It’s Bou-celona!
By TMX Archives on 14th Feb 14
THERE were no surprises at the Barcelona X-Trial on Sunday evening, just Toni Bou smashing his already impressive list of records, including an incredible eighth win in the event, topping the seven victories of the great Jordi Tarres.
He upped hisHe upped his own total of World Championship Indoor wins to 39, with the last 24 being consecutive.
It was a great evening's sport in the St Jordi Stadium, the former Olympic venue, with 11,000 spectators really getting involved in a cracking double-header of high-octane X-Trial and SuperEnduro, all crammed into around three and a half hours of none-stop action.
There was never, ever any doubt as to who was going to win the trial, with Bou given the tough sections which allow him to show those magnificent skills and technique.
The battle was always for the lower podium places with usual suspects Adam Raga and Albert Cabestany joined once again by Britain's James Dabill in the four-man final.
Dibs looked particularly confident in the Qualifying and finished third-best, two marks ahead of former Barca winner Adam Raga.
The Qualifying round took place in the afternoon behind closed doors (no time to run it at night because of the SuperEnduro races) and Barcelona ran just with the contracted eight riders.
And despite the skills of Frenchman Loris Gubian – and especially Spanish teenager Jorge Casales – it was virtually inevitable that they would be eliminated, to leave six challengers for the evening semi and final rounds.
As per the new rules the semi-final takes place over just four sections, with the six riders going head-to-head in three pairs, the three winners progress direct to the final and are joined by the best ‘loser'.
James was first out against Raga and over the rocks, skips, Burn-sponsored cylinders and logs the only difference between the two was the three marks that Dibs dropped on the opening rocks.
The Beta rider wasn't happy, stating that he felt really good during Qualifying but the four hour wait for the semis didn't seem to have helped his riding.
The ever-steady Albert Cabestany always did enough to keep ahead of a subdued Jeroni Fajardo and then it was time for the Bou Show, with Toni up against his RepsolMontesa team-mate Takahisa Fujinami.
Fujigas had been far from impressive in Qualifying and only just scraped through.
And the crowd favourite was no more impressive in the semi, drifting back to his old ways of giving the bike a big handful and hoping for the best.
It looked spectacular but dangerous and eventually resulted in a big crash off the final section – fortunately without injury – and while Fuji milked it for the crowd it wasn't fooling anyone.
In contrast Bou was totally focused and totally devastating, getting a huge cheer for the sole clean on the skips and then bringing the house down with an amazing clean on the final log pyramid.
No-one had come close to cresting this little log pile, resulting in five very definite fives before Bou fired the Mont up and out with his trademark sideways stare at the crowd.
And so to the final, where the dual-lane race once again decided starting order.
Dibs lost out to Raga, which meant that James would be first to tackle the four sections.
The big surprise came in the second pairing as Cabestany put together a perfect run to pip Bou in the race – and Toni really wasn't happy with himself.
If nothing else it was always going to spoil his big winning finish as Cabes would be going last.
With four new sections it started with a technical rocky hazard which Dibs rode well with a steady one and one on time. Raga cleaned with a time fault Before Bou cleaned in style and Cabes fived.
The Saunier Duval ‘shapes' were next with a wicked step and Bou won the trial here with a superb ascent of a big, big vertical step that stopped his challengers dead.
The Burn section saw Dibs struggle for his three as the remaining three cleaned – with Cabes finally seeing the Ends cards in the final.
The final section, scripted to perfection, was the Montesa boxes with, guess what, a Monster step to end with.
Ignore the fact Raga managed to wangle and struggle the Gasser to the Ends cards – Bou did what he does best, firing the Mont straight out to a fantastic cheer from 11,000 fans.
Cabestany's following five was of course the anti-climax that was always coming.
Not that Bou let it spoil his celebrations for a record-breaking evening.
In the usually predictable Q and A at the press conference afterwards, Cabes actually came up with a gem.
