The Vendéspace, which last season hosted the first round of the X-Trial World Championship with a full house, will be the scene of a new edition of the X-Trial of Nations next Saturday, April 13, in which the Spanish team defends the title and opts to achieve its thirteenth crown.
13-time X-Trial World Champion Toni Bou (Repsol Montesa Honda) will once again be the leader of the Spanish team. He has 7 team titles to his name. He will be accompanied, as a rider under 25 years of age, by world number three Jaime Busto (Gas Gas) who was proclaimed Champion in 2016 with Adam Raga and a year later partnering Bou.
Last year, the Spanish pair that won the title in Nice was formed by Bou and the young Miquel Gelabert (Sherco) who, in this way, obtained his first international title in the discipline of X-Trial.
The fight for the win in Nice was very tight, especially in Round 2 prior to the final in which the French team penalized two points less than the Spanish team. On this occasion, Benoit Bincaz (Beta) and Alex Ferrer (Sherco) will once again defend the colours of their country and, the fact of racing in front of the French fans, will once again be an element in their favour to fight for the title that eluded them in the last edition of the competition.
The third step of the podium last season was achieved by Great Britain who, on this occasion, present a team in which Jack Price (Gas Gas) repeats and Toby Martyn (Beta) makes his debut with the aim of getting back on the podium.
The Italians Matteo Grattarola (Montesa) and Luca Petrella (Beta) repeat their participation and are also in contention for the podium from which they were thirteen points behind a year ago. Finally, Norway returns to the X-Trial of Nations after a few years of absence and does so with the young Sondre Haga (TRRS) who has made his debut in the X-Trial World Championship this season and the veteran Håkon Pedersen (Gas Gas), an institution in the Nordic X-Trial who will seek, together with his young compatriot, to surprise in the Vendéspace. This emblematic round of the world X-Trial is scheduled for 20:00.
Toni Bou
The X-Trial of Nations is a different race and I like to race because it’s a very tactical competition. It makes you have to get along very well with your partner and, in this case, I think we can do very well, since we know each other quite well. However, the zones are usually easy and it will be difficult to make a difference.
