Vendée rounds off 2023 X-Trial World Championship

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Toni Bou arrives at the last event with the title won in Madrid last time out. Gabriel Marcelli hopes to compete for the runner-up spot.

This weekend, Vendée in France will host the last event of the 2023 X-Trial World Championship season. The Repsol Honda Trial Team riders will have one final contest this term, and Toni Bou -already confirmed as 34-time champion- will ride alongside teammate Gabriel Marcelli.

After clinching his 34th title last week in Madrid, Toni Bou has high motivation for this weekend. The Repsol Honda Trial Team rider’s goal is to achieve a sixth win of the season in the indoor series, which would be his 78th overall in X-Trial.

Marcelli was very close to achieving victory in Madrid. The Montesa Cota 4RT rider has closed the gap to second-placed Jaime Busto in the overall standings, so he will seek to fight for the runner-up position in the indoor discipline. He has achieved 4 podiums this season, two of them coming in the past two rounds, and will look for his first victory.

The action will begin at 8:00 pm local time in the Vendéspace.

Toni Bou

Championship: 1st

"Having the title sewn up gives us a lot of peace of mind. It's going to be a very different weekend and we'll try to enjoy it 100%, although that doesn't mean we won't give it our all. It's sure to be a tight race. Gabri made things very difficult last weekend and he is going to do so again, because he is fighting for second position in the championship. It will be interesting and fun to fight against my rivals again.”

Gabriel Marcelli

Championship: 3rd

“I face the race in France with the desire to achieve the victory that eluded us in Madrid. The season is going very well, but I would like to end it on a high with a victory. Without a doubt, that is the objective for this weekend. Regarding the standings, the main objective is to maintain third place although, given what we have seen, we will try to attack to take second place. In Madrid I showed that I have the talent to win, so I think that in France there is a chance to get second place overall.”

Takahisa Fujinami

Team Manager

“It's going to be an interesting weekend. Although Toni has won the title, he will not want to slow down, so he is sure to fight for victory, as he always does. As for Gabri, he arrives in France with a good feeling and very motivated. He will be fighting for the runner-up spot in Vendée and his goal will be to close the year with his first victory in the X-Trial World Championship. I would love for everything to be like in Madrid, with us first and second, so we are going to try to do that again.”