As a rider who just loves ripping it on his bike, Durango’s Asa Vermette surely would’ve wanted to make history in the Red Bull Hardline Tasmania final, but he achieved his goal of winning with his qualifying run.
After the Red Bull Hardline Tasmania 2026 finals on Sunday were canceled due to severe weather, Vermette made history with his qualifying run as the youngest two-time Red Bull Hardline winner after winning his first Hardline in Wales in July.
It’s the perfect start to Vermette’s 2026 season since he’ll be moving up to the men’s elite downhill category in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.
“I was pretty happy with it ... I wanted to leave a little bit of time out there, I didn’t think I’d be that far up,” Vermette said in an interview with pinkbike after his qualifying run on Saturday. “I was whipping in the bottom and had a few little things at the bottom that I messed up. But it felt pretty smooth and clean, and I felt pretty stoked with it overall.”
Vermette finished the dangerous and fast 2.75-kilometer course in three minutes and 15.805 seconds. Ireland’s Rónán Dunne finished second in 3:17.937 and Australia’s Troy Brosnan finished third in 3:18.098. American downhill legend Aaron Gwin finished fifth in 3:22.330. Jackson Goldstone, the 2025 men’s elite downhill World Cup winner and the 2025 Red Bull Hardline Tasmania winner, finished ninth after he crashed hard during a practice run.
The 19-year-old Vermette started slower like he usually does, finishing with the third-fastest Split 1 time. However, he showed his speed, skill and calmness by posting the fastest Split 2 time, by around a second, and the fastest Split 5 time, by over a second.
It’s unclear what Vermette has planned before the 2026 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup season begins in South Korea in May, but the 2026 Red Bull Hardline Tasmania showed Vermette is ready to compete for victories against the best downhill elite riders in the world.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
