Throwback Thursday: Nino Schurter and Julien Absalon in 2013 at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec
The battle for mountain bike race supremacy was at its height back then
Nino Schurter (1) had a narrow lead over Julien Absalon (2) in the World Cup race at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, when Mountain Bike Action‘s John Ker shot this photo in August 2013. As it turned out, Absalon passed Nino and took the win that day, Jose Antonio Hermida placed second, and Nino finished third. It was cool to see the two best XCO racers of all time battling head to head back then. Nino won three World Cup races that year, while Absalon won only this one, so Nino took the World Cup title that year. Absalon ended up winning seven World Cup series titles by the time he retired. Nino has now won nine World Cup titles, and we expect that he’ll be trying to get his tenth one this year. Absalon won the XCO World Cup titles in 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2014 and 2016. Nino has won the World Cup XCO titles in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023.
