Toni Bou, 32-year-old world champion: “I am most attracted to controlling the machine”

Antoni Bou Mena (Piera, Barcelona, ​​​​​​​​1986) has just arrived from Bordeaux, where he consolidated his lead in the World Indoor Trials Championship after coming back under pressure from Adam Raga, Jaime Busta and Gabriel Marcelli. With some rest and preparation, this weekend in Arteix he will face the first test of the open world championship, organized by the Arteixo Motomontañismo Club. There are sixteen consecutive titles of each modality. However, he keeps it fresh when he talks about his sport and profession.

-How are you?

— Well, I’m looking forward to the Arteixo test and competing again in Galicia.

– That is something unusual.

— It will be, but the truth is that we had good races in Galicia. My first victory at the outdoor world championships was precisely in Galicia. In Nigrán, 2006, so I have very good memories of the community.

— After 32 world championships. Why are you still competing?

— Because I do what I love the most and I really enjoy it, especially if everything goes well. Injuries are sometimes the biggest problem, because at my age you don’t wake up the next day like you did when you were 20. But as long as the results follow…

“If he loses, does he leave?”

-No no. I don’t want to say that. But victories help us cope with everything. I will continue as long as I am having fun and that does not mean excessive strain (because the effort is already there, due to the very nature of top sport) to continue.

Is it an economic issue?

– Not at all. No way. In that sense, I could retire, because I didn’t do badly. To win the World Cup sixteen years in a row is an incredible thing. But psychologically, there is nothing that can give me what a trial competition gives me. To fight a race like Bordeaux and win is incredible.

— Yes, of course, because even if it is unequal, you always win.

“Ha ha… not always, huh?” I haven’t won some tests lately. The cost of the championship. A new generation has arrived and is pushing hard. And there is Adam Raga, who at 41 years old is an example of a worker. This is all exciting.

—When did you stop thinking about what it means to be an athlete with the most titles in history?

— Obviously, at a statistical point I stop and think about it. You look back and it’s very motivating. This is why you want to beat historical numbers. But as a child I never dreamed of winning the World Cup. I wanted to dedicate myself to this. If not this motor sport, then some others, but this was my favorite. When I retire I will understand the meaning of everything I have won.

“But what is it that attracts you?” Racing, engine, motorcycle control…?

– Well, a little bit of everything. To compete, of course. I’m super competitive, even though there’s no engine in between. If you didn’t have that kind of character, it wouldn’t have been possible to win the World Cup so many years in a row. But what attracts me the most is mastering the machine. This is something I felt already when I started, with the trial bike. And the engine gives him another point. It is a discipline where the technical requirement to control the machine is higher and I like that.

— He kept the Galician coach at a high level of the minority sport so that the public does not get attached to the sport, but to the idol. Is Tony Bowe’s character that important to the trial?

— There is no doubt that, even though I am single, my contribution to sports can be great. Let’s look at Valentino Rossi and Moto GP. Of course, fast motorcycling already existed, but the effect it caused took it to a higher level. History shows that an idol or someone who marked an era creates an impetus in the activity you practice.

“Galicia is a testing place, it’s a pleasure to compete there”

From time to time, Galicia hits the sports table at the planetary level, to show its potential in both collective and individual disciplines. What better moment than the first meeting at the world championship.

— I don’t have the impression that Galicia is in negotiations about a trial at the international level.

— Well… it affects where you were born to orientate yourself in the sport, unless you assume that you have to emigrate for that… Time and infrastructure can condition, but there are a lot of fans and it is true that leading pilots appeared, how from trials such as motocross and the fact that they are part of the same generation is very important, because many more riders will come through them.

— What do you think about the two Galicians competing in the World Cup?

—Gabriel Marcelli, with whom I share a team, has one of his strongest sides in motivation and desire. He has incredible potential and is on the best team you can be on. Jorge Casales also has potential and is showing improvement, but lacks stability, something that could see him explode and start to shine at any moment.

— What do you expect from the Arteixo test?

— It will be a complicated race, with big rocks and spectacular. It will have very difficult areas and great technical complexity.

— What do you think about the Galician tests?

— Well, I competed in the national and world championships and I think that Galicia is a place to try, with a lot of fans, incredible landscapes where it’s a pleasure to compete. I have incredible memories of the Spanish championship when I was little. There is a high level and I like to go to the competition in Galicia.