Toni Bou and Gabriel Marcelli secure Spain's 14th team title, with Great Britain and Italy joining them on the podium
The Spanish team made up of Toni Bou and his Repsol Honda Trial Team teammate Gabriel Marcelli claimed victory at the FIM X-Trial of Nations in Seville. Bou celebrated the event having just secured his 20th X-Trial World Championship title a week earlier in Chalon-sur-Saône, while Marcelli made his debut in the team competition with a win.
The Spanish duo dominated the event from the start, having won both the first and second rounds. In the Final, where the two riders from each team tackled the same section but in opposite directions, their opponents had no options to approach to them from the start. After the third section, Spain had accumulated just 2 penalty points compared to Great Britain’s 11 and Italy’s 18.
In the end, Bou and Marcelli finished with only 4 penalty points, while Harry Hemingway (Beta) and Jack Peace (Sherco) collected 26, and Matteo Grattarola (Beta) and Francesco Titli (TRRS) ended with 31. Second place on the podium was decided in the final section, which the British riders entered with a two-point advantage over the Italians, eventually securing the runner-up spot — their best result since Pau in 2017. Meanwhile, the Italian squad repeated the third-place finish they achieved last year in Nice.
The French team, made up of Benoit Bincaz (Electric Motion) and Hugo Dufrese (Beta), who finished second last year in Nice, failed to reach the final after placing fourth in both Round 1 and Round 2.
Meanwhile, in the United States team, Ryon Land (Sherco) withdrew at the last minute after injuring himself during training two days earlier and fracturing a finger on his right hand. As a result, Joshua Roper (GasGas) competed alone and the team was classified as DNF in the final results of the event.
SPAIN (1st):
Toni Bou: “Competing in the X-Trial of Nations is always different, and today was very special because I did it alongside Gabi, my teammate. We rode at a very high level, especially in the final, and the atmosphere in Seville was spectacular.”
Gabriel Marcelli: “My first experience in this event was fantastic. With Toni it’s easy. I’m very happy to have shared the team with him and to have taken the victory in front of the Spanish fans.”
GREAT BRITAIN (2nd):
Harry Hemingway: “I’m very happy because we competed really well. We finished second in every round. In the final I made a mistake, but it didn’t affect the result. Both Jack and I rode very well. Hopefully in a few years we’ll be able to put Spain under real pressure.”
Jack Peace: “It was a good night. The sections had a good level. We rode well with Italy pushing us right until the end. There were a few mistakes, but overall it was a good night.”
ITALY (3rd):
Matteo Grattarola: “We were very close to second place and I’m happy with the result even though we finished two points short. We made it into the final and maybe we could have done a little better, but that’s racing.”
Francesco Titli: “Today I didn’t ride as well as I could have, but we still managed to reach the final. We started well there, but then I made too many mistakes. Even so, getting back on the podium is important. We’ll try to improve next year.”
The individual X-Trial World Championship season will resume in Tarragona on April 18.
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