Durango’s Asa Vermette had the goal of making the men’s elite downhill mountain bike riders nervous at the final round of the 2025 World Cup in Mont-Saine-Anne, Quebec, Canada. Mission accomplished.
Vermette ended his 2025 World Cup season and his men’s junior downhill career in style by dominating the men’s junior downhill finale. In the process, Vermette showed he’s ready to compete at the men’s elite level next year as he set the fastest time in either the men’s junior or men’s elite fields.
“It was insane,” Vermette said. “The weekend before in Lake Placid, I wanted to win there. So just to get more of a confidence boost going into elites was super nice. Since it was the last junior race of my career, I wanted to end it with a bang and I'm glad that I put down the run that knew I could. I was stoked that it was also the fastest time of the day.”
Vermette finished his final men’s junior downhill World Cup race in three minutes and 29.718 seconds. Tyler Waite was second in 3:34.412 and Jonty Williamson finished in third in 3:37.974.
The 18-year-old Durangoan said the 2.4-kilometer Mont-Sainte-Anne downhill course was one of his favorites of the year. From top to bottom, he was going all out on a tighter track where there was only one main line. He was happy the course stayed dry, which is rare for a Mont-Sainte-Anne weekend. It was also Vermette’s first time at the course since he broke his back before last year’s race.
Vermette was on it from the beginning and had the fastest men’s junior Split 1 time. He added to his lead with the fastest Split 3 and 4 times in men’s junior to dominate the rest of the field.
It also helped that one of Vermette’s rivals this year, France’s Max Alran, wasn’t 100% heading into the race. He suffered a finger injury in practice leading up to the final and came home in fourth, over 10 seconds behind Vermette. However, fourth was good enough for Alran to wrap up the men’s junior downhill World Cup title.
Alran finished the season with 479 points, with Vermette in second with 467 points and Waite in third with 414 points. Looking back, it’s a what-could've-been scenario for Vermette’s title hopes if he didn’t have crashes early in the season, causing him to finish off the podium.
“I thought about that a little bit,” Vermette said. “I didn't want to think about it too much. If it weren't for those crashes, I wouldn't have learned what I needed to be that more consistent through the weekends. I built through the year, learned everything I needed to and I feel like I'm getting close to what I know I could do.”
Durango’s Christopher Blevins wrapped up the men’s elite cross-country mountain bike World Cup overall title in Lake Placid, New York, on Oct. 5. Therefore, he could race freely at Mont-Saine-Anne and soak up all the success he had this season.
Blevins had no incentive to risk his health at Mont-Sainte-Anne and finished 12th in the men’s elite cross-country short track race (XCC) on Friday and 23rd in the men’s elite cross-country Olympic race (XCO) on Sunday.
“I'm slowly catching up with myself on what I accomplished this year and all it's meant to me,” Blevins wrote on Instagram. “I won both World Cup overall titles. I won 9 World Cup races throughout the season. I stood next to my teammates/close friends on the podium in every one of them.”
“I have worked for this for so long, and in a way ever since I started BMX racing at age 5. None of the steps along the way felt like big leaps, instead it's just years and years of work and support stacked on top of each other that brought me here.”
Blevins finished the men’s elite XCC race in 21:20 after 10 laps around the 1.1-km short track, 16 seconds behind Luca Martin in first. Charlie Aldridge was second in 21:05 and Adrien Boichis finished third in 21:05.
The Specialized Factory Racing Rider from Durango had a decent start and was fourth early in the first lap. He was very aggressive at the right hander to start the third lap and pushed his way into second.
Around halfway through the race, Blevins dropped back to seventh and toward the end of the lead group. He kept that spot until the final lap when the pace picked up.
The lead group splintered as the top three broke away. Blevins fell back into a massive chase group and came home in 12th, right in front of fellow Durangoan Riley Amos.
On Sunday, Blevins finished the men’s elite XCO race in 23rd after the 2 km start loop and seven laps around the 3.7 km XCO course. Blevins finished in 1:24:48, 3:07 behind Aldridge in first. Martin Vidaurre Kossmann was second in 1:21:52 and Mathis Azzaro finished third in 1:22:01.
Blevins started from the second row and had a decent start, settling into fifth in the start loop. Things went wrong at the end of the start loop when Blevins slid out on a left-hander and went down. Luckily, he remounted quickly and got himself back into the front group.
