The Enduro World Series kicks off this weekend in Punta Ala, Italy, and that means it's prototype teaser time. The bike in question this time is the Lapierre Spicy Team 27.5 rig that will be piloted by French great Nico Vouilloz. You might remember him for his days as the world's premier downhill racer. Between 1992 and 2002, Vouilloz won 10 world titles and 16 World Cup races. Dude was the best. Period.

Now like a lot of aging former pros (he turned 37 in February), Vouilloz has transitioned to enduro racing. And what do you know, he's winning again. Turns out bike skills are bike skills.

Nico's weapon of choice starting this weekend will be what looks like a full alloy prototype from Lapierre. The PR that accompanied these teaser shots says that the bike is "a honed race machine spec'd to perfection."



That spec includes the innovative Monarch Relay shock E.I auto-adjust suspension system, which is tag-team effort between RockShox and Lapierre. The basic gist is that the shock has a built-in automatic on-the-fly adjustment system that manages compression and lock-out via an array of special sensors and accelerometers that monitor bump forces and speed. Very cool stuff, and likely a harbinger of the next frontier in mountain bike suspension technology.

Nico's bike also has a stealthy RockShox BlackBox 160mm Pike fork with sexy black stanchions, a SRAM XX1 groupset, prototype SRAM wheels, and a set of First Ride Schwalbe prototype tires with some seriously beefy tread.

Check out the photo gallery for a closer look.