Bou bound for Cahors
By Team TMX on 27th Aug 26
Toni Bou looks to extend his unbeaten run as the FIM Trial World Championship heads to France, while Harry Turner and George Hemingway remain firmly in the Trial2 title hunt.
After passing the halfway point of the 2026 Hertz FIM Trial World Championship at Trac Mon Circuit Anglesey, the series heads into its closing stages this weekend with round five of seven taking place at Cahors in south-west France.
The single-day points-scoring TrialGP, Trial2 and Trial3 Junior event, running on August 29-30, promises a suitably tough French test, with the sections incorporating huge rocks and steep, loose bankings in a quarry before heading down to the banks of the river, where more boulders and testing climbs await.
And while Toni Bou has already established a sizeable advantage at the top of TrialGP, there is plenty still to play for further down the championship order – particularly in Trial2, where just 15 points separate the leading five riders.
Bou returns to Cahors unbeaten in 2026 and will be looking to make it nine wins from nine days of competition. The last time the championship visited the venue, in 2024, the Montesa ace secured his 18th consecutive TrialGP world title.
A 20th straight crown isn’t quite within reach this weekend, but another victory would put Bou within touching distance of yet another piece of history ahead of the next round in the Netherlands.
Behind the runaway championship leader, however, the battle for second is considerably closer.
Beta’s Jaime Busto currently holds the runner-up spot by just a single point from Montesa’s Gabriel Marcelli, with the Spanish pair having been remarkably evenly matched throughout the season.
Neither can afford to relax, though, with Italy’s evergreen Matteo Grattarola just 15 points further back. The Beta rider currently sits fourth and is chasing a career-best championship finish of third or better.
Miquel Gelabert occupies fifth, 29 points behind Grattarola, with the Spaniard continuing to impress on the RTL Electric machine. His consistency has also kept him ahead of Britain’s Jack Peace and TrialGP newcomer Harry Hemingway, who continue to make their presence felt in the premier class.
If TrialGP is relatively settled at the sharp end, Trial2 is anything but.
Spain’s Alex Canales has led the championship since the opening day in Japan back in May, but his advantage has been steadily eroded and now stands at just two points over Britain’s Harry Turner.
Canales endured his worst result of the season last time out at Anglesey, finishing eighth, while Turner took another victory to close the gap at the top.
There are just two points further back to Arnau Farré, who is still searching for his first win of the season, while George Hemingway sits fourth and only 11 points away from the championship lead.
Now in his second season in Trial2, Hemingway has looked increasingly comfortable among the class regulars and remains firmly in the title picture with three rounds of points-scoring action remaining.
Francesco Titli completes the current top five after taking victory on day two in Great Britain, but the Italian teenager will need to negotiate a remarkably competitive field if he is to break into the medal positions.
Indeed, the championship standings don't tell the whole story. Billy Green and Benoit Bincaz sit sixth and seventh respectively, yet both already have two victories to their names this season, underlining just how unpredictable the Trial2 battle has become.
For the youngest riders, Cahors represents the penultimate round of the shortened Trial3 Junior championship and another opportunity for Britain’s Harison Skelton to strengthen his grip on the series.
The Scorpa rider heads into France with just a two-point advantage over Italy’s Fabio Mazzola, setting up another potentially tense weekend at the front.
Spain’s Oriol Garcia Campano sits third, but is already 52 points adrift of Skelton, leaving the championship increasingly looking like a two-way fight.
That certainly doesn't mean the fight for race victories is limited to the leading pair, however. Campano, Germany’s Marco Laure, Norway’s Patrick Bjørnland Larsen and Britain’s Max Dance have all stood on the podium this season and will be looking to disrupt the Skelton-Mazzola battle in France.
The weekend gets under way on Saturday afternoon with the Super Test, scheduled for 5:30pm local time, before the main event begins at 10am on Sunday.
With Bou looking to maintain his perfect run, Trial2 separated by a handful of points and Skelton defending the slenderest of leads in Trial3 Junior, Cahors has plenty of potential to provide some serious championship drama as the 2026 season heads towards its conclusion.
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