On February 2, the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona will host the 48th edition of the Barcelona Indoor Trial and the fifth of the Women’s Trophy. Both competitions count towards the Men’s X-Trial World Championship and the Women’s X-Trial Trophy of the International Motorcycle Federation respectively.
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Rarely has a city been as central and important to the appearance, development and historical future of a sporting modality as Barcelona in the case of indoor trials. And it is very possible that the managers of SOLO MOTO magazine did not even know that in January 1978, while they were organizing a sporting event that had never been seen before, they were creating a new sporting discipline.
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The crowds “to the brim” at the old Barcelona Municipal Sports Palace are legendary. In the first edition of the Solo Moto Indoor Trial, showing a copy of the magazine was enough to get into the venue, leaving hundreds of people on the street when the facility was at capacity. Such hope is not important: for the first time fans can admire live and comfortably seated the skills of the best test riders in the world, the same ones who starred in the outdoor world championship.
From local events… to world championships
The new “internal test” was an absolute “boom” and SOLO MOTO did not hesitate to expand it and reproduce it throughout Spain. Today no one doubts that the proliferation of indoor test events starting in the 90s is key to explaining the historic and undisputed dominance of Spanish pilots in the specialty.
Indoor trials did not take long to cross borders and due to its increase, success and popularity, the International Motorcycle Federation decided to establish, in the 1993 season, the new FIM Indoor Trial World Championship.
The new sport born in 1978 by Barcelona already has world championship status. And the names of Toni Bou, Adam Raga, Albert Cabestany and Marc Colomer, a place forever in history in the record of the Indoor Trial World Championship, currently also called X-Trial.
History repeats itself, now it’s female
Almost half a century later, Barcelona is once again key to the future of indoor trials. The same organizers of the first event in 1978 – now the promoter of RPM SPORTS – launched the Barcelona Women’s Trophy in 2021.
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Again, something never seen before. The first women’s indoor trial competition in history. And if during this time the International Motorcycle Federation took 15 years to make the Men’s Indoor Trial World Cup official, only four were needed for the rector of world motorcycling to give the green light in 2025 to the new FIM X-Trial Trophy Female.
The first scoring event of the first edition of the first FIM Trophy will take place in… Barcelona. At the 5th Women’s Trophy in Palau Sant Jordi. Of justice.
UNIVERSAE Trial Indoor de Barcelona and Women’s Trophy 2025: the driver lists, almost complete
Italian Matteo Grattarola is the sixth confirmed driver of the eight who will take part in Barcelona’s 48th UNIVERSAE Indoor Trial on February 2 at the Palau Sant Jordi.
The veteran Beta driver is joined by Toni Bou (ESP, Montesa), Jaime Busto (ESP, GasGas), Gabriel Marcelli (ESP, Montesa), Adam Raga (ESP, Sherco) and Benoît Bincaz (FRA, Sherco).
The two remaining places, one of them for an international pilot as required by the regulations of the International Motorcycle Federation, will be determined in the near future.
A debutant in the Women’s Trophy
The young Czech pilot living in Spain, Denisa Pechackova, will be the new face of the fifth visit of the women’s competition to Palau Sant Jordi.
The lineup is completed, for now, by Berta Abellán (ESP, Scorpa), Andrea Sofia Rabino (ITA, Beta) and Naomi Monnier (FRA, Montesa). The vacancy left by Emma Bristow, the multiple world champion and triple winner in Barcelona who has now retired from high competition, remains to be filled.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
