Toni Bou was crowned X-Trial World Champion for the tenth year in a row, confirming an unmatched decade in which he has won a place among the most successful sportsmen in history.
It is usually said that the most difficult is not getting to the top, but staying there. With his tenth consecutive X-Trial World title achieved last Friday, Toni Bou sealed a historical decade in which he has shone every year, taking his name to the level of a legend, to certify nineteenth consecutive World Championships – both indoor and outdoor –.
10 years being the best in the world. How do you achieve something like that?
“It’s something incredible that I can’t even explain. I’m living a dream and I’m very happy. I had never thought I could get here. How do you do that? I don’t know, step by step. If I had pushed myself to get 19 consecutive titles, I would never have achieved it. This season we had only four races and in the first one I finished second and suffered a lot. From then, we tried to defend the title. These last three months have felt very long, but once again we did a great job together with the Repsol Honda Team.”
How has the trial changed in these 10 years?
“The evolution of the bikes and our level is higher every year. We have more complicated rounds and every year we make it more difficult for the organizers, because our level improves. In Marseille we all finished with very few points and that’s one of the factors that show that the riders have been progressing and improving.”
And how has Toni Bou changed?
“I hope I didn’t change too much as a person, although I’m 10 years older. I have matured a lot as a rider and I had to learn how to deal with pressure. In the days like Friday you suffer a lot and it’s difficult, because you can’t make mistakes. In a race with only 5 zones, a mistake in any of them can cost you a lot.”
In what do you think you have contributed to the trial world?
“I always used many things from the trial bicycle, and, for example, I use the body a lot to push the bike. My riding is very physical and I think that made many of the young riders that are arriving now come from the bicycle world and also have a more physical style. They have a very high level and they are very precise riders.”
Where would you like to see the trial going in the next few years?
“This sport should keep focusing on the Indoor Trial, to offer a show, an event for people to have fun and where any person, even if they are not motorcycle fans, can have a good time. And to offer a good show, there must be a high level, take another step forward, and that’s what I think can attract people.”
“I didn’t win the first race of the Indoor season, so being behind and having to recover is also a very good experience”
After 19 titles, you’re the favourite for the outdoor World Championship. Do you feel a lot of pressure to get the 20th?
“We still need to go step by step. Having achieved the Indoor World Championship title gives me momentum. We don’t have much time to rest, because in two weeks we have the first outdoor round, but we’ll breathe a bit to recover, because they were three very hard months. Being only four races, which got more complicated due to the result of the first, I want to relax and start preparing well, because the rules are very different and it’s usually more difficult for me.”
This year you’ll turn 30. Does it bother you to reach that age?
“Obviously, yes, a bit. Nobody likes to grow old, but it’s nice to grow up and specially if you have happy moments, which is the best way to deal with that.”
Until when do you see yourself competing?
“I don’t know. I know that I like my everyday work, because I have fun and that is what makes me wake up in the morning every day to go training and improving. I will not stop until I run out of energy. But seeing Fujinami, who at 36 is still competing, or Albert [Cabestany] and Adam [Raga], at 25 and 24, are also competing, and at a very high level, is something that doesn’t make me think about stopping.”
Your life is the trial since you were very young. What did you have to sacrifice for it? What do you miss?
“Naturally, as with all athletes, when you’re young you need to sacrifice a lot of things, but you do it because it’s worth it for you. In my case, the compensation has been all the success I achieved and how I enjoy riding the bike and my everyday routine. You lose a lot of time with your friends and family with all the trips and the competition, but that is compensated with other things.”
Which memory would you choose from these 10 years?
“The most special moment is clearly the first one, in Menorca in 2007, because it was the first World Championship. It was a very complicated championship and the fact of winning it for the first time sets all the difference. I also choose this last one, because I suffered a lot and we had to fight a lot. It was the first time I didn’t win the first race of the Indoor season, so being behind and having to recover is also a very good experience.”
What is your limit?
“I don’t know. Honestly, I had never imagined I would get here, so I’m very happy to have achieved it. The main objective is to keep enjoying it and achieve as much as I can as long as I can do it.”
A lot of trial riders have changed to enduro or even to the Dakar. Do you think about trying some other discipline?
“Not for now. Of course, I like a lot everything related to motorsports and, if I do something, I’d like to be competitive, but for now, what I like is the Trial and all the work that it means. Right now it’s difficult for me to think about something else.”
