Growing up in dry Durango, downhill mountain biking star Asa Vermette didn’t spend a lot of time ripping down muddy trails. Despite this, Vermette put in a strong performance in muddy and tricky conditions in the men’s junior downhill World Cup in France this weekend.
Vermette and the rest of the World Cup riders resumed action in Haute-Savoie, Les Gets, France, after nearly a two-month break from World Cup action. Vermette picked up from where he left off before the break and finished second in the men’s junior downhill World Cup on Saturday.
It was one of Vermette’s strongest performances in muddy conditions in his young career. After finishing off the podium in the first two World Cup events, Vermette has finished on the podium in the last five World Cups, including second-place finishes in the last three World Cups.
The Duraogan qualified second and therefore had the second-to-last run in the final on Saturday. He had the lead after his run, but France’s Max Alran was the final rider out of the starting gate. Alran was on another level and easily took the win on home soil.
Vermette finished the 2.38-kilometer run in four minutes and 0.295 seconds. Alran finished first in 3:56.199 and Tyler Waite finished in third in 4:07.103.
The riders were drenched in mud by the time they got to the bottom as there were puddles in multiple parts of the course.
Vermette was fourth tenths back after the first split. Conditions were so tough that Vermette unclipped multiple times during the second split as he went 1.8 seconds up.
The Durangoan continued his strong pace through the mud as he was 3.5 seconds up after the third split and six seconds after up after the fourth split.
Alran had the response. He was 3.5 seconds up after the second split and 4.7 seconds up after the third split. Alran looked super smooth and in control on home soil as he effortlessly ripped through the mud toward the finish line.
Vermette remains in fourth in the downhill men’s junior World Cup standings after seven rounds. He has 297 points while Max Alran leads the standings with 339 points. Tyler Waite is in second with 310 points and Till Alran is in third with 303 points.
It’s not impossible for Vermette to still take the men’s junior downhill World Cup title. However, he needs to start winning races. Riders get 60 points for a win, 50 points for second, 45 for third, 40 for fourth and 35 for fifth.
Next for Vermette are the 2025 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. Vermette will look to defend his men’s junior downhill world title in Champéry, Switzerland on Saturday. Vermette won the men’s junior downhill world title last season in Pal Arinsal, Andorra, last year by over 1.5 seconds.
Former Fort Lewis College mountain biker and part-time Durango resident Savilia Blunk used Durango to propel Blunk to her best performances of the World Cup season. Blunk finished seventh in the women’s elite mountain bike cross-country short track (XCC) race and sixth in the women’s elite cross-country Olympic (XCO) mountain bike race in Les Gets last weekend.
Blunk trained in Durango during the break between Round 6 and Round 7 of the mountain bike World Cup season. She felt great after riding at altitude in Durango and felt very focused on Les Gets.
Riding for Decathlon Ford Racing Team, Blunk finished seventh in the women’s elite XCC race in 23:09 after nine laps around the 900-meter short track. Jenny Rissveds took the win in 22:18.
The women’s elite riders were faced with a tough setup decision before the XCC race on Friday. It had rained all week leading up to the XCC race and there was a small shower leading up to the start of the race. Some women were using mud tires, some were using their fast wires and some were using a mix.
At first, Blunk set her bike up with one mud tire and one fast tire. Then, she changed it to two mud tires. After that decision, the sun came out and the track started drying quickly. Blunk was nervous that she made the wrong decision.
After starting off the front row, Blunk’s setup decision paid off. She had a lot of grip on the grass start and quickly picked up places into the top 10.
She worked her way onto the back of the lead group and was seventh behind her teammate, Sami Maxwell, at the start of lap four. The former Fort Lewis College rider fell off the lead pack and was riding alone in seventh at the start of the fifth lap.
Blunk fell back to eighth in the sixth lap and was passed by Jackson as she fell further behind the leaders. Blunk was riding alone once again. On the final lap, Blunk recovered enough to pass Neff for seventh.
“Sometimes it's better to wait, really be patient with your effort and only do like what is absolutely necessary in the moment,” Blunk said. “I started really hard and I had to catch a little breather; it's not really a breather, but it's just like one percent difference … it's managing the race, the course, what the other riders are doing, your own body and your own personal limits … racing is finding a balance between all those things.”
