On his 200th World Trial Championships appearance, Toni Bou became the first rider in history to take 100 victories in the series.
The Michelin sponsored trials ace, who rides for Repsol Honda Team, broke the record at the challenging Gouveia Trial in Portugal, where competitors were faced with soaring temperatures, numerous steep climbs and some very complicated sections set in the granite of the Nuestra Señora Los Verdes Park.
On his way to breaking Dougie lampkin’s long standing record of 99 WTC wins, Bou practically sealed his Portuguese victory on the opening lap, as the only competitor to overcome the vertical step in section 10. He went into lap two with just a single penalty point, and by the end of the second lap, his nearest competitor was 12 points adrift.
Over the course of his 200 appearances in WTC, Bou has been on the podium 145 times, and is the only rider in history to have a 50% win ratio. His teammate, Takahisa Fujinami, still holds the record for the most point scored in the series, although he has made 326 appearances to date.
Bou, who riders on Michelin’s Trial X-Light Comp tyres, commented:
“I am very happy: I would never have imagined getting here. I didn’t know about the 200 GPs, I don’t usually get hung up on the numbers, but I am very excited to reach 100 victories, but even more to find out that I have won 50%, which I think is an incredible achievement. Today I felt very good about the injury, every day I am better, so I am very happy. We had to push hard today as the rivals are very strong. We will continue fighting hard in this complicated championship.”
You can find out more about Michelin’s Trials tyres here.
