Toni Bou Dominates Stavanger for Fourth Consecutive X-Trial Victory

Toni Bou took his fourth consecutive victory and the first ever at the new X-Trial’s World Championship venue Stavanger.

Top in Q1 and fastest in Superpole, Bou tore into his opposition in the opening three Sections of the Final and had his latest win secured with three rides to spare.

Bou scored just one mark in the opening three sections of a Final that turned quickly into a battle for the podium between Gabriel Marcelli, Jaime Busto and Alex Canales.

Canales was a surprise qualifier from Q2, where he dropped only three marks compared to four for Matteo Grattarola and two fiascos for Benoit Bincaz. But X-Trial debutant Canales failed all six Sections in a challenging Grand Final and had to be content with fourth.

But there was nothing to choose between Marcelli and Busto for second. A failure for Busto in Section Two where Marcelli needed just two marks left him with ground to recover. But Busto made that up in Section Three, when Marcelli failed, and as the only rider clean in Section Five. Marcelli held his nerve, though, with a clean in the run-off, while a dab for Jaime Busto was a costly end to his night. Bou now leads Busto 95 points to 64, with Marcelli third on 51.

Matteo Grattarola put in his best finish in his three appearances this season so far with fifth but will have been frustrated to let slip his place in the Final after totalling just one mark more than Gabriel Marcelli in Q1 and finishing just seven tenths of a second short of Alex Canales in Q2. Meanwhile with his worst result of the season so far, Benoit Bincaz drops from only three points back to fourteen in arrears of Marcelli and the medal rankings. Local riders Sondre Haga and debutant Mats Nilsen completed the eight-rider field.

“I am very happy to have added this event to my roll of honour and to be Stavanger’s first winner,” Bou said. “Truthfully I started the Final in very good form and was able to really cement an early lead. But the Sections were very slippery, more so than usual. The team has done a great job again so I must congratulate them.”

Second placed Gabriel Marcelli was happy to be back at the pointy end of the podium saying, “I am happy with this second place which is my best result of the season so far. Really I wasn’t quite at ease tonight but the second place is good news for the Championship.”

Third placed Jaime Busto added, “I am relatively satisfied because initially I wasn’t sure if I would make it to the Final. I gave it everything and I only missed out on second place in the run-off. So I have to be pleased.”

Round Six of the 2025 World Championship comes from Wiener Neustadt in Austria on 15th March.

Round Five Results.