Asa Vermette, the young downhill and enduro-racing phenom hailing from Durango, Colorado, recently turned 17, allowing him to finally compete in UCI Mountain Bike World Cup downhill races in the Junior category. Unfortunately, after fracturing a hip during a race run at Windrock Bike Park in Tennessee, it appeared that his inaugural season might be derailed six weeks before the first World Cup of the year. Catch a video of that ill-fated race run here.
Apparently, it’s nice to still be 17, as Vermette was able to bounce back from that injury and line up for the first UCI World Cup downhill race at Fort William this past weekend. While he basically hadn’t ridden at all since his injury and only had one day of riding in Fort William prior to track walk/practice, Vermette absolutely smashed the competition in his first-ever World Cup race!
With a time of 04:10.550, Vermette decimated the second-place Junior (Luke Wayman) with a six-second gap. To put that staggering time gap in perspective, Loic Bruni, who won the Elite (aka pro) category, had less than a two-second time gap on second place Troy Brosnan, and Brosnan had only 0.15 seconds on third place Finn Iles. Not only that, but Vermette’s time would have earned him a 12th-place ranking in the Elite Men’s (aka pro) category. Remember, this was his first-ever UCI World Cup showing, and to post that kind of time is absolutely incredible!
Vermette is racing on the Frameworks team for his inaugural season, along with Angel Suarez Alonso and Neko Mulally as team manager. Unfortunately, Vermette’s first World Cup has been an absolute roller coaster of highs and lows. On the way back from the Fort William World Cup, the Frameworks team van was stolen from a hotel parking lot in Milton Keynes, UK. Thanks to an Air Tag tracker, the team was able to locate the van, but the majority of their gear had been stolen. The stolen gear includes all three of the racer’s Frameworks downhill race bikes, one Specialized S-Works Levo complete bike, two Specialized S-Works Levo frames, one Specialized S-Works Kenevo complete bike, ten sets of ENVE spare wheels, two pro tool boxes, and custom helmets and gear. Mulally and the Frameworks team have asked the community to keep an eye out for the stolen bikes and gear because, as you might imagine, these are unique bikes.
We’ve reached out to Vermette for comment and will update this article when we receive a response.
Official race footage has not yet been released, aside from the short Instagram clip shared above. However, you can still take a ride along with Asa on his first run at Fort William after six weeks off the bike, thanks to this helmet cam footage:
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