Repsol Honda Trial Team’s Catalan rider extends his lead in the X-Trial World Championship with a triumph at Le Colisée. Gabriel Marcelli posts eighth on his debut with the team.
It was a mixed bag for the Repsol Honda Trial Team riders as Chalon-sur-Saône made its debut as a venue in the FIM X-Trial World Championship calendar. Despite the difficulty of the sections and having struggled throughout, Toni Bou once again treated French fans to a display of his refined technique, clinching another narrow victory to consolidate his position as leader of the general standings. Gabriel Marcelli finished eighth on his maiden outing with the Repsol Honda Trial Team after being eliminated in the opening round.
In the first round, all the riders had to negotiate complicated and more technical sections than those faced in the Nice trial. Toni Bou finished second on his first lap through the sections, with 11 penalty marks, making the cut for the following round. Gabriel Marcelli, meanwhile, found himself knocked out. On his debut with the Repsol Honda Trial Team, the Galician rider, perhaps affected by a lack of experience whilst forced to open round one of the X-Trial, leading to several mistakes that saw him accrue 19 penalty points.
In the second round, Bou conceded just two penalty points after errors in the first and third sections, thus gaining a direct passport to the final as the best rider of the second round. In the final, Repsol Honda Trial Team’s Catalan rider once again fought a gritty battle for the win over arch-rival Adam Raga, although in the end, the minor details were to prove the difference and hand victory to Toni Bou.
With a clean sweep of victories so far this season, Bou consolidates his position as the overall leader of the X-Trial World Championship with a tally of 43 points. In Chalon-sur-Saône, the Repsol Honda Trial Team ace also managed to pick up a bonus point for top spot in the second round of the trial. Gabriel Marcelli lies eighth in the overall standings on one point.
The third round of the championship is set to take place this coming Saturday 2 April at the Madrid Arena (Spain) and will once again feature Gabriel Marcelli alongside Toni Bou. After a 10-year absence from the calendar, the X-Trial World Championship returns to Madrid, a city in which the Catalan rider from the Repsol Honda Trial Team has previously won five times in the elite indoor category.
