Asa Vermette (Frameworks Racing / TRP) and Vali Höll (Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres) stamped their authority on a historic opening round of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series at MONA YongPyong in stunning style. Höll defied a flat back tyre as she stormed to victory while Vermette became the first rider to win an Elite UCI Downhill World Cup round on debut after qualifying fastest.
It was a day for the history books as the UCI Downhill World Cup raced in South Korea for the first time, with Myriam Nicole (COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF by Riding Addiction) equalling Sabrina Jonnier’s record for the most race starts in women’s Downhill (93), while Höll’s victory means Commencal draws level with Cannondale as the winningest bike brand in the women’s discipline.
Nicole made it a day to remember by finishing third in the women’s elite final, behind Gloria Scarsi (MS-Racing) and Höll who proved it was new team, no problem.
Yet it was a tale of two UCI World Champions at MONA YongPyong as a disappointed Jackson Goldstone (Santa Cruz Syndicate) began the defence of his overall UCI World Cup title with a 26th-placed finish following a crash.
After surrendering the UCI World Cup overall crown to Goldstone in the most dramatic of circumstances last year, it looked like Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity) would kickstart his revenge tour with victory, but he was upstaged by the 2025 Junior Men’s UCI Downhill World Cup runner-up in an Elite men’s competition that had everything.
Meanwhile Höll wasn’t the fastest woman down the course as Aletha Ostgaard (Canyon DH Racing) sensationally won the Junior race with a time 0.841 seconds faster than the Austrian, and Jonty Williamson (Yeti / Fox Factory Race Team) won the Men’s Junior crown.
VERMETTE LEADS NEW WAVE IN SOUTH KOREA
A fascinating challenge greeted the riders in Korea as the surface of the dusty, rocky course made it hard to regain speed after errors, emphasising the importance of smoothness over aggression on the brand new 1.8km run.
And a string of Elite male riders started strongly but saw their chances fade on the constantly evolving course, which caused particular problems in the wooded section before the Monster Energy Drop in the third quarter.
That was where Jackson Goldstone came unstuck - though that wasn’t even the most dramatic crash of the day - in a men’s marathon competition.
Kenneth Ryan Pinkerton (Mondraker Factory Racing DH) spent well over an hour in the hotseat thanks to his benchmark time of 2:47.578. In what was a theme all day, plenty of riders spent time in the green before either succumbing to Pinkerton’s rapid finish or losing control of their bikes, underlining the need for consistency and control on the tricky MONA YongPyong course.
Finally, debutant Till Alran dislodged the American after his brother Max (both COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF by Riding Addiction) had been less than two tenths off taking the lead, but his reign didn’t last long as Bruni surged ahead by over two seconds. However, Bruni had barely taken his place on the throne when second-placed qualifier Amaury Pierron (COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF by Riding Addiction) looked set to take another huge slice off the leading time.
Pierron was 1.6 seconds in the green approaching the final split but dramatically slid out, then remounted his bike and still went second at less than half a second behind Bruni.
“I was quite suspicious about that section, I first lost my front wheel on the previous left, came into the following left maybe with too much angle, too much fire in me. I wanted it so bad,” Pierron said.
His slip left just one rider with the opportunity to beat Bruni: Vermette starting his first-ever elite UCI World Cup race.
Yet after he was slightly down at the first split, the American responded emphatically to take his historic first victory by a massive 1.5 seconds. He was the lone set of stars and stripes at the top of a leaderboard otherwise dominated by French riders as Bruni, Pierron, Alran plus Loris Vergier (COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF by Riding Addiction) and Nathan Pontvienne (Santa Cruz Burgtec by Goodman) all finished in the top six.
Vermette paid tribute to the impact of legendary new Frameworks Racing / TRP signing Aaron Gwin (who finished 17th in South Korea) in advising him on how to navigate the time between qualifying and the race, adding: “I was so nervous at the top. My first World Cup, I’m dropping last, I was like ‘Oh my God’, I did a good run yesterday, so I just tried to do the same thing. I guess it worked.
“I just had to go back to remembering why I started doing this, I love biking and that’s all I’m doing really, riding a bike down a mountain, that’s all I had to do. It all went away when I got on the track.
“I’ve been dreaming of a World Cup win and doing it my first time is insane, I would never have dreamed of it like this. All the emotions were going through my head; I couldn’t believe it really.”
HÖLL BACK TO HER BEST TO TAME TRICKY COURSE
Sacha Earnest (Trek-Unbroken DH) was the early pacesetter in the Elite Women’s competition, gliding down the course to set a benchmark time of 3:17.409 that wouldn’t be beaten for another half an hour, as several higher-profile names came up short.
