The 48th UNIVERSAE Indoor Trial of Barcelona and the 5th Women’s Trophy Barcelona already know all the names of the participating pilots, eight in the fourth round of the men’s X-Trial World Championship and five in the event that will open the new FIM X- Women’s Trial Trophy Trial. Each test will see the debut of a driver at Palau Sant Jordi.
BUY YOUR TICKET
The poster for the event that will mark the halfway point of the 2025 X-Trial World Championship is led by current world champion and defender of the crown in Palau, Toni Bou. The holder of 36 world titles already has 17 victories at Sant Jordi and is the star of a streak of five consecutive victories in Barcelona that began in 2020.
Bou’s main rival, a priori, is the world runner-up, Jaime Busto. The Basque driver took victory in Madrid – the opening round of the World Championship – and is looking for his first victory in Palau, the scene where last year he achieved his best result in ten participations: second.
Toni Bou’s teammate, Gabriel Marcelli, started the new season as “third in contention”, a label the Galician wants to shed as soon as possible. Two second places in Barcelona support that desire, but consistency remains a pending issue for the O Rosal driver.
All eyes are also on Adam Raga, a multiple world champion who, at the age of 42, continues to climb the podiums of the World Cup – he just finished third in Madrid – and break records. Six times winner in Palau, the man from Ulldecona will end his successful sports career in the top competition at the 48th UNIVERSAE Indoor Trial in Barcelona. On February 2, Adam Raga will jump on the track of Sant Jordi for the 24th and last time. The one from Sherco took part in half of the editions of the almost fiftieth anniversary event. Next to nothing.
Check out this post on Instagram
The fifth Spanish driver at Sant Jordi was Aniol Gelabert (TRRS). The youngest of the family saga will repeat his presence at the UNIVERSAE Trial Indoor in Barcelona, where he debuted last year.
Spain, as the world’s leading power in trials, will be the majority in Palau, while international representation will arrive with three riders completing the lineup: Frenchman Benoît Bincaz, Italian Matteo Grattarola and British Harry Hemingway .
Bincaz is looking for his first podium in Barcelona (he finished the 2024 World Championship with a brilliant second place in Pamplona), the veteran Grattarola already knows the box of Sant Jordi (he is third in 2022) and the young 18-year-old driver Harry Hemingway will make his debut The Cathedral in his first season in the World X-Trial. Trial3 world champion when he was 16, the Leeds native is the current British trial champion.
Berta Abellán, to maintain her success in Palau
The pilot from Terrassa and current runner-up in the world trials, Berta Abellán, will be the strong favorite for victory in the 5th Women’s Trophy. Not only because of her status as the winner of the last edition – her first victory in Palau – but this time she will not face her great rival and multiple world champion Emma Bristow, who has retired from high competition.
However, the Spaniard from Scorpa should not be too confident, because the progress of drivers such as the Italian Andrea Sofia Rabino or the French Naomi Monnier – third and fourth in the 2024 World Championship respectively – is seen at every start of the season.
Check out this post on Instagram
The Women’s Trophy traditionally brings together the top five finishers from the TrialGPWomen World Championship from the previous season. This time, Emma Bristow’s farewell gave way to sixth Alice Minta. The British girl will be able to celebrate her recent signing for Italian brand Beta in Barcelona.
The quintet of drivers for the Women’s Trophy is completed by Czech Denisa Pechackova who lives in Spain. On a Catalan motorcycle (TRRS), the fifth classified in the World Championship will set foot on the Palau Sant Jordi track for the first time and compete while being seen live by thousands of people. A privilege enjoyed by all her rivals at the time and resulted in the International Motorcycle Federation launching the new FIM Women’s X-Trial Trophy. Barcelona and Stavanger (Norway) will be the two marking events of the first edition of this new championship.
Another compelling reason to go to Palau: Adam Raga, the legend of the trial and the Barcelona Indoor Trial, has said goodbye.
The UNIVERSAE Trial Indoor in Barcelona is the venue chosen by Adam Raga (Ulldecona, Tarragona, 1982) to end his sports career in top competition. One of the drivers who will make up the top-5 in the history of this sport wants his last race to take place in his “home”, in Palau Sant Jordi, in the Cathedral of the internal tests.
The same place where Adam was seen as a child and spectator and Adam Raga as a pilot and winner, a few years later, in the most famous and important indoor test event of the World Championship. “My first victory in Barcelona in 2002 was unforgettable. And I remember very well how the year before I was sitting in the stands watching the same competition and was very quiet”he said.
Check out this post on Instagram
No one has participated more than him (23 so far) in the UNIVERSAE Trial Indoor in Barcelona. Takahisa Fujinami retired with 19, Albert Cabestany with 18 and Doug Lampkin with 13. Toni Bou (currently 19) is the only one in a position to take this record from Ulldecona in the coming years.
25 years in the elite… and only 3 brands: GasGas, TRRS and Sherco. “At GasGas I experienced my greatest sporting success; We built the new TRRS as one of the sales and Sherco allowed me to continue competing at the highest level in the latter stages of my career.”.
Synonymous with good technique on a test motorcycle (“When in a competition the areas of strategy come before the areas of strength, I’m always the favorite”), Adam Raga is the third driver with the most wins (6) at La Catedral. Only Bou (17) and Jordi Tarrés (7) are better than him. 18 podiums in 23 participations at the UNIVERSAE Trial Indoor in Barcelona said it all.
Check out this post on Instagram
Adam Raga will say goodbye to Palau Sant Jordi fans (“by far the most knowledgeable and expert test audience in the world“) with six world titles on his record – two outdoors and four internal-, in addition to a Junior World Cup and a European Championship. He will leave the competitive front line, but he will not separate himself from the sport of his life: “I will continue to compete, although in lower level events, and above all I will devote myself fully to training the young pilots at my school, where the first champions came from.”.
Adam Raga is thoroughly preparing for his final participation in the UNIVERSAE Trial Indoor in Barcelona. On February 2 he wants to do it properly. If he repeats the podium in Madrid on December 21, it will be the last but, whatever happens, his exit from the “big door” of the test is certain.
GET YOUR TICKET NOW
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.
