The World Champion can secure his 20th consecutive title in the eighth round of the season
The X-Trial of Chalon-sur-Saône, set to take place next Friday, March 6, at Le Colisée starting at 8:00 p.m. (local time), could be the event where the already 19-time World Champion Toni Bou (Repsol Honda Trial Team) completes two decades of indoor world titles.
Bou arrives at this event, the third-to-last round of the 2026 season, holding a 42-point lead over his teammate Gabriel Marcelli and a 46-point advantage over Jaime Busto, who currently sits third in the provisional Championship Standings after seven rounds. Considering that 40 points will remain at stake after Chalon-sur-Saône (Lisbon and Tarragona), the math clearly suits Bou without the need for complex outcome combinations.
It is worth noting that he has taken six wins out of seven possible so far, and in the only event he did not win—Saint-Denis on France’s Réunion Island—he finished second behind Jaime Busto. Nevertheless, the battle for second place in the World Championship between Marcelli and Busto, with Marcelli holding a four-point advantage, could further intensify the fight for victory and potentially take points away from Bou.
Meanwhile, Harry Hemingway (Beta) will aim for his sixth final appearance and his second podium finish, adding to the one he achieved in Leeds. He will once again compete alongside his brother George Hemingway (Beta), who made his debut in Leeds with a sixth-place finish. Harry’s objective of reaching both the final and the podium is shared by Matteo Grattarola (Beta), who reached the final on the second day in Ponte di Legno and finished third.
This time, there will be double local representation with French riders Pablo Echene (Sherco) and Hugo Dufrese (Beta). Echene will go down in history as the youngest debutant ever in the X-Trial World Championship at just 16 years old. Dufrese arrives at his home event aiming to put behind him the X-Trial of Barcelona, where a heavy crash in the first section prevented him from continuing.
The tickets for this X-Trial are completely sold out but you can experience live how a new chapter in X-Trial World history is written on FIM-MOTO.TV.
