Claim on the podium in Araxá: Schurter and Forster stormed the awards ceremony and the broadcast was "interrupted"

The men's XCO World Cup in Araxá was a true showcase of the Specialized team with Victor Koretzky, Chris Blevins, and Martin Vidaurre taking the new podium of 3 that the organization has imposed for this season. But during the awards ceremony, Lars Forster and Nino Schurter managed to get on the podium with the rest, just at the moment when the broadcast was "interrupted" to show the rankings.

Nino Schurter and Lars Forster skip protocol and get on the podium at the XCO World Cup in Araxá

The XCO World Cup 2025 started this week marked by the protest of hundreds of bikers demanding that the organization reverse the conventional podium they had scheduled for this season, where only the top 3 would go up to the awards ceremony. In mountain biking, the podium with the top 5 is something historic that has been in place for over 30 years and it offers more visibility to teams and brands while serving as motivation for competing bikers.

Well, the organization did not respond to the bikers' demand and after Sunday's races, they proceeded with a traditional awards ceremony, where only the top 3 occupied the podium. But in the elite men's race, the fourth and fifth place finishers were the Swiss Lars Fosters and Nino Schurter, two legends of this sport who had no qualms about skipping all protocol and literally storming the podium to the surprise of the first three finishers, who did not hesitate to make room for them to also appear in the podium photos as has been done until now.

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Waiting to see if the organization will sanction Nino Schurter and Lars Forster, two of the most authoritative figures on the grid, what we did see was how the live broadcast quickly cut the image of the improvised podium to show the rankings on screen.

We will see what happens in the coming days and if the next podium, in less than 7 days, will be for 3 or 5.