Huge, imposing granite boulders comprised the majority of the sections laid out over a compact course near the small town of Gouveia in the North of the country.
In his two-hundredth TrialGP start the Spanish superstar outclassed the opposition, kicking off with a first-lap total of just one that gave him an eight-mark lead over compatriot
Jeroni Fajardo at the halfway stage with fellow Gas Gas rider
Jaime Busto from Spain, who was third after the opening lap, a massive seventeen in arrears.
Even a maximum on the penultimate section of the Trial could not prevent him from taking a clear win and in doing so finally surpass the great Dougie Lampkin‰Ûªs record with a landmark hundredth TrialGP victory.
Fajardo‰Ûªs decision to move to Gas Gas at the end of 2017 continues to pay dividends and his lap-two total of twelve saw him end the day as a comfortable runner-up, ten marks clear of his third-placed team-mate Busto.
Veteran Beta rider
Albert Cabestany also looks refreshed following a change of teams for 2018 and his total of thirty-nine was easily good enough for fourth, twenty-three marks clear of fellow Spaniard
Adam Raga. The two-time World Champion, who has been runner-up behind Bou every year since 2007, continues to struggle to find his form and after the opening lap was a distant eighth before pulling back vital positions on lap two.
Beta mounted Brit
James Dabill was sixth on sixty-five, two ahead of Spain‰Ûªs
Oriol Noguera , with Japan‰Ûªs
Takahisa Fujinami a long way off the pace in eighth. The Spanish pairing of
Jorge Casales and
Miquel Gelabert rounded out the top ten.
At the halfway point of the championship Bou now has a ten-point lead over Fajardo with Busto a further four behind in third.
