#OMTOPSHOTS 2025: Álvaro Varas

Álvaro Varas started working with the Media team in 2023, repeated in 2024, and has returned for the 25th anniversary of the action sports and urban culture festival in Vigo. His passion, as you know, is biking. This year, alongside BMX and MTB Downtown, Big Air has been added. These are the 10 photos he has chosen as the best of 2025.

As every photo has a story, we asked Álvaro to tell us about two of them, and first he spoke about the importance of the photographer-rider connection: "For me, this is one of the most special photos of the event. Diego Solans, the rider in the picture, is a friend of mine, and this year he was invited to Marisquiño. At one point, I saw that the lighting was incredible, with a perfect sunset, and I thought that a great photo could come out of it. I asked him to do a Backflip Superman Seat Grab, one of those he nails so well, and on the first try, he nailed it. The result is an image that I love because it has everything: the crowd, the ramp, the sponsors, the magnitude of the jump and, of course, Diego in mid-air. I think it reflects the vibes of the event very well, and that's why it has become one of my favorites".

He also talked to us about the importance and the coincidence that led him to enjoy an incredible light at MTB Downtown: "This year I had to cover the upper part of the descent instead of the lower part, and it was a real challenge for me. The change in schedule made the last run have an incredible light in that part, with all the dust that gets kicked up in Castro. So I decided to go quite far away with a 135 F1.4 objective and managed to take this photo of Brais Lorenzo Fragueiro, which I truly love for the light because it shows a bit blurred in the foreground. Those are trees. I'm about 6-7 meters from the rider, and I really love the light and the background; you can just see the wallride, the stairs, and I think it shows the urban descent quite well".