Riders arrived in Val di Fassa, Italy for the UCI Mountainbike Enduro and E-Enduro World Championships to find a thick layer of snow coating the trails.

The cold snap did not stop practice going ahead on Friday and Saturday, but it did mean some small changes to some stages for race day on Sunday.

Coming into the weekend, Irish rider Greg Callaghan was riding high having bagged a third-place finish in the final round of the Enduro World Series. A sixth place finish on the opening stage, followed by a fourth on the second and third stages shot Callaghan into fourth spot overall. A seventh place finish on the penultimate stage pushed him back to fifth, and a big push to finish third on Stage 5 solidified his top five finish.

The top five finish in the inaugural Enduro World Championships tops off a competitive year for Callaghan, with a World Cup podium and an eighth place overall in the UCI EDR World Cup rankings and another Irish National Championship.

Kelan Grant was the other Irish representative in Val di Fassa. Competing in the e-bike category meant a longer day for Grant, with a loop of 53km and nine stages.

Grant battled the conditions all day, and despite the sloppy conditions managed to get himself inside the top 20 on three stages. Fighting against the cold and wet throughout the day paid off, and Grant finished 25th overall in a very strong field.

The 25th place for Grant in this World Championships rounds out a strong year, that included a 16th place overall finish in the e-EDR World Cup standings, four top-20 finishes and a top 10.