The Italian Trial Grand Prix, the sixth race of the Trial World Championship , was held last weekend in the Italian town of Sestriere, in the heart of the Alps, at an altitude of more than 2,000 metres above sea level.
The excitement prior to this GP was maximum, as the result would be decisive as there was only the French GP, at the beginning of September, to close the 2023 outdoor season. As usual, this event was held in a double scoring race and the key was to know if Jaime Busto would be able to close the gap in the general classification over Toni Bou, or it was confirmed that the world champion was leaving the title to be comfortably decided in France.
Finally, the second casuistry occurred. Toni Bou took a solid double win in Sestriere, scoring forty very important points, also rewarded by the discreet weekend of Jaime Busto, who only got on the podium on Saturday and dropped 10 more points in the overall standings, increasing his gap in the general standings with Toni Bou to 29 points when there are only 40 points left to play.
ALTITUDE AND DEMAND
In this town in the Italian Alps we find a terrain with great similarities with the highest area of Andorra, dominated by large blocks of stone, good traction and very small spaces to manoeuvre.
At this point, the physical demand for the riders and technique for the bikes is very high, as there is a lack of power and also oxygen. Two decisive elements when we talk about areas located on great slopes and very explosive starts; Dust and heat further increased the harshness of these conditions.
The first day of the race began with Toni Bou who scored in the first lap, where he only scored 4 points and his closest rival, Grattarola, accumulated 18 points, followed by Raga with 19 points. In the second and final pass through the zones, Toni Bou increased the points on his card after a triple fiasco in the final zones, but the initial advantage was enough to achieve a comfortable victory. On the podium, the Italian Grattarola and Busto, who saved the furniture after a great second lap. Fourth Raga, followed by Marcelli, Aniol and Miquel Gelabert.
SECOND DAY, BOU REPEATS
On the second day of the race, Toni Bou improved his Saturday times even more, adding an undisputed victory, this time ahead of his teammate, Gabriel Marcelli. The podium was completed by Adam Raga, who returned from his knee injury in good form. Very remarkable was the fourth position of Miquel Gelabert, who after his absence from the championship and his immersion in hard enduro, has returned to the world championship as a private rider with the support of Vertigo.
Grattarola, on the other hand, fell to fifth position and stopped his fight for the assault to third position in the general classification. Sixth, Jaime Busto, who got off the podium for the first time this yearand signed his worst result, losing the rope of the fight for the title.
TRIAL 2
The Trial2 category was, as usual, very close. On Saturday, victory for Sondre Haga, followed by Jack Peace and privateer Hugo Dufrese. On Sunday, only Jack Peace repeated the podium position, who was third, with the victory going to Billy Green, followed by Pablo Suárez.
With these results, the world championship is wide open in this category. The leader is Green and he is only 6 points behind Peace. Pablo Suárez is third and still has a chance of challenging the British for the title, for which he will need to cut 16 points, a wide but not insurmountable distance.
TRIAL 3
In Trial3 we continue to witness the dominance of George Hemingway, who won on Saturday and is leading the general classification with a relatively comfortable distance. He was joined on the podium by Jone Sandvick and Pawel Ryncarz. In Sunday’s race, the victory went to Jamie Galloway and the podium was completed by Romeo Piquet and George Hemingway himself.
The excitement of the category is to see if Sandvick can cut the 12 points that separate him from Hemingway in France, something very complicated if we take into account the great consistency of the Briton. Also in the fight for third place between Galloway and Lampkin, with eleven points in favour of the former.
WOMEN
In TrialGP Women We attended a double victory for Emma Bristow, which has six consecutive wins and a 10-point gap in the overall standings over Berta Abellán, who does not drop from second place and his hopes of winning the title depend on winning both days in France and that his rival gets off at least one of the two days of the podium, something really complicated.
Third place on both days went to Andrea Rabino, who maintains her consistency and takes distance from Naomi Monnier.
In Trial2 Women , the victories were shared by Alycia Soyer, who remains the leader of the championship, and Alessia Bacchetta. The podium was completed by Laia Pi , on Saturday, and Seline Meling in Sunday’s race.
The next race of the Trial World Championship will be held in Vertolaye (France) on September 2 and 3, where all categories are called to crown the new 2023 champions.
CLASSIFICATION TRIAL-GP ITALY
TRIAL GP italy · D1 · 2023
- TONI BOU (MONTESA)
- MATTEO GRATTAROLA (BETA)
- JAIME BUSTO (GASGAS)
- ADAM RAGA (TRRS)
- GABRIEL MARCELLI (MONTESA)
- ANIOL GELABERT (BETA)
- MIQUEL GELABERT (VERTIGO)
- BENOIT BINCAZ (SHERCO)
- JORGE CASALES (SCORPA)
- TOBY MARTYN (HONDA)
- JERONI FAJARDO (SHERCO)
TRIAL GP italy · D2 · 2023
- TONI BOU (MONTESA)
- GABRIEL MARCELLI (MONTESA)
- ADAM RAGA (TRRS)
- MIQUEL GELABERT (VERTIGO)
- MATTEO GRATTAROLA (BETA)
- JAIME BUSTO (GASGAS)
- ANIOL GELABERT (BETA)
- JORGE CASALES (SCORPA)
- BENOIT BINCAZ (SHERCO)
- TOBY MARTYN (HONDA)
- JERONI FAJARDO (SHERCO)
