Fielding the top three riders in this year’s Hertz FIM Trial World Championship, the Spanish men’s team of Toni Bou (Montesa), Jaime Busto (GASGAS) and Gabriel Marcelli (Montesa) start the 2025 FIM Trial des Nations (TdN) this coming weekend (20-21 September) as overwhelming favourites to secure a twenty-first consecutive victory, but results are much harder to call in the women’s class as well as in the International Trophy and Challenge des Nations categories.
- Spanish men start favourites to take twenty-first consecutive title
- Great Britain go for three in a row in women’s category
- Japan and Italy defend International Trophy and Challenge des Nations titles
Staged in Tolmezzo in north-east Italy close to the borders with Austria and Slovenia, the town – the venue for the 2011 TdN – was last used for top-flight competition in 2021 and competitors can expect a challenging mix of hazards plotted in riverbeds and on the surrounding steep hillsides.
Having dominated this season’s TrialGP competition, the Spanish trio – with Busto back in the team to replace Adam Raga – are unlikely to be troubled in their quest to extend their TdN win-streak to a record-breaking twenty-one, but the battle for the remaining podium positions is by no means as clear-cut with Italy defending their silver medal from 2024 against teams from France, Great Britain and Norway.
With home advantage and led by the world’s fourth-ranked rider Matteo Grattarola (Beta), on paper at least the Italians appear to have the upper hand over their rivals for the remaining medals, although Lorenzo Gandola (Beta) struggled in his sole TrialGP appearance this season in San Marino and Francesco Titli (TRRS) – who replaces Luca Petrella – only broke the top five once in his two Trial2 appearances.
Last season’s bronze medallists, France are pinning their hopes on Hugo Dufrese (Beta) alongside Benoit Bincaz (Electric Motion) and Alexandre Ferrer (Montesa), who takes the place of Gaël Chatagno. While Dufrese was a solid eighth in TrialGP in 2025 and Bincaz finished a fighting fifth in Trial2, there is a question mark over the form of Ferrer who broke the top ten just once in his sole Trial2 appearance at his home round on the island of Corsica in late-May.
Finishing two marks behind France on observation in 2024 before being disqualified for exceeding the event time limit, Great Britain will be looking to make amends and although only Jack Peace (Sherco) is returning this season, he has solid back-up in the shape of Beta-riding siblings Harry and George Hemingway.
A fighting fifth in his first year in TrialGP, Peace’s performance could prove pivotal and with newly-crowned Trial2 champion Harry and his younger brother George, who was an impressive sixth in his first season in Trial2, both aiming to impress on their TdN debuts the British team will be looking for their first medal since 2018.
The men’s category is completed by a Norwegian side led by former Trial2 champion Sondre Haga (GASGAS) who is joined once again by Jarand-Matias Vold Gunvaldsen (TRRS) with Jone Sandvik (Sherco) making his TdN debut.
Winners of the women’s category for the past two seasons, Great Britain will be without Emma Bristow for the first time since 2008, although Kaytlyn Adshead (Sherco), Alice Minta (Beta) have all acquitted themselves well in this year’s TrialGP Women class.
Ranked fourth, fifth and tenth, the British riders’ main opposition should come from a strong home side comprising Andrea Sofia Rabino (Beta), Alessia Bacchetta (GASGAS) and Martina Gallieni (Sherco) that remains unchanged from the team that took silver in 2024.
With Rabino finishing second in TrialGP Women in 2025, Bacchetta sixth and Gallieni ninth, it is far too close to call and it would be foolish to rule out the Spanish who once again will field newly-crowned TrialGP Women champion Berta Abellan (Scorpa) alongside Daniela Hernando (Beta) and Laia Pi (Beta).
Regarded as inexperienced last season with only Abellan having previously contested the event, Pi has now competed over almost a full season in TrialGP Women while this year Hernando has emerged as a title contender in Trial2 Women.
Represented by Denisa Pechackova (TRRS) – this season’s bronze medallist in TrialGP Women – and Petra Budínová, the Czech Republic finished fourth last year and will face increased opposition this time around with the entry swelled this season by teams from Andorra and Switzerland that join Germany, the USA, France, Norway, Australia and Canada who all contested the 2024 edition.
Competition is always fierce in the second-tier International Trophy class and with an unchanged team from 2024, Japan – represented by Tsuyoshi Ogawa (Beta), Shinya Hirohata (Montesa) and Jin Kuroyama (Sherco) – will look to make it three wins in a row.
A close second last season and hoping to go one better this time around, the American trio of Josh Roper (GASGAS), Alex Myers (Scorpa) and Will Myers (Sherco) should figure near the front with a strong challenge expected from, among others, the German trio of Jonathan Heidel (Beta), Rodney Bereiter (Beta) and Paul Reumschuessel (TRRS) who will be aiming to improve on last year’s bronze.
A total of seventeen nations from four continents will contest the International Trophy, making it a truly global competition with teams representing Austria, Andorra, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Poland and Sweden in action. Joining Japan and the USA on the ‘furthest travelled’ list are Canada and Australia while Tolmezzo is a lot closer to home for other European nations including Switzerland, Latvia, Portugal, Luxembourg and Greece as well as Belgium that returns to the competition this season.
Contested by two-rider, mixed-gender teams, the fourth edition of the Challenge des Nations will see last year’s winner Fabio Mazzola (TRRS) joined by Laia Pichler (TRRS) on the home team while Norway, champions in 2023, field Jonas Jørgensen (Beta) alongside Maria Ersland (Vertigo).
With Germany, the USA, Portugal, Great Britain, Belgium and Poland also entering teams, the Challenge des Nations continues to grow in popularity and this latest edition promises to be extremely competitive.
The points-scoring action at Tolmezzo gets under way at 08:30 (local time) on Sunday 21 September.
