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Rampage is coming and a newly-recovered Thomas Genon is ready to dominate
Returning from injury, Belgian mountain bike slopestyler and freerider extraordinaire Thomas Genon is hungrier than ever for glory as he arrives in Utah for his 12th Red Bull Rampage appearance.
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Red Bull Rampage returns this week, with one European rider making an incredible 12th appearance on the steep and unforgiving terrain of Hurricane, Utah, on October 17 for freeride mountain biking's biggest event.
23 minuta
Paradigm
Thomas Genon, Szymon Godziek, Emil Johansson and Kade Edwards showcase raw MTB talent and nonstop action.
That rider is Belgian Thomas Genon, who will officially overtake Andreu Lacondeguy as the European with the most appearances on the hallowed mountainsides of the Utah badlands.
Genon made his first Red Bull Rampage appearance at the 2012 event and ever since then he's been heroically consistent, with two fifth places at the 2015 and 2018 Rampage editions his best results, while 2024 saw him muster a brilliant sixth place, scoring 85.83 points.
In action at his first Rampage appearance in 2012
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
A decade on from that first appearance, the now-32-year-old Genon has established a reputation as one of the best slopestyle and freeride mountain bikers in the world. While some athletes have moved away from competing, Genon still travels the world to test himself against the best at contests.
His dedication to Rampage remains incredibly strong, as evidenced by his commitment to be here after breaking two vertebrae during a misplaced landing at a track in Queenstown, New Zealand, in February of this year.
"Hard to get my head around this injury. Feeling lucky and sad at once," Genon wrote on social media at the time, sharing a gnarly-looking x-ray and a photo of himself in a neck-brace. Still, it’s difficult to keep a good man down; he found out he rode his 10th Rampage in 2023 with a broken wrist after visiting his local doctor a few days after the event.
"I wasn't able to take the lead over the team during the four days devoted to digging," Genon said in the Tenacity documentary on his 2023 race. "For my part, I didn't want to do a [x-ray] scan. If I'd known, I wouldn’t have taken part. The physio helped me enormously, mentally too. On the first day of practice, I was still worried. In the end, everything went as well as possible and I did my two runs in the final on Friday."
Genon ended up finishing ninth at Rampage 2023 despite that wrist injury. Then, more bad luck; in 2024 a ridge-line crash during his first finals run saw his bike roll off the cliff’s edge before dropping 15m into a canyon. Surely the crashes and breaks are behind him for 2025? We get the feeling Genon loves Rampage too much to worry either way.
Genon will craft a record 12th line at Red Bull Rampage 2025
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
2012 was my first Rampage. I haven't missed any. I'm a huge fan. I like the fact that you can go there and build what you want to ride
"2012 was my first Rampage. I haven't missed any," he says. "I'm a huge fan. I like the fact that you can go there and build what you want to ride. It's not your typical event where you go and the course is given to you and that's it. When that's the case, maybe some jumps don't fit your style, or maybe some courses aren't what you want to ride at that time."
Naturally, Genon has changed and grown over the last 13 years, and Rampage has grown with him. Rampage fits into the ethos of what he likes to do in terms of producing video content, with his historic Mine Line video edit being heavily freeride-influenced in terms of its line and flow.
15 minuta
Riding mines in Belgium with Thomas Genon
Freeride mountain biker Thomas Genon carves his own lines in the same ground where his ancestors mined.
"All my life, Rampage has evolved with my state of mind," Genon says. "You change, you want to ride different stuff. Rampage allows a really natural evolution. I've ridden so many more big bikes, hard lines and technical stuff based on bike control as the years have progressed."
Genon says Rampage's hallowed Utah hills are a place where he's free to express himself, however he sees fit: "It's really cool that you can go there and do what you want, and also to see other riders do what they want," he enthuses. "That's something very important to me. Every rider can ride their own style and do well at Rampage."
So after almost a dozen Rampages of ever-changing courses, has Genon found the art of riding the perfect line?
"Looking back at all the different Rampages and the evolution of the sport, I think the perfect line is the line that challenges you," he says. "If it's just tricks and an easy line, then something's missing. If it's going down a technical line hard, then something's missing too."
For Genon, the best riders are the ones that can do it all, the athletes who can mix technical riding skill with the ability to perform tricks – and he gives a shout out to former World Cup downhiller Brendan Fairclough as one man who does just that: "The run that he [Fairclough] did at Red Bull Rampage in 2019, he touched base on everything. As soon as he flipped the canyon, then suddenly it was the best run ever."
Genon's approach to his Rampage line has changed a lot over the years
© Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool
Big drops and big tricks can be guaranteed
© Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool
As for his own lines, he's hoping to hit everything, focusing on good tricks over unique features. His approach after a decade of riding Rampage is to "go big and go fast", and make this year's event something really special for himself.
"I want to go bigger and do bigger jumps, because we're going back to a site that I rode first in 2012 and my riding has changed since then, so I'm not going to look at the same line," he adds.
There's so much that has to go right in terms of all the different aspects that go into Rampage. It's super-hard to expect a certain placing
Whatever competition zone it's taking place in, Rampage always provides the perfect canvas, even on a competition zone that's been used before: "Rampage is a blank page. I want something fresh to start on. At the end you want to be stoked on your run."
As for his dig building team, Genon has previously roped in a crew that helped him plan aspects of his Mine Line project: Frenchmen Eliott Lapotre and Louis Reboul. Both are great riders in their own right, with Reboul himself making an appearance at Rampage finals back in 2014.
As an athlete about to make his dozenth appearance at Rampage, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Genon takes the event and its dangers for granted. He doesn’t.
1 minuta
Thomas Genon's POV
Go onboard with Thomas Genon for a wild ride down his line at Red Bull Rampage 2023.
"You're never sure if it's your last one or not," he says. "Even when it's your first one. It’s one of a kind. Everyone wants to bring their absolute best offering. Every year I want to prove I was right about my build and that this is the style of riding that gets the best out of me.
"Your will to do your line is much deeper than any other run. You're trying to create what you look like as a rider. You're scared at the start, but this determination makes it easier to overcome this fear."
Of course, the hope is that Genon will continue to compete at Rampage for years to come. Get in the top 10 and you get an automatic invite, although Genon knows this is far from a given. "There's so much that has to go right in terms of all the different aspects that go into Rampage," he says. "It's super-hard to expect a certain placing. You're going to try and get a podium. Obviously, that’s what I want as I’ve come fifth, sixth and seventh in my time."
Here’s hoping it’s 12th time lucky for the durably tenacious Belgian.
Rampage and the event's mystique continue to have a hold on Genon
© Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool
Watch Thomas Genon and the other riders at the 2025 edition of Red Bull Rampage. The women's event kicks things off on Friday, October 17, with the men in action on Sunday, October 19. Catch the full live broadcast on Red Bull TV, or Red Bull Bike on YouTube.
Due to weather conditions, the Red Bull Rampage schedule has been updated as follows:
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