The young French rider will join his compatriot Hugo Dufrese, Britain's George Hemingway and the Championship's Top 5 lineup
The X-Trial of Chalon-sur-Saône, set to take place next Friday, March 6, at Le Colisée starting at 8:00 PM (local time), will feature the participation of the thirteenth rider competing in the 2026 season, who will also be making his debut in the World Championship. The rider in question is the young French talent Pablo Echene (Sherco), just 16 years old.
Echene has been the European Trial Champion in the 125cc category and becomes the youngest rider ever to debut in the FIM X-Trial World Championship. The Frenchman will join the other rider who has made his debut this season, Britain’s George Hemingway (Beta), who opened his Championship campaign with a sixth-place finish in Leeds.
Alongside Echene and the younger of the Hemingway brothers will be Hugo Dufrese (Beta), the unfortunate rider from Bressuire who suffered a heavy crash in the first section of Q1 in Barcelona and was unable to continue competing during the Championship’s visit to the “cathedral,” the Palau Sant Jordi.
As stipulated by the regulations for the second half of the season, the three aforementioned riders will line up alongside the top five riders in the provisional World Championship standings, which have remained unchanged since the second round in Ponte di Legno: Toni Bou (Repsol Honda Trial Team), Gabriel Marcelli (Repsol Honda Trial Team), Jaime Busto (GasGas), Harry Hemingway (Beta), and Matteo Grattarola (Beta).
Enjoy the second round on French soil of the 2026 FIM X-Trial World Championship live from Le Colisée on FIM-MOTO.TV.
