Bou and Marcelli return to Sant Jordi in top form
After last weekend’s one-two in Madrid, Bou and Marcelli return, some five months later, to Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi, a venue of cherished memories for the Repsol Honda Team riders. The last event in the Catalan capital ended with the pair clinching the top two steps of the podium, with Toni Bou sealing a thirtieth world title.
With barely time to celebrate after Chalon-sur-Saône and Madrid, Toni Bou and Gabriel Marcelli move on to compete in the third consecutive trial of the 2022 World Championship, although this time on home soil. The Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona is set to host the 45th edition of the longest-running competition in Indoor Trials – round four of the 2022 FIM X-Trial World Championship calendar – five months after witnessing Toni Bou’s 30th world title win. The event finds both Repsol Honda Team riders in cracking form, fresh off the back of the one-two win in the Madrid Arena.
Toni Bou is well on-track towards a new world title after three wins on the spin. Sporting a 23-point lead over his nearest rival, the champion goes into Sunday’s event in Barcelona without any significant pressure, a far cry from the last time he visited the magnificent Barcelona venue. Bou has triumphed 14 times at the Palau Sant Jordi and the Barcelona rider will be eager to extend the tally further this year. In his overall FIM X-Trial World Championship career, Bou holds another record: that of his 95 indoor participations with 75% of these indoor events having ended in victories.
Meanwhile, team-mate Gabriel Marcelli celebrated his twelfth X-Trial with a superb runner-up spot in Madrid. Now, the Galician rider returns to the venue where he achieved his best performance until 2021 with motivation levels running sky high. Marcelli lies sixth in the overall standings and aims to continue scaling positions throughout the rest of the year’s competitions.
As usual, the Barcelona Indoor Trial, which has been held uninterruptedly at the Palau Sant Jordi Olympic venue since 1991 (it had previously been held at the Palacio de Deportes), will get underway at 17:00 this coming Sunday, 10 April
Toni Bou 1
The Barcelona trial is always difficult, because of everything it represents, not only the high-level sections, the stage, the crowd… but also because of all the history behind it. It has a lot of merit to reach forty-five years of Indoor Trial and let’s hope that the fans respond one again this year. We arrive at Sant Jordi in great shape and without pressure, although as we see in every event, all the riders have a very high level. For our part, we will try to concentrate on having another good trial and give our maximum for the fans to enjoy.
Gabriel Marcelli 38
I’m very happy with the way the Madrid trial went and that gives me a lot of encouragement to continue and face Barcelona. I have got rid of all the pressure of being where I am, in the best team in the world and I think that in the Palau Sant Jordi and in the Madrid Arena I showed that I have the level to fight for everything and be among the frontrunners in any trial. Let’s see how it goes after the sprained ankle I picked up last Saturday in the second round, but I’m still very motivated to give it everything in Barcelona.
