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Red Bull Rampage 2025 returns with two historic venues
Red Bull Rampage 2025 is split across two legendary venues — the men return to the 2016/17/21 site, and the women are at the 2014/15 site. Learn more about this year’s venues.
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There is only one location with all the right ingredients to host Red Bull Rampage: Virgin, Utah. The spines of these rust-colored mountains plunge to the valley, creating pathways for tire tracks. With the soil, add some water, hand packing, sweat equity, and you can craft any feature imaginable. Then there’s the cliffs, no shortage of them, and once you add a landing, a bike can soar 40, 50, or 60 feet through the air. With all these building blocks comes the progression and action that encompass mountain biking’s gnarliest event.
As a result, the Red Bull Rampage venue announcement is always highly anticipated. It’s the athletes’ canvas to work with. No two venues are alike, and each is steeped in its unique history. For the 2025 event, the men will compete at the 2016/17/21 site, which hosted three competitions. The women will be at a venue that has hosted both Red Bull Rampage (2014/2015) and Red Bull Formation (2019/2022).
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Red Bull Rampage 2025 men's site: a welcome return for an old favorite
The 2025 Men’s venue feels like a natural amphitheater. “It’s probably some of the coolest terrain out of any venue in my opinion,” Red Bull Rampage veteran Carson Storch explains. He competed here in 2016, 2017, and in 2021 (but technically crashed out in 2021). He likes how every descent is steep and exposed and that there aren’t a whole lot of meandering spots. It keeps the runs engaging and rowdy.
Carson Storch competes at Red Bull Rampage 2019 in Virgin, Utah
© Peter Morning / Red Bull Content Pool
This venue also has an iconic big mountain section right at the top, which Cam Zink and Kyle Strait notably used in 2016/17/21 by integrating a raw chute that plunged right through the heart of the mountain. It’s one of the steepest and longest chutes ever used at Red Bull Rampage, and memorable because it’s so gnarly.
“There are many [past] runs that have stood out, but the first thing that comes to mind is that big chute up top that Zink and Strait rode,” competitor Emil Johansson reflects, and he will be competing at the course for the first time.
Another standout moment from this venue was Brandon Semenuk’s 2021 winning run, featuring the first-ever tail-whip off a drop. Unlike the other competitors, Semenuk arrived with a single-crown bike, and everyone wondered what he had up his sleeve. Up until that point, tail whips and bar spins weren’t common at Red Bull Rampage. But Semenuk’s winning run opened the door to a whole new era of tricks at the event. In the years since, a few competitors have swapped their dual crown bikes for single crown; it will be intriguing to see what kind of bike the 2025 roster will gravitate towards.
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See Semenuk's winning run at Rampage's 20th anniversary
Watch the winning run from Red Bull Rampage 2021 to see Brandon Semenuk make history yet again in Utah.
This venue is also home to the “Goblin Drop”, a monster step-down that spits riders onto a wall of sandbags. It’s one of the most eye-catching features because it sticks out of the ridge like the back of an elephant. Originally, riders thought this feature was impossible to build and ride, but in 2016, a group of riders—Tyler McCaul, Carson Storch, and Darren Berrecloth—teamed up and made it possible. In 2021, Reed Boggs was the only rider to include it in his line and landed on the podium in 3rd. Will the Goblin be resurrected for another appearance? Time will tell.
The Goblin Drop is one of the most eye-catching features at the venue
© Paris Gore
The most unpredictable factors at Rampage are the new riders. While many of the veterans opt for using their previous lines, the newcomers carry with them a fresh perspective. It’s not uncommon for them to reinterpret old features or build something new. For example, rookie Hayden Zablonty hopes to add new elements to his line this year.
“The perfect line for me at Rampage would be a lot of new features,” he explains. Given that the previous winners of this venue—Brandon Semenuk and Kurt Sorge—are not returning this year, it will be interesting to see who rises to the podium.
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Red Bull Rampage 2025 women's site: full circle for a Formation host
For the women, this year’s venue feels full circle. In 2019, a group of six women traveled to the now 2025 Red Bull Rampage venue to participate in the first Red Bull Formation, a women’s freeride progression session aimed at fostering future Rampage riders. It lit a spark for women’s freeride. In 2022, many of those riders and more returned here for the 3rd edition of Formation. This year, they’ll compete at these hallowed grounds with the opportunity to retrace old lines or utilize former Red Bull Rampage runs.
Robin Goomes with that historic Backflip
© Robin O'Neill/Red Bull Content Pool
Bergemann drops in to the Brett Rheeder line
© Robin O'Neill/Red Bull Content Pool
Harriet Burbidge-Smith and Robin Goomes work a take-off on their line
© Re Wikstrom/Red Bull Content Pool
“The terrain at the women’s 2025 venue is one of the most spacious venues, which provides lots of opportunities for different lines,” explains competitor Hannah Bergemann, one of the original Red Bull Formation riders.
Bergemann’s history with this venue runs deep, as she was the first rider to drop into practice, going on to tick off a burly double drop. Three years later, she rode Brett Rheeder’s old 2014 Rampage line with Casey Brown, offering us a glimpse of a future Rampage run.
“It’s super exciting to return to this venue after using it for Red Bull Formation in 2019/22! It’s the venue I’m most familiar with and have spent the most time on, so it’ll be fun to build off of that prior experience and push myself even more,” she says.
There are other former Red Bull Formation riders returning to this venue—like Vaea Verbeeck—and she has unfinished business at the site. In 2022, she rebuilt a massive drop and she never got a chance to ride it due to crashing on the hip jump before it. She’s considering it as an option, but is staying flexible until she walks the course. Regardless of what she chooses to ride, being back at the venue holds extra meaning for Verbeeck. “From our very first Virgin, Utah riding experience to today, it feels special and full circle,” explains Verbeeck.
Another standout moment here is the line that Cami Nogueira built at the 2022 Red Bull Formation that plunged straight down the face of the venue. Aptly nicknamed the “Fall Line,” the line was steep and fast. Unlike the other lines, Nogueira’s most committing section didn’t feature a catch berm, and she linked that run with a massive step-down at the bottom. Her bold vision earned her the “Spicy Award” that year. In the years since, Nogueira’s appetite for all things spice has only grown, and she’s sure to incorporate that style of riding into this year’s run.
Compared to last year’s venue, this venue will provide more space for building, which has the riders excited. The 2024 venue didn’t have many fall line ridges to choose from, which led to a lot of crisscrossing and shared runs in the lower section of the course. The additional space lends itself to creativity.
“More space between each section will allow for longer landings, run outs, resetting speeds, and just being able to control the pace of our runs better. I'm excited to see how this one unfolds,” Verbeeck explains. Undeniably, this additional space will push the progression.
Across both venues, between the experience of the veterans and the energy coming from the rookies, all the pieces are in place for a thrilling showdown at Red Bull Rampage 2025.
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