The Durangoan took the lead to start the first lap. He dropped back to fifth for most of the lap and was at least six seconds back before charging back to the top two of Vidaurre and Boichis. He helped his teammates by jumping to the front and leading through the start finish straight.
The effort in the second lap seemed to cost Blevins, as he dropped back to sixth and was dropped by the front group. Blevins crossed the finish line in the middle of the chase group in seventh to start the fourth lap.
Blevins continued to drop back and by the start of the fifth lap, he was 10th in the second chase group about 35 seconds back. His fall through the field continued in the next two laps and he came home in 23rd, two seconds ahead of his nearest opponent.
After 10 rounds of racing, Blevins finished the 2025 season with 1,996 points, over 300 points ahead of his Specialized Factory Racing teammate, Vidaurre, in second.
“I wanted this title badly throughout this season,” Blevins wrote on Instagram. “I wanted it badly to honor all that work, and because you never know if this opportunity will come again. I wanted it badly for all the people that have showed up for me again and again and put their hearts and minds into helping me be my best. I wanted it badly because trying to master this sport continues to teach me so much about myself and life.”
The 2026 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Series will begin a little later than usual, with the first round starting on May 1 in South Korea.
Former Fort Lewis College rider and part-time Durango resident Savilia Blunk showed her strong late-season form at Mont-Sainte-Anne until her tires couldn’t deal with the tricky course.
Blunk looked like she was in the fight for a podium spot in the women’s elite XCO race on Saturday until two flat tires took her out of podium contention. She still managed to finish ninth in the XCO race after finishing 11th in the women’s elite XCC race.
On Friday, Blunk finished the women’s elite XCC race in 22:14, 34 seconds behind Jenny Rissveds in first. Evie Richards finished second in 21:58 and Ronja Blöchlinger finished third in 21:58.
Blunk had a decent start and was 12th at the end of the first lap. In the third lap, Blunk was at the end of the lead group until Rissveds put the power down to put a gap on the rest of the front. However, the top three slowed down in Lap 5 so Blunk and many others could form a massive main group.
She fell further down the leaderboard as the big group split up and Blunk found herself at the front of the third chase group as Rissveds attacked from the front. She managed to find a group late in the race and came home in 12th.
On Sunday, Blunk finished the women’s elite XCO race in ninth in 1:26:37, 6:02 behind Rissveds in first. Blunk’s DeCathlon Ford Racing teammate Samara Maxwell finished second in 1:24:05 to wrap up the overall title and Richards was third in 1:24:42.
Blunk found herself inside the top 10 in the start loop. She was sixth at the start of the first lap in the second chase group as Rissveds took off from the front.
At the start of the second lap, Blunk continued to look strong and was fifth in the middle of the main chase group. She made a move on the first climb and once again, Blunk was in the podium place in third.
The chase group from third to seventh split, with Frei and Blunk breaking a gap to the rest in the middle of the third lap. Blunk looked to have one of her flats at the end of the third lap and dropped behind the chase group in seventh.
She dropped down even more in the fifth lap after a crash at the bottom of the rock garden. Blunk was 10th on the final lap, but recovered to finish ninth.
Blunk ended the season in eighth in the women’s elite overall standings. She finished the season with two podiums.
Riley Amos’ strong form in Lake Placid transferred over to the Mont-Sainte-Anne men’s elite short track race.
The Durangoan tied his men’s elite season-best short track result with a 13th-place finish on Friday. Amos finished in 21:21, 17 seconds behind Martin in first and one second behind Blevins in 12th.
Amos’ strong form ran out in the men’s elite XCO race as he didn’t finish. He finished his first men’s elite season in 35th in the overall standings.
“A heartbreaking way to end the year,” Amos wrote on Instagram. “After a great first lap I felt my back starting to lock up and no matter what I tried it got worse and I couldn’t get any torque on the pedals.”
“With every step forward I made one backwards this year, and my first elite season is done. Thankful for the memories on and off the bike with great people, for the kind words and support that goes beyond the bike in a year I needed it the most.”
Fort Lewis College was represented in the men’s U-23 races. Dane Grey finished 27th in the men’s U-23 XCC race and 44th in the men’s U-23 XCO race. Toby Hassett was 49th in the men’s U-23 XCO race. Team Segment 28’s Austin Beard finished 60th in the men’s U-23 XCO race.
Durango’s Lauren Aggeler finished 34th in the women’s U-23 XCC race and 35th in the women’s U-23 XCO race. FLC’s Halle Britton finished 38th in the women’s U-23 XCO race.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
