Bou can be world champion in Milan

his sixth title Toni Bou has added his fifth consecutive victory of the Indoor Trial World Championship tonight at the Palma Arena Stadium (Palma de Mallorca) and is caressing his sixth consecutive title in indoor territory.

Second place went to a fantastic Albert Cabestany , who made things very difficult for the winner, while the last place on the podium went to a very successful rider Takahisa Fujinami. Adam Raga, fourth, he was just one point behind the Japanese driver.

After the success of 2010, Palma de Mallorca once again hosted a scoring event for the Indoor Trial World Championship. With a scenario dominated by some very spectacular sections , much of it with natural elements, such as rocks or logs, the best drivers in the world faced a key race for the championship.

Bou arrived with a comfortable lead after winning the first four races, but in Madrid, in some very difficult sections, Raga was pushing the Piera rider until the last section. In Palma de Mallorca, in some technical but simpler areas, it was Cabestany who did not let him breathe until the last second.

Toni Bou, therefore, is having to make the most of it and, although he has shown that he is capable of maintaining concentration in all circumstances, his margin for error is getting smaller and smaller compared to the rest of the rivals.

MAXIMUM EQUALITY

The night, broadcast live on Our Twitter, began with the elimination of Brown (11 points) and Alfredo Gomez (15 points), which presumably he will not be in the last two rounds of the Indoor World Cup; the next one, coinciding with an Enduro race, and the last one, because when you miss a race the regulations themselves exclude you from the others.

In the semi-finals we witnessed a beautiful fight of technique and efficiency between Bou, Raga, Cabestany and Fujinami. Loris Gubian had more problems, who continues to improve despite still being far from the leading group, and Jeroni Fajardo, who tonight had almost nothing coming out again. Let’s remember that the player from Beta is still convalescing from a shoulder injury, which prevents him from being 100%. Both were eliminated heading into the final round.

HEART-STOPPING FINALE

The final had, in addition to the great protagonist, a name of its own: Albert Cabestany. The Sherco rider was fine, focused, efficient and snatched the sweat from the forehead of an atypically nervous Toni Bou, aware that his margin for error on the Mallorcan night was going to be zero. In fact, Bou accumulated an extra point for time in one of the zones and the tremendous anger with his backpacker, Didac Cercós, was reflected on all the television screens.

Cabestany finally conceded at two key points : after losing a parallel race in front of Bou and in the last section, where he left one foot. This circumstance gave a victory to Bou with two points, followed by Cabestany, with 4 points.

Behind them, a brilliant Fujinami was on Cabestany’s heels for a good part of the final , but at the entrance to a key area, with a large entry step, he lost all his options to enter the fight for victory. Rather, he had to make an effort not to give in to Raga, as both were separated by one point in the final zone. In the end, the Japanese rider was able to beat the Tarragona native, doing a huge favour to Cabestany, who is once again recovering the ground lost in Madrid in the fight for the runner-up spot.

The next and penultimate event will take place in Milan, in just 6 days, on March 17.

Toni Bou: “Now I can say that most of the work is done, with five wins and a 34-point advantage with only 40 left to play. In Milan we’re not going to change our approach and I’m going to go out with my mind set on achieving another win. Here, at the Palma Arena, the important thing was not the differences of more or less points but to avoid as much as possible the mistakes that, due to the characteristics of the areas, would have been very difficult to recover. Everything went perfectly.”

Takahisa Fujinami: “I’m very satisfied with this podium, which for me had a special meaning. Even before we started, I thought it would be very nice to achieve it on such a significant date for all Japanese. I wanted this podium and I achieved it, I don’t think I can ask for more. I was in a position to improve on third place but a mistake in the penultimate section was decisive.”