Anna Newkirk (Frameworks Racing / TRP), Phoebe Gale (Orbea FMD Racing) and Marine Cabirou (Canyon DH Racing) were all up on the New Zealander before crashing while Gale’s teammate Tahnée Seagrave also came unstuck in the lower part of the course.
Indeed, had Cabirou stayed on her bike throughout then, she may have been Höll’s toughest opponent, as the Frenchwoman threw everything at her run and was the fastest rider of the day through the first two splits before hitting the floor.
Vali Höll finally ended Earnest’s stint in the hotseat despite carrying a flat tyre that she didn’t notice because of the loose surface, and none of the final five riders even rode a sector faster than the Austrian.
Myriam Nicole showed discretion can be the better part of valour on a reserved run that contrasted sharply with her compatriot Cabirou. While not able to end her 624-day wait for a UCI World Cup win, she went second before being knocked down a peg by Gloria Scarsi. Harriet Harnden couldn’t repeat her qualifying heroics, missing out on a podium place by three tenths.
“I’ve never struggled that much on a track ever before, I really doubted myself” Höll said. “Or [considered] just going back to Seoul and going shopping or something.
“I also know the juniors’ times. Congratulations Aletha [Ostgaard] that’s pretty insane. I have to go a little bit faster or just not look at the times, so I’m not so stressed at the start.
“It was really hard to race, it didn’t feel like a proper race run because you had to be so patient and ride it more like Enduro. I’m blown away that I could take the win here especially with a new team and a new bike, new people around. It’s a pretty good time.
“I was a bit nervous about Max Commencal being here so I’m happy I could tick that off and I made him happy, made the whole team happy and made myself happy. I hope we can keep it going.”
OSTGAARD AND WILLIAMSON DRAW FIRST BLOOD IN JUNIORS
Many of the Junior field were racing on this UCI World Cup for the first time, including the spectacular Tilly Boadle (Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres), whose eye-catching riding style was spectacular if not so well-suited to the YongPyong course.
Instead, 2025 runner-up Aletha Ostgaard became the first victor of the UCI Downhill World Cup season, continuing her fine form from the end of last campaign. Ostgaard’s tidy run secured her third successive win while reigning champion Rosa Zierl (Cube Factory Racing) was forced to settle for second after some minor mistakes on her run.
Last off the start ramp, Zierl couldn’t match the woman she bested last season, but the Austrian looked far from disappointed to have 50 points on the board while Ostgaard said:
“It feels unreal. Honestly, I know how Rosa [Zierl] is, she just gets faster throughout a run, so I was so scared especially when I saw that first green split. But I had a solid day today, I felt really really good so I knew if I had a clean run in anger, I could put down a good run.
“[Qualifying] made me angry in a way, I knew that I could do it, put in a clean run but I struggled in a section and I crashed. When I get angry I do pretty good because I find the fun in having a really hard challenge so when I’m having fun it’s good. I love racing Rosa because she keeps me on my toes, I’m just going to have fun, ride well.”
With even more changes to the Men’s Junior start list from 2025, only one of last season’s top ten returning, the second event of the day was incredibly incident-packed. A host of riders bit the dust, none harder than Luke Mallen (Outlaw Intense Racing) whose crash caused a red flag on the course.
At that stage Felix Griffiths (Santa Cruz Syndicate) and Stan Nisbet (AON Racing) led a British 1-2, but New Zealand came to the fore afterwards initially through Malik Boatwright (Continental Atherton) and Camden Rutherford (Nukeproof Axess Racing)
After Alex Mallen (Outlaw Intense Racing) shook off the shock of his brother’s crash by moving onto the podium, Jonty Williamson shot to the top.
Sacha Brizin (Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres) pushed Rutherford into fourth but none of the three remaining riders could beat Williamson as the best returning rider from 2025 won by a quarter of a second from his compatriot.
“I’m really happy with it, it’s been a dream since I was a kid to win a World Cup,” Williamson said, in a post-race interview eerily similar to Vermette’s. “Pretty good run, loose up the middle section where I lost quite a bit of time but managed to pull it back so I’m stoked.
“It wasn’t my favourite [track] but still a super fun track, super loose compared to the other ones. A bit more slow-paced, quite difficult.”
Brizin and Boadle’s podiums helped Commencal Schwalbe by Les Orres into second in the Team standings after round one too, though COMMENCAL/MUC-OFF by Riding Addiction have already opened up a commanding lead of 33 points. Behind them, the battle for the final podium spot currently held by Frameworks Racing / TRP is a tight one with eight teams separated by 22 points.
The action continues in MONA YongPyong, South Korea as the UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup gets underway on Sunday, completing the first of 14 action-packed weekends of WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series action. Meanwhile Höll, Vermette, Ostgaard, Williamson and the rest of the Downhill field are next in action in the French town of Loudenvielle - Peyragudes at the end of May.
