Toni Bou gives the recipe for his success: “Knowing that you gave a thousand percent, whatever the result”

Since 2007 Tony Bou He is chasing his dream. At the beginning of his career it was about winning the first test title and 17 years later it was about remaining unbeaten in every universal competition he played. Not only does he get tired of winning, but he keeps learning, improving like fine wine and trying to respect his injuries. And it has no expiration date. On December 21, his renewal with the Repsol Honda Trial Team was announced until 2027, guaranteeing that he will continue to be active until he is over 40 years old. This Sunday the defense of the X-Trial crown, claimed 17 times in a row, begins at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona.

“Every year is more complicated for me, the young drivers push hard, but the home race, the one in Barcelona at Sant Jordi is a very special night where anything can happen and has an added bonus of the start of the World Championship here. There was a lot of pressure, but we accepted it with great enthusiasm,” explained Toni Bou during the presentation of the Barcelona Indoor Trial at the Olympic Museum.

“Starting at home is very good, you have to enjoy and live well in the nights of Sant Jordi’s departure here you know you gave 1000×100, which you have never done, whatever the result is. The meaning of starting here is to do it with pressure, but it’s about trying not to make mistakes and stay on top,” he said.

For the second year in a row, the Barcelona Indoor Trial opens the X-Trial World Championship campaign, and although up to date with a thousand matches, Toni has not forgotten the 2021 edition in which Barcelona closed the championship and for the first time closed title at home before 6,100 spectators.

“Fortunately, we had a chance to win a world championship here at the end and it’s something amazing, but I also tell you that the pressure I went through here… buff. So if they give I have a choice, I prefer to start here,” highlights Toni.

“Obviously at 37, your physique is not what it was when you were 25 (Busto is 26 and Marcelli is 24 this Sunday, his current great rivals) and the achievement of all that has been achieved my career gives me peace of mind and I have to live every moment in a special way. But I have the desire, I try to be super competitive and I am motivated and we will continue fighting,” he warns his rivals. And as long as competitive there will be Toni Bou for a while.

And there is still room for improvement: “In some areas you can improve, in others you obviously get worse with age. When you train as hard as before, the next day is obviously not the same and the injuries weigh, the years weigh. , but I’m pretty good and after a few years with many injuries we have found a way to, let’s touch the wood, not break myself. The important thing is to enjoy. “

Jaume Busto, who was his teammate at Repsol Honda and then began a journey to mature in the second stage at GasGas, was the one that put the most pressure on him in 2023, especially on the outside, a dynamic that should be repeated in 2024 with the permission of Marcelli and Raga. “Yes, I think the dynamics will be like this, we will try to be consistent, take advantage of our experience and continue to improve as we work on the bike, we can still take a step forward. I think more and more the riders. enter the fight and that is positive for this sport and I have to take it as a motivation,” he said.