Repsol Honda Trial Team riders ready for start of 2024 season
BarcelonaWorld Champion Toni Bou and teammate Gabriel Marcelli face their first event of the year this weekend.
The 2024 X-Trial World Championship kicks off on Sunday, February 4th at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona. For the fourth time in history, Barcelona opens the season for the indoor discipline, and both of the Repsol Honda Trial Team riders will be competing at home. This will be the 47th edition of the Barcelona round.
Toni Bou, the reigning and 17-time X-Trial World Champion, will seek to maintain his dominance this season. The Repsol Honda Trial Team rider holds 16 victories in the Barcelona Indoor round, winning every event since 2020, and he will try to extend his record this weekend.
Gabriel Marcelli has the utmost motivation for the first round of the X-Trial World Championship, after closing the 2023 season with two second positions in Madrid and Vendée – where he fought his teammate for victory. It was his best campaign to date, with two third positions overall in the Indoor and Outdoor World Championships, and his goals for 2024 will be to finish on the podium at the end of the season and achieve his first win in both disciplines.
The 2024 X-Trial World Championship calendar will take place across 7 events. After Barcelona, the riders will face each other again in Chalon-Sur-Saone (France), Nice (France), Geneva (Switzerland), Andorra la Vella (Andorra) and at the Trial des Nations (France). The November 16th round is pending confirmation.
“The start of the 2024 season with our home race is always very special for us, so I'm looking forward to it. We hope to continue in the same positive way as in recent years and fight for victory. Barcelona is always special for us and we arrive there very motivated. We have achieved many victories there since 2006, so we have a little less pressure on us, but it is true that it being the home event means you always want to do well and put on a good show for a home crowd that always supports us a lot."
“Starting the X-Trial World Championship in Barcelona is something that motivates me a lot. It also represents an extra bit of pressure, because the fans have come to see you and you want to show a little more, but normally it is a round that I am good at because the level of difficulty is high. The goal this weekend is to win, after fighting for the victory in the last two rounds of 2023 against Toni. I think that this year I have increased my maturity and I am ready to rise to the top.”
“We are looking forward to starting the 2024 season. Toni and Gabri have been training indoors to reach the highest level for the first round. Riding in Barcelona always brings with it a little more pressure because many sponsors come along and it is Montesa's 'home' round, but it also gives us extra motivation. Both riders are at 100% and they have been training a lot. The objective, as always, will be to finish in first and second place.”
