World championship leader Toni Bou finishes a tough Andorra TrialGP in third
Repsol Honda Trial Team rider Toni Bou finished the fifth round of the TrialGP World Championship in Andorra on the third step of the podium, yet retains the overall championship lead. Takahisa Fujinami replicated yesterday’s result finishing eighth.
The second trial of the Andorra TrialGP turned out to be an arduous task for the Repsol Honda Team riders. Andorra, while always a gruelling event for riders, also usually makes huge demands on the bike due to the high altitude of the sections and the high temperatures. Today proved a struggle for all the competitors over the two twelve-section laps of the Sant Julià de Lòria course.
It was Toni Bou’s turn to struggle in Andorra. Right off the bat, in section two, he picked up a puncture, before committing several errors which would eventually cost him the lead and rob him of a potential tenth win in Andorra. The Repsol Honda Team rider had to settle for third place in the end, but Bou keeps hold of the overall championship lead with an eight-point advantage over pursuer Adam Raga, winner of today’s trial.
Takahisa Fujinami was unable to improve on the feelings and performance of yesterday and concluded the trial in eighth place. The result drops the Japanese rider down a position in the overall standings to fifth.
Repsol Honda Team will get little rest this week with the forthcoming sixth trial of the 2021 TrialGP World Championship to be held next weekend in Cahors, France.
Toni Bou 1
TRIAL: 3RD OVERALL: 1ST
This weekend was really complicated. Finishing first and third is a great result, considering that we struggled so much. Despite all the problems, the team has worked hard and I am very grateful for that. Now we just have to work to recover the good feelings on the bike and be in the fight for the win in France next week.
Takahisa Fujinami 7
TRIAL: 8TH OVERALL: 5TH
Today was a complicated day, I finished eighth like yesterday. In some sections I felt comfortable, but the other riders were very strong, everything was tight. It’s a pity to finish with two eighth places and not be able to improve today, but now we have France on our minds and we’ll have to change the chip to be able to give it our best, always with the Fujigas style!
Miquel Cirera
Team Manager
Today we suffered a lot. We set-up the bike in such a way, but it didn’t really work out mechanically. It’s always important to be on the podium, so we thank Toni for the effort he made today to finish third. Fujinami stayed in the same group where things are very tight, and you could easily go from fourth to eighth; it was very tricky. This weekend the whole team has worked really hard and we have to congratulate the mechanics. Now, we have our minds set on France, where we will continue to do our best to get decent results.
