More than 120 riders, including the entire top 30, and more than a dozen teams have attached their names to a statement decrying a move to reduce the UCI Mountain Bike World Series Cross-country Olympic (XCO) podiums from five riders to three.
The five-rider podium has been a long-standing anomaly at the World Cup races, dating back to 1994 when the delight and amazement caused by a then 17-year-old junior mountain biker, Cadel Evans, rocketing into the top five of the elite race at the World Cup in Cairns saw organisers add another two positions. It then became a tradition.
