Bou continues to make history in the world of Trial. At just 24 years of age, he has managed to sign his fifth Indoor Trial World Championship title with full victories in the six races held this season. The added merit of the rider from Piera has been, in addition to such achievements, the abysmal difference he has shown against his rivals in all the races, being almost insulting the marked superiority. In other words, Toni Bou is in a stratospheric dimension and his rivals are solely earthly.
The last race, held tonight in Milan, had a double interest: first, the aforementioned one, to see if Bou was able to stay at the top for the sixth time, and second, to see who would be proclaimed runner-up after the Montesa rider. Cabestany had a significant lead over its main rival, Raga, but everything was still to be decided. In the end, the Sherco rider achieved his goal by the minimum, since in the general classification he has been equal to that of Gas Gas and only his greater number of second places have managed to keep him in that position.
Text: Trialworld / Photos: FIM
The first surprise of the night was, once again, in the qualifying round, where this year we have found important surprises. The last classified and therefore disqualified They were, first of all, the guest pilot Mateo Grattarola with 26 points, followed by a weak Fujinami with 18 points and this season’s revelation rider, the British Challoner, who risked everything with Brown in parallel races and lost, but in global terms has shown that he must be counted on for the future.
The standings at this point were as follows: Bou 0 Cabestany 6 Dabill 10 Fajardo 11 Raga 11 Brown 12. Now it was time to fight for the semi-final. From here, only four drivers were going to qualify, who would then compete in the final.
In the first section, after the dispute of the parallel route, Bou stood out with two points, followed by Fajardo and Raga with five, and the rest with one more point. In the second, the differences began to increase, especially in the fight for the podium, as Fajardo 
place and Dabill entered the fight with Raga. However, it would be in the third zone where Cabestany began to drop off, being four points behind his benchmark to enter the final, which in this case was Dabill. There was little Sherco could do about it, as he was eliminated moments later and left the runner-up at the mercy of what Raga did in the last sections. Raga depended on himself: a second place was enough for him to overtake Cabestany.
The excitement was maintained throughout, but the Gas Gas rider found himself with a plethoric Fajardo, very motivated and willing to improve on the third place achieved during the current campaign. With three zones to go, there was only a two-point difference between the two and a lot to say. Bou was also a stone’s throw away from Fajardo, but the first zone of the final was decisive and the man from Montesa sentenced, while his rivals fattened their scores with two fiascos and could do little to beat him.
After the second section of the final the picture was as follows: Bou 9 2: Fajardo 15 3: Raga 17 4: Dabill 23. The last area was very exciting, Raga was playing for everything. In the end, Fajardo scored a two, leaving him with 17 points, the same as Raga. However, the Gas Gas rider dropped a point and lost all his options for the runner-up position, finishing definitively in third place in the race and the championship itself. Dabill finished in fourth place, with 28 points, already far behind his rivals.
Toni Bou: “We have closed a championship of a very high level in the best possible way and in the best possible way the one who couldn’t have asked for more. I’ve been feeling great, it’s my fifth year with this It works wonderfully and I know it perfectly. With the title already secured, today
I’ve come out ready to enjoy myself; It would have been a mistake not to take advantage of an opportunity that It occurs very rarely. But I’ve also made it my mission
, without obsessing, close the Unbeaten championship. I’ve achieved both, although the five points I’ve left in
The first parallel race, because I wanted to run too much, they made me suffer.
Then, having been the only one to climb the entrance of the penultimate section and complete it has been fundamental”.
Takahisa Fujinami: “I’ve
made too many mistakes and I’ve been left out much earlier
than I would have liked, but I was able to enjoy seeing what Toni is capable of.
Once again it was sensational.”
Race Standings:
1: Bou 9
2: Fajardo 17
3: Raga 18
4: Dabill 28
Championship Standings:
1: Bou 120
2: Cabestany 75
3: Raga 75
4: Fajardo 60
5: Fujinami 34
6: Challoner 24
7: Dabill 22
8: Brown 19
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