Brits shine at Trials des Nations
By Team TMX on 28th Sep 26
Great Britain had plenty to celebrate at the 2026 FIM Trial des Nations in Arteixo as the women reclaimed their title and the men backed up last year’s runner-up finish to take silver behind the seemingly unstoppable Spanish team.
While Spain extended its incredible run to 22 consecutive TdN victories, Great Britain’s Harry and George Hemingway (Beta) and Harry Turner (Sherco) resisted strong challenges from Italy and France to claim second for the second year running.
And the women went one better.
After finishing third last year, Great Britain brought 10-time TrialGP Women champion Emma Bristow (Sherco) out of retirement to join Alice Minta (Beta) and Kaytlyn Adshead – and the move paid off as the trio reclaimed the title in a nail-biting battle with defending champions Italy.
But let’s start with the boys.
Arteixo last hosted the TrialGP World Championship in 2023 and its natural sections were plotted through a wide, wooded valley littered with imposing granite rocks. With the harder hazards positioned towards the end of the lap and rain making grip increasingly difficult to find, it was never going to be a gentle afternoon.
Spain arrived as the clear favourite with Toni Bou, Gabriel Marcelli (both Montesa) and Jaime Busto (Beta) making up a team containing the top three riders in the world. Great Britain’s trio had other ideas.
With the best two scores from each team counting in each of the 15 sections, Spain and France shared the lead after two sections with clean sheets. That changed at the third when both Spain and Great Britain dropped five, leaving the Brits in second on six.
Italy was also in the mix, with Matteo Grattarola, Francesco Titli and Gianluca Tournour taking its total to eight to tie with France.
The next two sections were clean across the board but as the hazards got tougher, Spain began to pull away. The home team cleaned section 10 while France dropped three, Great Britain six and Italy 10.
At halfway, Spain had a total of just eight – 19 clear of Great Britain – with France another 12 behind and Italy on 45.
With the rain getting heavier and the smooth boulders becoming increasingly slippery, Spain’s second-lap total of 19 was enough to secure yet another TdN victory.
Great Britain, though, had no intention of giving up second place.
The Hemingways and Turner put together a second-lap total of 38 to finish on 65, a whopping 29 marks clear of Italy after the Italians staged a late fightback to overhaul France by a single mark.
“It has been very special for me to win here in Arteixo near my home in Galicia,” said Marcelli. “The whole team has worked so hard and given one-hundred per cent and we are all super-happy.”
No doubt, but it was the young Brits who also had plenty to smile about.
With an average age of under 20, Harry and George Hemingway and Harry Turner showed impressive maturity to repeat last year’s silver-medal performance against some seriously experienced opposition.
And then came the women.
Bronze medallists last year, Great Britain’s decision to bring Bristow out of retirement to join Minta and Adshead looked inspired from the moment the trio rolled into the sections.
The defending Italian team of Andrea Sofia Rabino (Beta), Alessia Bacchetta and Martina Gallieni (Sherco) had won the title for the first time 12 months earlier and the two nations immediately resumed where they left off.
Italy led by two marks at halfway but Great Britain steadily chipped away at the deficit on lap two. By section 13, the Brits had reduced the gap to a single mark – and then Italy blinked.
Nine marks went on the Italian scorecard while Great Britain needed just one, suddenly giving the British trio a commanding seven-mark advantage.
There was still one big sting in the tail.
The final hazard was a man-made monster of concrete slabs, giant pipes, boulders and tree stumps tucked under cover, meaning the sections remained dry while everything around them was getting wetter.
Seven marks sounds like a healthy lead. In Trial des Nations, it can disappear in a heartbeat.
But both teams stayed clean and Great Britain had done it – reclaiming the Women’s title for the third time in four years.
“Today has been amazing,” said Adshead. “We all made mistakes, but we worked hard as a team. It all came down to the last section and we did it.”
Spain finished third, 31 marks behind Great Britain, with France fourth and Germany fifth.
In the International Trophy, Norway edged Germany after the two teams swapped the advantage between laps.
Germany led by four marks at halfway after completing the opening lap for the loss of just one, but Norway levelled the scores on lap two and won the tie-break to take the title for a fourth time.
Sondre Haga, Jarand-Matias Vold Gunvaldsen and Jone Sandvik made up the winning Norwegian trio.
“It’s been a great day, although it got way more exciting than we expected,” said Haga. “We had a five on the first lap that set us back and we were lucky it started to rain as that made it easier to make mistakes and we were able to fight back.”
Japan completed the International Trophy podium ahead of the USA.
The Challenge des Nations, meanwhile, went to Germany’s Marco Laure and Magdalena Hubner, the mixed-gender pairing finishing seven marks clear of Spain with the Czech Republic third.
So Spain continues its extraordinary stranglehold on the men’s TdN – but with Britain’s youngsters once again on the second step and the women back on top, there was plenty of Union Jack waving in Arteixo.
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