lee Trumpore
<b>Tracy Moseley has to be the hands-down favorite to take the win on Sunday. Here's to looking ahead... and hopefully warmer temps!</b> -Lee Trumpore
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Description
The Enduro World Series continues with a trip to the Northern Italian Alps in La Thuile. Even though we're in the middle of July, riders were forced to deal with sub-freezing temperatures and snow in the high alpine environment as they tried to learn miles and miles of singletrack before racing begins. Sven Martin and Lee Trumpore dealt with the adverse conditions to capture the sights in the snow, the rocks and the loam. Get stoked!
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