Toni Bou takes TrialGP world title #18
By Team TMX on 27th Aug 24
News Trials Trial World Championship
In the unlikely event of anyone requiring reminding, Toni Bou (Montesa) once again underlined his status as the most successful rider in the history of the sport when he secured his 18th consecutive Hertz FIM Trial World Championship title at today’s TrialGP of France, staged at Cahors in the south of the country.
While Bou’s wait to add to his collection of titles is over for another season, in TrialGP Women defending champion and series leader Emma Bristow (Sherco) tasted defeat for just the second time this season when she was beaten into second by Spanish rival Berta Abellan (Scorpa), although with just two scoring days left at the TrialGP of Spain in mid-September the British rider still holds a healthy 10-point advantage.
The battle for supremacy is also still not over in Trial2 where Britain’s Jack Peace (Sherco) extended his lead to twenty-one points with a solid third-placed finish behind first-time winner Gerard Trueba (Beta) from Spain with just the TrialGP of Spain to go while his compatriot George Hemingway (Beta), who successfully defended his Trial3 crown last time out in Belgium, signed off with his seventh win from eight starts.
Bou took command of the premier TrialGP class on the opening day of this year’s competition in Japan before sweeping the first five days of points-paying action and today’s victory – his ninth from 10 events – means another entry into the trial history books.
Despite picking up a maximum in the very first hazard on his opening lap, with the warm sun rapidly drying the sections following yesterday’s rain 37-year-old Bou looked completely at home on the big rocks and steep bankings of the quarry sections that comprised the first half of the lap and in the man-made sections that completed the course along the banks of the beautiful Lot river.
Leading on six plus a single time penalty that put him ten clear of his long-time rival and fellow Spaniard Adam Raga (Sherco) at the halfway stage, Bou required another seven marks and an additional time penalty on lap two, but still ended the day eight ahead of Jaime Busto (GASGAS) whose second lap total of just two when combined with his first lap score of 20 plus a time penalty put him nine clear of the battle for third position.
“It feels amazing,” said Bou. “I started today with a little mistake, but after that I rode my best. Thank you to all my team for working so hard – it has been one of the best seasons of my life.”
The final step on the podium was secured by Gabriel Marcelli (Montesa) by a mark from Raga with a cool clean on the very last section of the day.
Having announced her retirement from the sport’s top-flight at the end of the season, in her bid to make it ten titles in eleven years Bristow has led from the opening round, but she had no answer to Abellan today whose first lap of eight gave her a seven-mark lead over the reigning champion.
Bristow fought back with a second-lap total of eight, but Abellan kept her cool and added a further eleven to her score which saw her claim a sixth career win at the highest level by a slender four marks. Italy’s Andrea Sofia Rabino (Beta) ended the day in third, a distant 21 marks behind, before another sizeable gap back to the Czech Republic’s Denisa Pechackova (TRRS) and Naomi Monnier (Montesa) from France.
“I am very, very happy because I have enjoyed the sections a lot today,” said Abellan. “It’s been a great trial and it feels fantastic to take the victory.”
Super-consistent all season, Peace made it six consecutive podiums in Trial2 with a calm and collected third-placed finish and with his closest title rival Arnau Farré (Sherco) from Spain finishing one place further back the 24-year-old – who has won four times this year – actually extended his advantage.
On the day there was no stopping Trueba who sat second at the halfway stage on a score of four, one behind his fellow countryman Alex Canales (Sherco) and one ahead of Farré and former champion Sondre Haga (GASGAS) from Norway with Peace on six. Putting the pressure on his rivals with a second-lap total of two, Trueba took the verdict on a tie-break after Haga on the electric motorcycle added just one more mark to his score with Peace, who also parted with a solitary dab on his second lap, climbing to third to tighten his grip on the title.
“It’s been an amazing day,” said Trueba. “I have been working a lot to achieve this – I got my first podium some months ago in Andorra and today I got my first victory!”
Having secured back-to-back Trial3 titles at the previous round in Belgium last month, Hemingway put the seal on a highly successful season with a clear-cut win ahead of home hero Pablo Echene (Beta) and Pawel Ryncarz (TRRS) from Poland.
Ending the opening lap six clear of Ryncarz on a score of seven, Hemingway needed just two more marks over the second half of the event to win by 13 as Echene reeled in the Pole to record a career-best second by three clear marks.
“I’ve absolutely loved every moment of this weekend,” said Hemingway. “I knew that coming into this year it wouldn’t be easy to win, but I got the job done. The first title felt good and the second one feels even better.”
The 2024 Hertz FIM Trial World Championship concludes next month with the TrialGP of Spain – which also includes the 2024 FIM Trial Vintage Trophy competition – at Ripoll, running from 13-15 September.
