04/05/17 – TrialGP – The most dominant rider in the history of the sport, Toni Bou – Repsol Honda will head to Camprodon in his homeland of Spain on 13/14 May for the opening round of the 2017 TrialGP series looking to win an unprecedented eleventh consecutive title.
There are not enough superlatives in the dictionary to fully do his amazing career justice. Earlier this year he won his eleventh straight FIM X-Trial World Championship with a perfect record of four wins from four starts and, what is more, he shows no signs of stopping.
Surely starting as a clear favourite to replicate his X-Trial victory outdoors in 2017, while so many sporting champions burn out after such a long time at the very top Toni is like a fine wine and just keeps improving with age.
Last year on the way to his tenth world title he won twelve out of the fifteen counting days. That is an eighty per cent win rate. In 2015 he won thirteen out of eighteen counting days – that works out at seventy-two per cent. The year before that? Seven out of twelve rounds. In 2013? Seven out of thirteen. You don’t need to be a mathematician to see that if anything he is getting stronger and stronger.
“TrialGP begins a bit later than usual this year,” Toni says, “and thanks to that we have had a bit more time to prepare ourselves after the end of the FIM X-Trial World Championship.”
“This winter the whole team has worked very hard to be the best because last year our rivals made the championship really tough. Better and more – that’s the objective of the team.”
Better and more is a motto that Toni adheres to closely – constantly working to be a better rider so he can win more titles – and for the last ten years, since he won his first FIM Trial World Championship in 2007, it has certainly worked well for him.
Now aged thirty, the rider from Barcelona has stayed on top for so long because of a magical mix of natural talent and a work ethic that is second to none.
With the exciting fresh format introduced by new championship promoter Sport7 that includes a timed qualification section the day before the main action gets under way to determine starting order, Toni knows that now more than ever before he needs to be razor-sharp and on top of his game.
“This year will be really difficult for everyone with the changes that the new promoter has introduced,” Toni adds. “Besides the qualifying there will be only one day of competition in the six European dates which means that we will have to be very focused throughout as the slightest error could be really costly.”
In a little over one week’s time Toni’s focus will be put to the ultimate test in front of his peers, his fans and the World’s off-road motorcycling media as he begins the defence of his title against the best trials riders on the planet.
