2018 X-Trial: 11-Time Champ Toni Bou Claims Round 1 in France

2018 X-Trial: Round 1 Results

Can anyone stop Toni Bou? The Spaniard, already the most-successful trial rider ever, began chasing his 12th-consecutive indoor Trial title this past weekend in typical Bou style – by winning.

Bou dominated the first round of 2018 X-Trial World Championship (Indoor Trial) in Vendée, France, which began a new season of rules and extended rounds. For the 2018 season, which actually began a few weeks early, the X-Trial Championship grows from four to eight rounds, and has a new format, which features three phases.

The first phase – an initial qualifying round – will be fought out in among the nine participating riders in groups of three. The top six go on to the next round – a semi-final – where only the best of each of the two groups will go through to dispute the grand final.

As for Bou in France, the Repsol Honda rider won all three phases, In the Qualifying, with 6 zones, Bou was the only one to receive a penalty of 1 point and joined James Dabill and Benoit Bincaz for the second part, which he finished again in first position.

In the finale, Bou fought beat his former teammate, GasGas rider Jaime Busto, and walked away with 20 points. Buston finished second, claiming 15 points, ahead of TRRS’ Adam Raga, who earned 12 points.

“We’ve just started a new season and we knew we’d have to fight, even more when we saw the zones, which were very easy,” Toni Bou says. “Jaime [Busto] pushed a lot more than we though, he did a very good lap and in the end, he was a good rival. I think that I didn’t make mistakes, apart from the logical ones and, if it goes on like this, the championship will be very close. It’s important to start with a win and with good feelings. Now we’ll rest a little and we’ll continue with the pre-season, that we didn’t finish yet.

The X-Trial World Championship now heads to Montpellier, France, where round two gets underway January 13.