The city of Malaga, which saw Toni Bou obtain the first victory of his sporting career, has been in charge of hosting today a another triumph for the twelve-time World Champion, who has beaten all his rivals and thus consolidated his goal of winning a new world title, what would be his seventh consecutive indoor championship.
With the stands of the José María Martín Carpena pavilion packed with fans of this sport, Bou has taken his third win this season, and there are only two rounds left (Germany and France) to go before the end of the Championship. The Repsol Montesa Honda rider took an important step on his way to the title in Malaga.
His performance managed to bring the more than 4,000 spectators who filled the pavilion to their feet on several occasions, as he was far superior to the rest of the riders. However, the real battle was for the other two remaining places on the podium.
After the initial disqualification of youngsters Pere Borrellas, Francesc Moret, Alexandre Ferrer and Jack Challoner; the The semi-final saw Jeroni Fajardo and Italy’s Mateo Grattarola also knock themselves out; and the fight for second and third place was in the hands of Adam Raga, Jeroni Fajardo, Takahisa Fujinami and Albert Cabestany.
A set of unfortunate mistakes on the part of Adam Raga, paved the way for the rest, and Fujinami and Cabestany fought until the end and followed very closely for a second place that eventually went to Cabestany.
The Sherco rider was emotionally grateful for the support provided by his team, family and friends during these last weeks, very hard for the rider due to the recent loss of his grandmother. Regarding the result, he acknowledged that second place “is the maximum” that he can currently achieve “given the high level at which Toni Bou is”, although he showed the intention of “continuing to press and try to improve”.
On the other hand, Bou expressed his joy for a victory that he described as “very special” and in which he felt “very comfortable” and displaying his “best riding. In addition, it is a very decisive victory, since if he were to achieve victory in the next round in Germany, he would automatically be proclaimed World Indoor Champion for the seventh consecutive time.
However, the Repsol Montesa Honda rider prefers “not to overtake” and to live “race by race”.
The final awards ceremony of the X-Trial Ciudad de Málaga was chaired by Susana Martín, General Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of the Malaga City Council; as well as by some sponsors of the event.
Toni Bou: “It was an amazing afternoon, with virtually no problems and feeling very comfortable on the bike. In these conditions, my confidence in myself and in the work we do goes even further. My lead as world championship leader is comfortable, I’m not going to deny it, but there are still 40 points up for grabs and nothing is definitive. So we’re going to continue as we have done so far and in Germany my mind will be set on achieving another victory to secure the final triumph. This start to the season is perfect, as I am the leader of the three championships we have started. I can’t ask for more.”
Takahisa Fujinami: “With this second podium in a row I was completely satisfied. My confidence is growing and I manage to overcome areas that I would not have been able to before, which is very positive. To be third overall is fantastic and of course I will try to keep it in the two remaining rounds. But I don’t want to get obsessed with it, I’ll go zone by zone and race by race, and in the end we’ll see what happens.”.
The fourth and penultimate round of the X-Trial World Championship will be held on March 23 in Bielefeld (Germany).
