The 45th edition of the Barcelona Indoor Trial proved to be another spellbinding event for Toni Bou and the 4,800 spectators in attendance at the Palau Sant Jordi. The Catalan rider from the Repsol Honda Trial Team pulled off a fifteenth victory in ‘La Catedral’, where just five months earlier he had also triumphed, claiming a fifteenth indoor title in the process. Gabriel Marcelli, meanwhile, was hampered by last week’s fall and subsequent injury in Madrid and was unable to do better than seventh at the Palau Sant Jordi.
In the first round, riders were forced to tackle some technically demanding sections. Toni Bou posted the best first round score, with 8 penalty marks, while Gabriel Marcelli was just one step short of making the cut for the next round with a tally of 23 marks. In the second round, Bou was once again the best rider with 9 penalty points. The final saw a face-off between the Repsol Honda Team rider with rivals Adam Raga and Matteo Grattarola that went down to the wire, with the final victory once again clinched by the Catalan rider.
After today’s trial at the Palau Sant Jordi, Toni Bou goes into the break in the X-Trial World Championship calendar as clear leader, with an 87-point total and a 30-point advantage over Adam Raga, second in the overall standings. Meanwhile, with the two points earned in Barcelona, Gabriel Marcelli gains a position and moves up into fifth place in the general standings.
The next appointment for the Repsol Honda Trial Team in the X-Trial World Championship will be on Saturday, 8 October, six months from now in Andorra. There, Toni Bou will get his first chance to seal the X-Trial World Championship for a 16th consecutive time. The final round of the X-Trial World Championship will be on 21 October in Marseille.
Toni Bou #1
"I'm very happy with the way the night went. I did some incredible things but I also made a big mistake in the final. Possibly, I went in a bit nervously, I was a little short in the first step and it was surprising to stay there. Fortunately, we reacted quickly because I knew that the next section was very important and complicated and I knew that the trial would be won there. And that’s the way it turned out. Today I was able to score 22 more points in the championship. It's incredible how we have started this X-Trial World Championship, with four out of four possible wins and I’ve only missed out on one bonus point in all the rounds. I'm very happy with the way things are going, even though Adam is in great form and is making it difficult for me. Now it's time to disconnect from the indoor events, but I'm looking forward to going to Andorra."
Gabriel Marcelli #38
"The truth is that the fall in Madrid took its toll on me a bit. Besides, I made a couple of big mistakes that were, undoubtedly, my fault. Maybe I started a bit more nervously than usual, I'll have to start to control my nerves a bit more and I'm sure that in the next events everything will be much better. We were very close to getting into the semi-final and even though I wasn't 100% I think I did a good enough lap to make the semi-final, but that's trial for you."
Takahisa Fujinami - Team Manager
"Gabri already had problems before the start of this trial and we knew he was going to suffer, but he managed to be competitive and fought to try to get through to the next round and he came very close to achieving it. Today will also help him to learn from his mistakes and I'm sure he will be able to correct them in the coming events. I'm confident in Gabri's high level and I know he will do much better. Now he has to recover from his injury to be ready for the Spanish Championship. And Toni is Toni. He won the first lap, experimenting with things in the different sections with the next round in mind and that's what makes him different from the other riders. This year, with the new engine, he has needed to adapt a little, but he has made a great leap forward and, in the end, the results are materializing. I want to thank the whole team for the work that they’ve done, especially the doctors and physios for the work they did this week on Marcelli."