Isabeau Courdurier: riding her own line.
The Queen of enduro mountain biking talks about riding bikes, the evolving attitudes towards women and girls in sport, and her decision to take a career break and have a baby.
In the Dolomites last September, fresh snow dusted the peaks on the morning of the first-ever UCI Enduro World Championship. For Isabeau Courdurier, it was also the last race before she stepped back from elite competition. “I'd already announced I wanted to take a break, so I had one chance to win the rainbow jersey I’d dreamed of since I was a child, for the symbol it represents,” she recalls. She crossed the line in first place. “The emotions that day, with my family watching, were enough to justify all the years of effort.”
Now 31, Courdurier lives in the south of France and has been racing since she was six. She first tried enduro at 17, thanks to a friend. “The connection was immediate. I loved the physical challenge, the speed, the adrenaline, and the strategy this sport demands.” Over the years, she became one of the discipline’s defining figures, known for consistency and attacking style, but says her best memories are often about sharing the experience, not just results: “The most important moments aren't always linked to results, but often about sharing – I’m passionate about this sport far beyond a number on a results sheet.”
Courdurier’s year-round riding takes her beyond dirt. “In winter, road cycling makes up about 70% of my training. It’s an excellent way to keep a steady rhythm and do consistent intervals,” she explains. Long road rides are her meditation. “I love heading out for hours and letting the scenery guide me.” Gravel, meanwhile, is her escape. “It’s the bike I use only for pleasure. I don’t set time or distance goals, and it’s a way to disconnect from performance.” Isabeau loves climbing the cols of the southern Alps, especially in the Ubaye Valley, or scaling the slopes of Mont Ventoux. But some of her favourite rides start right from home, circling Mont Sainte-Victoire in Provence.
This year, Courdurier is taking a step back from racing for a different challenge: motherhood. “I’ve always wanted to be a mum,” she says, “but I knew it’s not simple in the world of sport, especially in gravity disciplines.” Two years ago, when renegotiating her contract, she built maternity into a five-year plan: two more seasons at the top level to chase the rainbow jersey, then a break, with the option to return either as a competitor or an ambassador. “It was important to me not to close the door. I still have some good years of riding ahead of me, so why decide in advance what I’ll be capable of? Women and girls must be given the opportunity to dream and to try their luck, no matter what path they’ve chosen to follow.” Her announcement wasn’t a surprise to those around her. “I’ve always spoken about it openly. The question was when. I had a lot of support and kindness from my team and my friends.”
Although she'd planned for it and dreamed about it, slowing down wasn’t easy. “When you live at a hundred kilometres an hour, always in performance mode, changing pace is hard. It took a few months.” Seeing her body change was also challenging. “I’ve always struggled with body image. It's something I've had to work on for years. When you're always focusing on performance and are used to having a fairly athletic physique, seeing it round out, and accepting that, wasn't easy. At first I was too hard on myself, but then I realised: what a woman’s body can do during pregnancy is incredible. I’m grateful for a healthy pregnancy and to feel this little being grow.” Isabeau still rides, without a set plan. “This break needed to be mental as well as physical, so I can return with more motivation.”
Rachel Atherton’s return to top-level downhill after having her daughter was a key inspiration. “In gravity mountain biking, examples are rare, so I also looked to skiing, surfing, and snowboarding. There are many women coming back to the top.” Still, some attitudes remain outdated. “When I announced my pregnancy, a lot of people spoke of retirement, as if continuing was inconceivable. I think we've seen a real evolution in attitudes towards pregnancy in our sport, but there's still a way to go.”
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Courdurier calls this a pause, not a stop. “If I still want to race, why decide to stop? I’ll adapt my seasons to this new life, not the other way around. I see it as a family adventure.” Recently, she organised the Girls Shredding Days in Les Deux Alpes — a women-only weekend bringing together several generations of riders. Six months pregnant, she spent two days coaching a six-year-old. “It was at that age that I began competing, thinking that a woman couldn’t be a pro rider and be a mum. And twenty years later there I was, with a rainbow jersey, ten years as a pro, pregnant, and sharing that moment with her as she talked about her dreams without limits. It was a moment suspended in time, of complete freedom, where the wildest dreams could finally belong.”
