sport There have been too many times that there have been too many times in magazines and forums about the problem of Trial and the reasons why our favorite sport goes through low hours.
In recent years we have experienced absolutely crazy events, such as seeing a recently proclaimed World Champion as Alfredo Gómez without a bike for his next season, as well as other great pilots who have begun to be truly recognized and valued once they have changed specialties, such as the one himself Alfredo, Dani Gibert, Mario Román, Graham Jarvis, brothers Leon or Tady Blazusiak. Other references of success in other specialties are Laia Sanz and Dougie Lampkin.
Without wanting to address in this debate other current problems such as the role of federations, environmental restrictions, the lack of areas for a non-stealth practice of Trial or the crisis that the industry is addressing, I do want to give my opinion from the point of view of a journalistic point of view and as a marketing professional.
Despite my deep love for Trial, to which I selflessly dedicate an incalculable number of hours,
compared to other specialties professional competition is becoming more and more boring and monotonous.
Just take a look at the numbers of a World Indoor Championships like the one in 1993
, where the calendar was made up of 14 races and scored up to 25 drivers. In
2013
The calendar was just from 5 races and scored 12. Should a championship of 5 races in Europe in less than 3 months be called the World Championship?
Another big boredom is that we have been seeing the same riders on the podium for almost a decade and a good part of them on the same brand. How long should we savour the excitement caused by seeing Bou on a Montesa in 2007? Why is it so difficult to overshadow the “top five” and for the new generations to finally gel?
2013 could have been a big turning point in Trial
if the approaches had been fulfilled:
Fajardo was close to signing for Gas Gas, while Raga, with a foot and a half off the mark, had a offer by Scorpa to pilot an “orange-clad Sherco”. Shortly before, in 2012, Beta and Monster flirted with Bou to assemble your own structure.
. We have proof that this happened and we tell you about it. The answer was “long faces” from other magazines and parties involved, because in high-competition Trial it does not sit well to tell the fans what is “vox populi” in the paddock. This is not the case in other specialties.
How can we be the world’s leading power in Trial riders but not take advantage of it? I can think of many reasons, but one of them is in the top drivers themselves. Professional riders, as idols and references of Trial, must
They would like to create fans not only by riding, but also by communicating to encourage more motorcycles to be sold and making known the more human side of this sport.
Have you taken a look at the websites of the Top 5 pilots?
Toni Bou http://www.tonibou.es/ -> Cover with the 2010 titles. Penultimate post of July 2012 and the last one of September 2013. The last video, recorded with a mobile phone, is from 2007. Not a single sponsor has a presence on the web.
Adam Raga http://www.adamraga.com/ -> Last updated October 2013. Under an obsolete aesthetics and usability, the tickets have only the classification of each event. Not a single statement or exclusive content.
Albert Cabestany
-> It does not currently have a website.
Jeroni Fajardo http://www.jeronifajardo.es/ -> Last news update in June 2012. The last gallery photos are in 2011 at the controls of an Ossa.
Takahisa Fujinami http://www.fujigas.net/ -> Most of the content is in Japanese and not up to date. No press releases or videos. The last gallery photo is from 2008.
As you can see, it is impossible to follow the Trial from the vision and opinion of the riders themselves.
On the other hand, what benefit does a sponsor have over a motorcycle without bodywork in a non-televised specialty with such websites?
Of the previous ones, neither Cabestany nor Fajardo have a press department, so it is impossible to know what has happened to them in each race. At this point, both Montesa and Gas Gas do it well.
What about social media?
While Marc Márquez has around 1,100,000 followers on Facebook, Laia Sanz 66,000 or the former trial rider Blazusiak 92,000, our world champion does not have professional profiles energized by him.
Here Jeroni Fajardo is the most advantaged and entertaining, followed by Cabestany and Raga.
All these details become even more important in the context of a sport as neglected as Trial. To this day it is impossible to follow a live event of the Indoor Trial World Championship, the Outdoor comes out with some sporadic summary several days later and, as cruel as it sounds, The only way to know what happened is through the videos that fans they post on Youtube or by reading the rankings themselves.
My conclusion is that if it weren’t for the Trial fan (the one who doesn’t follow the competition), we would be sunk. At Trialworld we pride ourselves on thinking, first and foremost, of the fan. That is why we have been working for two years with a Trial School that moves more than 200 places annually and helps people get to know each other, progress and set new challenges every day.
Thank you to all the fans. You are the heart of the sport.
David Quer
