Toni Bou, Adam Raga and Jaime Busto, who will make their debut in the national team competition, will defend their men’s titles, while Sandra Gómez, Berta Abellán and María Giró (the latter pending approval by Race Direction and who will also make her debut) will seek to regain the women’s crown after being second in 2016.
On September 23 and 24, the Pontevedra town of Baiona will become the fourth Spanish city to host the Trial of Nations, the FIM race for national teams that since 1984 has put an end to the international outdoor season. Well, Spain will be looking for its 24th title in the men’s category; the 14th in a row. And he will do so with a trio never seen before.
The members who will seek to perpetuate the Spanish dominance for another year will be
Toni Bou
,
Adam Raga
and
Jaime Busto
, the current top three classified in the TrialGP World Championship, as well as in the TR1 CET.
Bou and Raga have been regulars in the RFME squad since 2005 and 2001, respectively. Busto, on the other hand, will take over from Albert Cabestany – the Spaniard with the most participations in the TdN (18) – in Galicia; thus making his debut in the great natural team competition since to date we had only seen him defend – and successfully – the Spanish elastic in the last two editions of the X-Trial of Nations; the indoor version of the ToN.
As for the girls, our three best riders in the 2017 Women’s TrialGP World Championship, Sandra Gómez, Berta Abellán and Maria Giró, will fight to win the 7th title for our country since the women’s version of the TdN was created in 2000.
Giró (pending approval by Race Direction) is, without a doubt, the great novelty of this year’s call. It will be his first participation in the ToN with Spain. However, competition will not be alien to him. Not surprisingly, since 2014, he has taken part in FIM teams that brought together up to three riders of various nationalities, but who were not part of the official structures of their respective countries.
Gómez has eight participations to date, while the current absolute Spanish Champion, Abellán, will add her third consecutive foray with the Spanish team in Baiona.
The riders, teams and followers of the SPEA RFME Spanish Trial Championship know the location well, since in 2008, 2009, 2013 and 2015 it hosted our National Championship. Likewise, Nigrán, very close to the same enclave, was the sporting epicentre of the 2006 Spanish Trial Grand Prix, and Baiona itself four years later.
The areas of the Trial of Nations 2017 will be distributed along the Monte Boi promenade, in the vicinity of the Parador; scattered between the rocks that bathe the sea and the mountain adjacent to the walls of the Count of Gondomar.
