After a four-week break, the TrialGP World Championship travels over more than 11,000km from Portugal to Japan, where the third Grand Prix of the year will be held, with two scoring rounds.
The World Cup has not visited Japan since 2019. The pandemic hit hard in the 2020 and 2021 editions, deciding not to participate in 2022 either. Now, everything is ready for the TrialGP, Trial2 and TrialGP Women riders to visit the surroundings of the Motegi circuit, owned by Honda, home of the Trial World Championship for twenty years uninterruptedly. The rider who has won the most times at Motegi is Toni Bou, with eighteen victories to his name.
In this 2023 edition Toni Bou and Jaime Busto arrive as co-leaders of the World Championship in the top flight, which is why what happens in Japan will be decisive to see if the Basque rider is able to keep up with the world champion in the fight for the new crown. Gabriel Marcelli, in third place, will be looking to achieve his first victory in the top category at Honda’s home level, something that is close, but for the moment he is resisting.
Adam Raga is another rider who has his finger on the pulse of Motegi, where he has climbed to the top of the podium on up to six occasions and has a key opportunity to recover distance in the general classification. Rounding out the top five is Aniol Gelabert, who hopes to take a step forward and sign his first podium in the category.
Will Jaime Busto be able to beat Toni Bou? We analyze it in this report.
TRIALGP WOMEN
This TrialGP fight is also reflected in the women’s world championship. Emma Bristow and Berta Abellán share the victories of the first two GPs, so Japan will be key to understanding if the fight continues or if the advantages in favor of one of the two protagonists begin to widen.
Trial 2
As for Trial2, it is Billy Green who leads the overall standings with a small advantage over Jack Peace. Pablo Suárez is third and the reigning champion, Sondre Haga, is fourth in the general classification.
