Toni Bou claims his nineteenth X-Trial title and the night's honours are decided in the last section
Jaime Busto (GasGas) claimed his second victory of the season in a Grand Final that turned on its head in the last two Sections of the night. After four Sections Toni Bou (Repsol Honda Trial Team) was seven marks ahead of nearest rival Busto and looked on course for his sixth consecutive win. Instead, Bou failed to close out the X-Trial at the first attempt, falling in Section Five. Busto then set up a decider with a clean in Section Six, while a nervous Bou conceded the remainder of his advantage with his third failure, leaving Busto the winner by a single mark.
Gabriel Marcelli (Repsol Honda Trial Team) took third, also with three failures but with no cleans to his name, some nine marks back from Busto. Arnau Farré (Sherco) impressed on his first appearance since 2018 as he secured his best result to date with fifth in Q1 and making it via the Last Chance Qualifier to the Final.
Benoit Bincaz (Sherco) missed out at Farré’s expense after a costly dab in Section Three in Q2. Jack Peace (Sherco), Sondre Haga (GasGas) and Hugo Dufrese (Beta) each failed a section in their second runs.
Toni Bou’s progression to the Final, meanwhile, meant he had already claimed the two points he needed to secure his nineteenth X-Trial World Championship. World number one for the first time in 2007, Bou has taken every available crown since then, surpassing Albert Cabestany and Tommi Ahvala’s single title, Marc Colomer’s three, Adam Raga’s four and Dougie Lampkin’s five titles. Now the oldest rider in the field - he turns 39 later this year – Bou has nonetheless shown no signs of relenting on his rivals.
Jaime Busto (1st): “I am very pleased with this second win of the season I managed to claim in the last Section. Really I felt very good on the bike, I rode well and consistently throughout, despite a mistake in Section One of the Final, keeping open the possibility of victory to the end.”
Toni Bou (2nd): “I might have only needed two points today to be World Champion, but I fought for the win right to the end. Of course I would have liked to win the title with a victory, but perhaps I lost a bit of concentration in the last two sections and I took unnecessary risks. This has been another dream season and I am very proud, pleased and satisfied with my job and the team’s hardwork. We started well in Madrid but without winning and then in January and February I started to string together some victories. And we have done another good job tonight.”
Gabriel Marcelli (3rd): “I think I rode well but not quite perfectly even though I felt good on the bike. Even though second place in the Championship is now beyond me, remaining on the podium is a good result.”
X-Trial now makes a fourth 2025 visit to France with a trip to Nice for the X-Trial of Nations on 18th April. The final Round of the World Championship follows a week later in Tallinn.
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