Alexey Vermeulen began his career racing on the WorldTour circuit for Jumbo Visma. After falling out of love with the road scene, he decided to transition to gravel and mountain bike racing in 2018. Since then, his results have included second and first place finishes at the Iceman Cometh in consecutive years, and third at Belgian Waffle Ride. In this conversation, he talks about his decision to change the trajectory of his career early on, and the steep learning curve of switching from road racing, which he had been chasing since he was a teenager, to the relatively unknown quantity of mountain biking. He also talks why 2020 was a good year for privateer cyclists, and the video series he created with Ryan Petry for Outside, in which they selected three amateur riders to train and prepare for the Leadville 100.

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YouTube: Payson McElveen

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