On The Pegs August - 2019 - Volume 4 - Issue 8 | Page 155

On The Pegs
T
Vol. 4 Issue 8 - August 2019
155
oni Bou was crowned 2019 TrialGP World Champion at the French Alpine resort of
Auron. Bou, who triumphed in the trial takes his tally of consecutive title wins to 13 in
TrialGP, in addition to the 13 indoor trophies. 26 titles for the greatest rider in history!
“This is not a miracle, it’s a legend” reads the slogan printed across the Repsol
Honda Team commemorative t-shirts for the 26th Toni Bou world title. The lat-
est trial victory, the seventh of the season, means that Toni Bou mathematically
seals the TrialGP World Champion title for the thirteenth time in a row.
The Repsol Honda Team rider was a cut above the rest from the get-go in a
trial full of long, steep sections and Bou was clearly feeling at ease as evidenced
by the mere nine marks accrued throughout. The trial or the title never looked
in question. The triumph is the 111th victory for Toni Bou in Trial World Champi-
onships as well as the thirteenth consecutive trial win since Andorra last season.
The Repsol Honda Team star has made a clean streak so far in the 2019 Trial
World Championship, with one event still to contest.
The Trial opened with five sections in a dry riverbed before moving to a peril-
ously steep, heavily-wooded hillside and then signing off at the arena-style sec-
tion used for yesterday’s Qualification.
Bou was a clear leader following the opening lap of 15 sections and the sub-
lime Spaniard kept the pressure on throughout lap two despite a strong chal-
lenge from his compatriot Jaime Busto (Vertigo) who’s finally found his form
after what’s been up to now a below-par season for him.
Bou’s opening lap of seven plus one time penalty gave him a comfortable
advantage of five from Busto who also picked up a single mark on time. He
then signed off in style with a second-lap total of just one mark lost to rewrite
his place in the history books. “I made some mistakes on the opening lap,” said
Bou, “but my second lap was almost perfect. This year has been a great year for
me.”
Busto resisted fierce pressure from Adam Raga (TRRS) – who recorded a sec-
ond-lap total of just eight – to hang onto second by two marks on a total of 23.
Jeroni Fajardo (Gas Gas) from Spain was five behind Raga with Japan’s Takahisa
Fujinami (Repsol Honda) recovering from his big Qualification crash to take fifth
on 36.
“Today was a day where I had to work hard to make any difference, especially
during the opening sections,” said Bou. “But that is what we did and we made