The 2030 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships coming to Durango has been the talk of the town since the announcement on Thursday and the Ride with the Champions bike parade in Durango on Friday. Unsurprisingly, local riders have thoughts about the news.
America is in a golden age for mountain biking and Durango is a large part of that. Look back at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. Three of the four mountain bikers representing the United States had Durango ties, with Riley Amos and Christopher Blevins raised in Durango and Savilia Blunk spending time at Fort Lewis College and living in Durango.
Blevins has been leading the Durango contingent on the world stage. He dominated the first part of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup men’s elite cross-country season and still leads the short track and overall standings. Blevins also finished second in men’s elite short track at the world championships on Sept. 9.
“It’s sort of surreal,” he said about the world championships coming to Durango. “I don’t know if I’ve really processed it. … It’s extremely significant. There’s such a strong group with Gaige Sippy and Todd Wells and a bunch of other folks that can really help bring some fresh ideas to the World Cup scene and the world champs itself. … Durango is going to embrace it.”
After traveling the world on the mountain bike World Cup scene for over half a decade, Blevins knows how draining it can be and how nice it will be to compete in Durango. He wants Durango to lead with how the essence of mountain biking is intertwined in the fabric of the town.
Blevins thinks about how the festival-like atmosphere with the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic can translate to the world championships in 2030. There’s something in the Durango area for the whole family, not just the mountain bikers, he said.
The 2030 world championships will be held at Purgatory Resort. Blevins has fond memories of riding there in the summer after coming home from college. He did a lot of freestyle skiing at Purgatory growing up and he even remembers throwing up in the Purgatory parking lot after working so hard in the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic Quarter Horse as a kid.
Blevins, 27, will be 32 when the world championships come to Durango. He’s looking as far ahead as the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I don’t know when I’ll retire, how much longer I’ll be a bike racer,” he said. “Whether I’m announcing or racing or whatever, Durango worlds will be a huge moment for me. If I’m still loving it (racing), and it’s where my life is, then that’ll be the biggest goal of the year by far. I’m kind of joking that it’ll be my retirement party. But who knows? I don’t think I’ll be retiring when I’m 39 like Nino (Schurter).”
Someone who will be right in the middle of his career will be Amos. Now 23, Amos will be 28 at the 2030 world championships. He dominated the men’s U-23 category last season and unlike now, he’ll have plenty of experience racing in the men’s elite category in 2030.
“I can’t even explain and comprehend how freaking cool it is,” he said. “When all the announcements went live I was riding, and just thinking about it gave me goose bumps, I was almost tearing up riding and thinking about that. This town is everything to me and it’s given me everything as far as my passion, my career.”
Some of Amos’ favorite memories growing up in Durango have been at Purgatory. He remembers driving up there with friends after getting his license with a bunch of camping gear and riding as far as he can in every direction.
Amos had a lot of pressure and motivation last season as he looked to wrap up his U-23 career in style and do well at the Olympics. This season, his first in men’s elite, he’s struggled to find tangible goals or motivation. Amos thinks a World Cup in Durango in 2029 and a world championship in 2030 will help him sharpen his mindset and focus with that proverbial stake out in front of the road again.
Other than Blevins, Asa Vermette is the hottest mountain biker on the world stage from Durango. He became the youngest Red Bull Hardline winner this year, won the men’s junior downhill world championship in 2024 and is seen as a phenom in downhill mountain biking.
He also grew up riding and honing his downhill skills at Purgatory.
“That’s going to be insane,” Vermette said. “I know people have been talking about it for a long time and I didn’t think it was going to happen. So to hear that it’s coming to Durango, I’m so stoked. … It’ll be sick; all the crowd will just be everybody I know on the side of tracks. … To go to a World Cup and sleep in your own bed, it’ll be pretty nice.”
Vermette, 18, will be well into his men’s elite years by the time the 2030 world championships roll around. World championship bid organizer Gaige Sippy said he’ll rely on Vermette as Purgatory looks to retool its 2001 World Cup downhill track for 2030. Vermette is excited to be a resource for the retooled track after seeing some of the best downhill tracks in the world racing in the World Cup and in Red Bull Hardline.
Bailey Cioppa is another Durango rider who could be competing in the 2030 world championships. She’s the U-23 women’s short track national champion and has had a solid U-23 women’s season this year.
“To have it in our backyard is so special,” she said. “When I was younger, I knew we had worlds a long time ago, but I don’t think I really grasped it until now – and it’s awesome.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
