achieved a very important victory this afternoon at the Italian Trial Grand Prix, beating his biggest rival, Adam Raga, that until the last section he gave up this second position in favor of Takahisa Fujinami, but an unexpected mistake by the Japanese rider has allowed Toni Bou’s great feat not to translate into a more comfortable world lead.
The Italian Trial Grand Prix is one of the most important on the calendar, both because of the large influx of spectators, and because of the great expectation that surrounds the brands. In this edition we have attended the official presentation of two brands, Sherco and Montesa, as well as seeing first-hand the recently presented Gas Gas 2014 range with its TXT series and TXT Racing models.
Precisely for Montesa it has been a great weekend. On Saturday, the presentation of the new Montesa Cota 4RT 260 2014 took place after a long period of silence in the market and an uncertain future. The new bet reflects that Montesa is still very much alive and maintains its line in four-stroke engines. In the next few days you will be able to see an in-depth test at Trialworld.
In the field of sports , the NonStop continues to be the main protagonist. The pilots continue with their adaptation to the new regulations, controls and way of driving. Following the trend of the previous race, in Pobladura de las Regueras, we see how this has once again been a card trial with very high scores. Perhaps on this occasion, it was the result of four very difficult sections of the route that contrasted with eight areas that were a priori quite easy for the riders.
In the absolute category, Toni Bou stood out over his rivals from the first lap, closing his partial with only 8 points. Behind him, Adam Raga with 18 points and Fujinami with 22. Behind them, a group of three riders led by Fajardo and which also included Cabestany, Dabill and Grattarolla.
Adam Raga 
In spite of everything, the advantage accumulated by Bou on the first lap was enough to face the end of the race with guarantees. The The excitement was to see how the beautiful fight between Raga and Fujinami on the last lap would be resolved. The registers between the two were almost identical, except for a “several” by Raga in the fourth zone that gave a provisional advantage to Fujinami and thanks to which the Japanese arrived in second position to the last section. Finally, a mistake in the last step of the zone reversed this advantage and gave the second step of the podium to Raga.
Meritorious fourth position for Fajardo, who suffered a heavy fall in zone 9 and had to complete the rest of the race with his ankle and arm very depleted. Behind him, in fifth position, finished Albert Cabestany.
In Junior we witnessed the first victory of the local rider Giacomo Saleri with a point advantage over the leader of the category, Jorge Casales, who dragged physical problems throughout the weekend due to gastroenteritis. For the Gas Gas rider itis an important result, as it consolidates him at the top of the standings by making his main rivals, Sheppard and Tarrés, fourth and fifth, respectively.
In the 125th category, victory went to the French rider Caudemberg, followed by Giarba and Chatagno. Nacho Fernandez, the best Spanish representative, did not have his best day and could only be eleventh.
The ninth round of the Trial World Championship will be held next Sunday, July 14, in Kramolin (Czech Republic).
Toni Bou: “It has been a great weekend, yesterday with the presentation of the new Cota 4RT and today with this new victory, the third in a row, and with my teammate on the podium. I arrived in Italy with a two-point advantage as the leader of the World Championship and I leave with five. It was a complicated race, one of those that I like, and with three very difficult sections that have definitely affected the result. I wish the tests ahead of us had the level of demand of this one, but I take it for granted that there will be an easier one that will make us suffer. As far as the new Cota 4RT is concerned, I am convinced that it will be enjoyed by those who own it.”
Takahisa Fujinami: “To be back on the podium after three rounds off it is satisfying. The pity is that in the end and because of an absurd mistake I lost a second position that we had been working for all day. In this sense, I am disappointed because I cannot afford these types of mistakes. Even so, I saved an important podium to complete a magnificent weekend for Montesa, with Toni’s victory and the presentation of the new
eva Cota 4RT”.
Adam Raga: “I’m happy. The trial was not easy at all and the sections were of a single line: to pass or not to pass, from zero or five. We had to be very careful and I think the final result is very good. I’m still feeling very good in terms of form and technique.
With five races to go in the World Cup season, a lot can still happen.”
Jorge Casales: “A very tough race. The weekend was complicated, as I have been vomiting and I was very weak physically. The first lap wasn’t good, but in the second lap we did make up ground to take the lead. It was in the third, in zone nine, where after putting on a silly foot I lost this lead. The important thing is that with this result, seeing what my rivals have done, I can score some points and consolidate the lead.”
Jeroni Fajardo: “The race was very clear from yesterday. There were four practically impossible areas, but with luck they could get out, as happened to Toni, who managed to get through some of them. In general I see a rather poorly laid out race, with very difficult sections and 8 very easy sections where you couldn’t fail. There is still work to be done on the NonStop and understood by everyone, since today there were even areas where it was required to have two backpackers due to the high level of difficulty and even being dangerous”.
