With three crowns on the line this weekend, tensions were running high on day one of the concluding round of the 2026 Hertz FIM Trial World Championship – the TrialGP of Spain – and while it was a case of business as usual for Toni Bou (Montesa), who secured the TrialGP title at the previous round, there were signs of nerves shown by the title contenders in TrialGP Women, Trial2 and Trial2 Women.
Returning to Pobladura de las Regueras in the north west of the country for the first time since the 2024 FIM Trial des Nations, the purpose-built Circuito Permanente de Trial provided a fitting test for the world’s best riders with huge, strategically placed rocks featuring prominently in the early man-made sections before the course took on a more natural complexion with a slippery river bed, steep climbs and a technical gulley.
With Bou – winner of Friday’s Super Test to determine start position – already assured of his twentieth consecutive TrialGP title and wasting little time in pulling clear in race one as he remained unpenalised for the opening six sections, focus centred on the battle for second in the series between his fellow Spaniards Jaime Busto (Beta) and Gabriel Marcelli (Montesa) with Busto holding a seven-point advantage at the start of the day.
Opening up with two cleans compared to Marcelli’s two and a one, Busto then picked up a five on section three where Marcelli went clean. However, a maximum on section five by Marcelli that Busto cleaned shifted the advantage back to Busto until he had a run of four consecutive fives on sections eight to eleven, ending his challenge.
Bou finished on eleven, nine clear of Marcelli, to give the record-breaking champion his twenty-second race win of the season, but with Britain’s Harry Hemingway (Beta) coming home third on twenty-one to push Busto – who finished on twenty-five – into fourth it meant Marcelli pulled back four points in the battle for silver.
After winning Super Pole to decide starting positions for the Final, Busto found himself on the back foot when he crashed heavily on the imposing double step at the end of section one after Bou, Marcelli, Hemingway and Spain’s Miquel Gelabert (Honda) – who was fifth in race one – all recorded impressive cleans.
Clawing marks back over the following five sections, Busto recovered to end the Final in fourth on ten, one behind Marcelli, two behind Gelabert and five off the pace set by Bou with just the Super Final to go.
Following the narrative he has written for most of his career, Bou maintained his advantage to end the Super Final on a total of eleven, four ahead of Marcelli who moved into second – and collected a vital two additional points – when he cleaned the final section after Gelabert picked up a five to take his score to eighteen.
“It feels amazing to have won the title already,” said Bou. “Sometimes when I have pressure it’s better for me, but I have won the first day here so I’m super-happy.”
A further seven marks adrift in fourth, Busto slipped one point behind Marcelli in the standings, with Hemingway fifth on twenty-seven, one clear of Italian Matteo Grattarola (Beta) who was eighth in race one.
Leading by a healthy – but not unsurmountable – eleven points at the start of the day, reigning TrialGP Women champion Berta Abellan (Scorpa) from Spain came out fighting after topping the Super Test to dominate the opening race on a score of just two marks lost with Alycia Soyer from France second on thirteen, three ahead of Britain’s Alice Minta (Beta) who won a tie-break with Italian Alessia Bacchetta.
Holding second in the championship having pushed Abellan hard all season, Italy’s Andrea Sofia Rabino (Beta) was fifth – her lowest race position of the season – on twenty-four which allowed Abellan to increase her advantage to twenty points.
Rabino showed her fighting spirit in race two, going head-to-head with Soyer as the pair stayed clean through the opening five sections before the young Italian broke free to win on ten. Minta kept her run of great form going to take second on twelve on a tie-break with Abellan as Soyer faded to fourth on seventeen, three clear of Bacchetta.
“Today started so well for me,” said Abellan, “but the second race did not start so good, although I was able to recover so I am happy. We will see what happens tomorrow.”
With just one day of competition left to decide the gold medal, Abellan takes a fifteen-point lead over Rabino into tomorrow’s concluding two races with Minta leading Bacchetta by four in the battle for bronze.
Arriving for his home round in pole position in Trial2, after finishing the Super Test in second Arnau Farré (Sherco) strengthened his grip on the title when he won the opening race on a total of eleven, one clear of former champion Billy Green (Scorpa) from Great Britain and, more importantly, three ahead of compatriot and title rival Alex Canales (Montesa).
Crucially, George Hemingway (Beta) – who made the journey to Spain in second, thirteen points behind Farré – ended the race back in fifth on seventeen, two adrift of fellow British rider Harry Turner (Sherco).
Just as Rabino did in the premier women’s class, Hemingway put the disappointment of race one behind him and battled back into contention with his total of ten – one clear of Canales and two ahead of Farré – giving him victory in race two and bringing the gap to the leader back to seventeen points.
“It has been a good day with good points for the championship,” said Farré. “I was feeling good in the first race and although I made a few mistakes in the second race I’m very happy with the overall result.”
Frenchman Benoit Bincaz (Electric Motion) won a tie-break for fourth from home rider Pablo Suarez after the pair finished locked together on fifteen.
With the passionate home fans cheering her on in Trial2 Women, Spain’s Abril Montserrat Junque (Beta) turned a five-point deficit into an eight-point lead with her cool and collected three-two race scores good enough to catch and pass Britain’s Matilda Arbon (Sherco) in the championship table.
Making her season debut, Czech rider Petra Budinova dominated both races, but after finishing behind Super Test winner Queralt Fontdevila (Beta) – who was returning from injury – in race one, Montserrat Junque turned the tables on her compatriot in race two.
Arbon, however, had a much tougher time of it and her six-seven scorecard dropped her to seventh on the day – her worst finish of the season – and cost her the series lead.
| The action from Pobladura de las Regueras continues tomorrow with this season’s concluding day of competition set to get under way at 09:00 (local time). |
