Durango’s Asa Vermette has had an up and down start to his first men’s elite downhill World Cup season, but he steadied the ship on Saturday with a podium on Saturday in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
The Durango downhill star got his World Cup men’s elite career going in spectacular fashion, winning on debut in South Korea in early May. But Vermette crashed in the next two rounds of the World Cup, failing to finish in France and finishing last in Austria. Vermette needed a good performance in Switzerland last weekend and he delivered, finishing third.
Vermette finished the 1.83-kilometer downhill track in two minutes and 47.584 seconds. Finn Iles won the race in 2:46.348 and Amaury Pierron finished second in 2:46.830.
Riders were treated with dry and dusty conditions on Saturday in Lenzerheide on a track full of roots and rocks. Vermette qualified sixth, so he started a bit earlier than some of the other contenders. He was 0.505 seconds in front of his competitors after the first split, 0.708 seconds ahead after the second split, 1.368 seconds ahead after the third split, 3.7 seconds ahead after the fourth split and 4.1 seconds ahead at the finish line.
However, Vermette’s time didn’t end up sticking at the top as he was knocked out of the hot seat at the finish line. Vermette is third in the men’s elite downhill standings behind Iles and Pierron.
It was also the fourth round of the mountain bike cross-country and short track World Cup in Lenzerheide. Former Fort Lewis College rider and former Durango resident Savilia Blunk had a monumental victory in the women’s elite cross-country short track race, her first women’s elite World Cup victory.
Blunk barely stretched across the finish line to beat Ronja Blöchlinger for the win after a 453-meter start loop and nine laps around the 967-meter short-track circuit. Both riders finished in 20:27, with Alessandra Keller in third, four seconds behind.
The former Skyhawk was inside the top five in the third lap and stayed there by the time the seventh lap came around, as a strong group of five were vying for the win.
On the final lap, the group of five shrank to Keller, Blöchlinger and Blunk as Keller and Blöchlinger attacked early in the lap. It came down to Blunk and Blöchlinger as Blunk made the move to the inside for the lead on the bridge before the finish line, before holding off Blöchlinger at the line.
“First World Cup winn,” Blunk wrote on Instagram. “Super proud of how I executed last night, stayed committed and present in every moment. It felt like time. Thanks for all the messages and support from everyone, this MTB world is pretty cool and it means so much. I definitely feel the love, and bringing it into tomorrow.”
On Sunday, Blunk followed up her first win with a podium in the cross-country Olympic race (XCO). She finished third in 1:25:44 after the 3.38-km start loop and seven laps around the 3.51-km course. Jenny Rissveds finished first in 1:24:24 and Blöchlinger was second in 1:25:22. Blunk is fourth in the women’s elite cross country World Cup standings.
Part-time Durango resident Gwendalyn Gibson finished 10th in the women’s elite cross-country short track race (XCC) and eighth in the women’s elite XCO.
Durango’s Christopher Blevins made his return to World Cup action after being out for more than a month recovering from a broken collarbone he suffered at the first round in South Korea in early May. Blevins finished 38th in the men’s elite XCC and 27th in the men’s elite XCO.
“So good to be back out there in an XC and get the wheel turning in the right direction,” Blevins wrote on Instagram. “Time to work on getting back to 100% in the mountains w/ the crew.”
Durango’s Riley Amos finished 19th in the men’s elite XCC in 20:32, 33 seconds behind Adrien Boichis in first. Amos also finished 34th in the men’s elite XCO, 5:48 behind Luca Martin in first.
“The verb suffer primarily means to experience, feel, or endure physical or mental pain, illness, or hardship,” Amos wrote on Instagram. “It’s always been a part of sport, especially cycling, but I’ve never experienced it like this. Right now I’m honestly just fighting my body every race, I can have a good 20 minutes before my back battery is empty and I am just checking in to suffer practice for the next hour.”
Fellow Durangoan Bailey Cioppa finished 22nd in the U-23 women’s XCC race and 34th in the U-23 women’s XCO race.
The next UCI Mountain Bike World Cup event for Durango riders is at La Thuile - Val d'Aosta in Italy from July 3-5.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