In the XCO on Sunday, Blunk finished in sixth in 1:13:56, 1:55 behind Rissveds in first. Blunk had a conservative start, but picked her way through the field into eighth and had her sights on the chase group behind Rissveds.
She eventually found herself in a battle with Martina Berta for fifth on the last lap. Blunk had the position, but made a mistake on some slippery roots and Berta took advantage.
Blunk is looking forward to the world championships in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. She hasn’t raced there before, but feels she can compete for a medal.
“I'm feeling really good going into worlds,” Blunk said. “I haven't had this level of fitness and experience before worlds together which is a really exciting thing to feel. I'm feeling really good and I want to keep the keep the focus for the next week.”
Durango’s Christopher Blevins had an off week compared to his recent form, especially in the men’s elite short track. Blevins finished 17th in the men’s elite XCC on Friday. He recovered well from that result to finish 12th in the XCO.
Blevins’ previous worst result in short track was second. He won the first five men’s elite short track World Cup races.
On Friday, Blevins finished the men’s elite XCC race in 17th in 22:24 after 10 laps around the 900-meter short track course. Charlie Aldridge finished first in 22:04, followed by Martin in second with the same time and Luca Braidot in third in 22:06.
Before the race started, Blevins had the chance to win the World Cup overall title with a second-place finish.
The Durangoan had a good start and led into the opening climb. He tucked in behind Luca Schwarzbauer at the start of the second lap. Blevins was in good position in the top three in the first three laps. In the fourth lap, the paced slowed and the pack bunched up. Blevins fell back to fifth.
Blevins bounced back in the fifth lap, but fell back to the back of the top 10 as the pace at the front increased in the seventh lap. He lost a lot of time to the front as there was an incident on the tight hairpin which looked to get Blevins out of his rhythm.
The last lap was a tough one for Blevins; he started the lap inside the top 10, but didn’t have the legs and sunk like a stone on the final lap to 17th.
On Sunday, Blevins finished the men’s elite XCO race in 12th in 1:23:59 after eight laps around the 3.3-kilometer course. Martin won in 1:22:03, followed by Braidot in second in 1:22:15 and Mathias Flückiger in third in 1:22:22.
Blevins had a mediocre start from the middle of the field and was down in 25th early in the first lap. He recovered a bit in the second lap, getting up to 17th. However, Blevins had the chance to follow the fast-rising Matthieu Van Der Poel and was in 16th at the start of the third lap.
Van Der Poel was too quick for Blevins to stick with. The Durangoan continued to make some progress and was 13th at the start of the fourth lap and was 32 second behind the leaders.
After making some steady progress after a mediocre start, Blevins dropped back at the end of the fourth lap and started the fifth lap in 16th.
Blevins was alone for over a lap. However, he caught on with a group in the final lap and finished strong with a few overtakes to get to 12th.
The Durango star still has a strong lead in the men’s elite World Cup standings as his focus shifts to the world championships in Crans-Montana. Blevins has 1,506 points and Martin Vidaurre is second with 1,145 points. Martin is the one to watch; he sits in third in the standings with 1,110 points after finishing in the top two in the last two XCC and XCO races.
Fellow men’s elite mountain bike rider Riley Amos had a tough weekend in Les Gets. He didn’t race in the XCC race and then didn’t finish the XCO race.
Cole Paton showed he can still compete with the best mountain bikers in the world. The gravel rider is in Europe for the cross-country marathon world championships.
Paton hadn’t raced in a World Cup men’s elite XCO race since 2021. Despite this, he competed in the men’s elite XCO race in Les Gets and finished 55th, despite starting on the back row. Paton finished in 1:30:00, 7:57 behind Martin.
Bailey Cioppa had a rough start to her World Cup week, crashing in a tricky rock garden in the women’s U-23 XCC race on Friday; she did not finish. Cioppa did recover for Sunday’s XCO race and she finished 23rd in 1:13:16, 6:44 behind Valentina Corvi.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
