On The Pegs April 2018 - Volume 3 - Issue 4 | Page 22

On The Pegs
P 22
BOU RETURNS TO ACTION
Multi-world champion Toni Bou returned to competition at the Paris X-Trial after
suffering a back injury in a practice crash. Here’s what Bou had to say about his
injury and his return to the sport.
“After spending a really tough month since I fell, the goal has been to recover
and get back in time for the Paris event. Everything was up in the air and we re-
ally didn’t know if I’d recover in time,” said Bou. “Today I tried the bike and I got
much better feedback than I had expected. I felt more secure but, obviously, I am
not 100%, but I’m nevertheless excited and I’m really looking forward to return-
ing. It will be a bit of a “whim” that I will let myself do, because I love to compete
in Paris: it’s a special event. The sensations on the bike have not been incredible,
but they were much better than I expected. In the trial we will be very cautious,
because physically I haven’t done anything over this last month, but the desire
and passion to ride made me decide to take part. The first two weeks were very
hard and the third too, but last week I have noticed a great improvement and I
went back to normal life. You can’t imagine what was going through my mind in
the Le Mans hospital. I just kept thinking about coming back right up until I got
back on the bike today. In Paris I can pick up the title, yeah, and I prefer to do it
by competing. I don’t think I have much chance of winning the trial as I’m not
at 100%, but I’m capable of riding so to get the title on the bike will be so much
better.” n