When asked how it felt to beat Toni in the head-to-head race Albert said, with a dead straight face but a twinkle in his eye, that he normally lets Toni win the races, but thought he should win in his home event... own total of World Championship Indoor wins to 39, with the last 24 being consecutive.
It was a great evening's sport in the St Jordi Stadium, the former Olympic venue, with 11,000 spectators really getting involved in a cracking double-header of high-octane X-Trial and SuperEnduro, all crammed into around three and a half hours of none-stop action.
There was never, ever any doubt as to who was going to win the trial, with Bou given the tough sections which allow him to show those magnificent skills and technique.
The battle was always for the lower podium places with usual suspects Adam Raga and Albert Cabestany joined once again by Britain's James Dabill in the four-man final.
Dibs looked particularly confident in the Qualifying and finished third-best, two marks ahead of former Barca winner Adam Raga.
The Qualifying round took place in the afternoon behind closed doors (no time to run it at night because of the SuperEnduro races) and Barcelona ran just with the contracted eight riders.
And despite the skills of Frenchman Loris Gubian – and especially Spanish teenager Jorge Casales – it was virtually inevitable that they would be eliminated, to leave six challengers for the evening semi and final rounds.
As per the new rules the semi-final takes place over just four sections, with the six riders going head-to-head in three pairs, the three winners progress direct to the final and are joined by the best ‘loser'.
James was first out against Raga and over the rocks, skips, Burn-sponsored cylinders and logs the only difference between the two was the three marks that Dibs dropped on the opening rocks.
The Beta rider wasn't happy, stating that he felt really good during Qualifying but the four hour wait for the semis didn't seem to have helped his riding.
The ever-steady Albert Cabestany always did enough to keep ahead of a subdued Jeroni Fajardo and then it was time for the Bou Show, with Toni up against his RepsolMontesa team-mate Takahisa Fujinami.
Fujigas had been far from impressive in Qualifying and only just scraped through.
And the crowd favourite was no more impressive in the semi, drifting back to his old ways of giving the bike a big handful and hoping for the best.
It looked spectacular but dangerous and eventually resulted in a big crash off the final section – fortunately without injury – and while Fuji milked it for the crowd it wasn't fooling anyone.
In contrast Bou was totally focused and totally devastating, getting a huge cheer for the sole clean on the skips and then bringing the house down with an amazing clean on the final log pyramid.
No-one had come close to cresting this little log pile, resulting in five very definite fives before Bou fired the Mont up and out with his trademark sideways stare at the crowd.
And so to the final, where the dual-lane race once again decided starting order.
Dibs lost out to Raga, which meant that James would be first to tackle the four sections.
The big surprise came in the second pairing as Cabestany put together a perfect run to pip Bou in the race – and Toni really wasn't happy with himself.
If nothing else it was always going to spoil his big winning finish as Cabes would be going last.
With four new sections it started with a technical rocky hazard which Dibs rode well with a steady one and one on time. Raga cleaned with a time fault Before Bou cleaned in style and Cabes fived.
The Saunier Duval ‘shapes' were next with a wicked step and Bou won the trial here with a superb ascent of a big, big vertical step that stopped his challengers dead.
The Burn section saw Dibs struggle for his three as the remaining three cleaned – with Cabes finally seeing the Ends cards in the final.
The final section, scripted to perfection, was the Montesa boxes with, guess what, a Monster step to end with.
Ignore the fact Raga managed to wangle and struggle the Gasser to the Ends cards – Bou did what he does best, firing the Mont straight out to a fantastic cheer from 11,000 fans.
Cabestany's following five was of course the anti-climax that was always coming.
Not that Bou let it spoil his celebrations for a record-breaking evening.
In the usually predictable Q and A at the press conference afterwards, Cabes actually came up with a gem.
When asked how it felt to beat Toni in the head-to-head race Albert said, with a dead straight face but a twinkle in his eye, that he normally lets Toni win the races, but thought he should win in his home event...
