Team GB ladies win Trials des Nations
By Team TMX on 23rd Sep 24
Team Spain (Toni Bou, Gabriel Marcelli and Adam Raga) predictably swept to victory in the 2024 FIM Trials des Nations in Pobladura de las Regueras – the Spanish team’s 20th TdN victory in a row. More importantly though, Team GB’s lionesses retained the ladies’ title thanks to fantastic rides from Emma Bristow (Sherco), Alice Minta (Scorpa) and Kaytlyn Adshead (TRRS) who were every bit as dominant as the Spanish men.
Recording two laps of seven marks and with no time penalties, Britain’s total of 14 saw them win by 30 from the Italian trio of Andrea Sofia Rabino (Beta), Alessia Bacchetta (GASGAS) and Martina Gallieni (Scorpa) whose score included six-time penalties from the first lap.
“The day has been very good and we all rode well,” said Adshead. “There were a few mistakes, but we worked well together as a team and finished out the day on top.”
Women’s class winners of three of the previous four editions of the TdN, Spain gave their team an infusion of fresh blood this year with world number two Berta Abellan (Scorpa) joined by event debutantes Laia Pi (Beta) and Daniela Hernando (Beta). It was a bold move, but their inexperience showed and they ended the day one mark adrift of the Italians in third with five time penalties.
The Czech team of Denisa Pechackova (TRRS) and Petra Budinova (TRRS) ended the day in fourth on 56 with Germany’s Theresa Angst (Beta), Sophia Ter Jung (TRRS) and Vivian Wachs (TRRS) completing the top five on 65 with 13 time-penalties.
On the male side of things, annual contest to decide the world’s leading Trial nation has gone the Spaniards’ way every year it has been staged since 2004 and with a powerhouse team featuring three of this year’s four top-ranked TrialGP riders a different outcome never looked likely.
Rain gave way to a foggy, overcast morning and grip was in short supply in the early stages on the challenging Circuito Permanente de Trial course that combined a mix of made-made sections constructed from huge rocks and massive logs with natural hazards plotted in a riverbed that made full use of the steep surrounding bankings.
With each nations’ best two scores from each section to count, after seizing an immediate lead when they stayed clean through the opening section the Spanish trio never looked seriously troubled and their first lap total of 13 on observation, even after eight time penalties were added, put them 25 marks clear of their nearest challengers Italy and thirty-two up on third-placed France.
Further tightening the screw, Spain added 17 on observation and four on time on lap two, ending the day on a total of 42 to hammer home their dominance and say an emotional goodbye to Raga who, at 42 years old, has just announced his retirement from top-flight Trial.
“Today has been fantastic,” said Raga. “It was my last TdN so to get the victory is amazing. I am very, very happy.”
Bronze medallists in 2023, the unchanged Italian team of Matteo Grattarola (Beta), Luca Petrella (GASGAS) and Lorenzo Gandola (Beta) were the only nation to avoid time penalties on their second lap and after scoring an additional 40 marks to take their total to 86 they ended the day a clear second from France.
Fielding Benoit Bincaz (Sherco), Hugo Dufrese (GASGAS) and Gaël Chatagno (Electric Motion), the French were in definite contention for silver after the opening lap, but lost ground in the closing stages to finish on 106.
This initially gave them third by two marks from the British team of Toby Martyn (Montesa), Jack Peace (Sherco) and Billy Green (Scorpa) before the British were disqualified for exceeding the event time limit which moved Norway – represented by Sondre Haga (GASGAS), Mats Nilsen (TRRS) and Jarand-Matias Vold Gunvaldsen (TRRS) – up a position on a total of 173.
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