Bou looks for continued domination

Twenty-five year old Toni Bou – Repsol Montesa will arrive in the French city of Strasbourg this Friday intent on continuing his total domination of the modern era of the sport of Trial. The relatively young Spanish rider originating from the Catalan capital of Barcelona, is set to rewrite the record books having already won the last five editions of the now FIM X-Trial World Championship, formerly known as the FIM Indoor Trial World Championship.

Bou has simply been unstoppable since joining the mighty Repsol squad back in 2007, despite some predicting that his move to the four-stroke machine might hinder his progress. In reality this was never the case and over the last five years Toni has netted no less than ten FIM titles, having also added five more traditional FIM Trial World Championships to his indoor successes.

Having now equalled Dougie Lampkin’s tally of five FIM Indoor Trial series wins, Bou looks odds on favourite to go one better by the time the 2012 campaign comes to a close in Paris at the end of March.

Whilst many may have mentally put Bou’s name on the gold medal already, he will have to fight off some familiar rivals who will have spent the months during the off season looking to close the gap on the current King of Trial. Thirty-one year old and 2002 FIM Indoor Trial World Champion Albert Cabestany – Sherco leads the challengers having chased Toni home during last year’s X-Trial series. Cabestany secured the runners up spot in the 2011 title race after a dramatic last round showdown against compatriot Adam Raga – Gas Gas.

On paper Raga should be the rider that pushes Bou the most, with the now twenty-nine year old having won the FIM Indoor Trial World Championship on four successive occasions just before Toni took over at the top of the rankings. Although no one can doubt Adam’s pure skill and technique on the indoor hazards, it is often his inconsistency that is his downfall. This is sure to be something he has been addressing now that he has Lampkin in his corner as Gas Gas team manager.

Jeroni Fajardo – Ossa and Takahisa Fujinami – Repsol Montesa are two other riders who have the pedigree and experience to be visitors to the podium during the seven round tour, though will need to be at the top of their game if they are to unseat the more favoured Spanish trio of Bou, Cabestany and Raga. Fajardo had to wait until the fourth round in Geneva during the 2011 campaign to gain a top three placing. This result was only upstaged by his runners up finish at the final event in Milan, to set himself up perfectly for a potentially stronger start to this season.

Britain’s Michael Brown – Gas Gas is joined by young French rider Loris Gubian – Gas Gas and 2011 FIM Junior Trial World Champion Alfredo Gomez – Montesa to complete the eight permanent riders for the 2012 FIM X-Trial World Championship who will get the action underway in Strasbourg this coming Friday.