photo: x-trail
The 2019 FIM X-Trial World Championship, the second season in the discipline’s new era, has been another campaign of fantastic figures.
A deep talent pool. The 2019 season saw a total of sixteen different participants, representing six different nationalities and no less than seven manufacturers. Of those, four were making their X-Trial debut and seven made it into the Final Four in at least one event. A quintet of different riders made it onto an X-Trial podium and the trio who went on to claim 2019’s World Championship medals were each representing different manufacturers. Proof of the wide variety of riders chosen to woo the crowds this year.
The Toni Bou show. Toni Bou claimed a new record thirteenth World Championship title, in the process moving on to a mammoth 62 career wins – over 70% of his X-Trial participations have now resulted in victory. The Catalan star sits third in the sport’s all-time point scorers, moving above Dougie Lampkin during this campaign. And he finished the 2019 season with a flourish, winning X-Trial Andorra la Vella, Andorra (Pyrenees) in front of his home crowd and recording his first clean lap since 2017.
X-Trial Legends. But Bou was not the only rider breaking records this season. At X-Trial Andorra la Vella, Adam Raga extended his career podium record to a mammoth 110, 31 of them now claimed in an unbroken run stretching back to 2014. He still has some way to go to break the outright record there, Toni Bou’s string of 62 consecutive podium finishes only ended by injury last season. Raga does sit ahead of Bou, though, for all-time appearances: he moved third in the rankings in 2019 with a massive 130th X-Trial start. And his victory at X-Trial Barcelona (Spain) is also the smallest winning margin since X-Trial Marseille 2017 (France). Takahisa Fujinami still holds the sport’s outright appearance record, and with his nomination for X-Trials in Budapest, Barcelona and Andorra La Vella this season the Japanese veteran moves on to 139 with 21 years of competition under his belt.
Meanwhile Jeroni Fajardo’s career has come full circle; his bronze medal in 2019 is the third in his fourteen seasons in the sport and his second representing Gas Gas, for whom he made his debut in 2005. Series rookies Sondre Haga and Téo Colairo also racked up new records: Haga becoming the first ever Norwegian rider to compete, and Frenchman Colairo completing a unique century of different riders to have started an X-Trial event.
X-Trial of Nations. In the X-Trial of Nations Spain recorded their thirteenth victory and Toni Bou became the most successful active rider in the competition, although he still trails retired Albert Cabestany for appearances and medals. After France’s impressive performance in 2018, this time Spain celebrated their biggest winning margin since the competition’s 2012 re-launch.
An Eye on the Future. As we reflect on a season of success for our 2019 riders, keep an eye out on records that may fall next season: for all-time appearances, career points and of course for world titles.
