On The Pegs April 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 4 | Page 21

On The Pegs VOL. 5 ISSUE 4 - APRIL 2020 21 Coronavirus Outbreak Forces Cancella- tion of Pentultimate Round of 2020 X-Trial World Championship in Wiener Neustadt, Austria The cancellation of the penultimate date of the 2020 X-Trial World Champion- ship in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, due to the Coronavirus outbreak, means that Toni Bou mathematically seals the top championship honours. In doing so, the Repsol Honda Team rider takes his indoor title tally to 14 and 27 overall titles (in- door and outdoor). The measures for the containment of Covid-19, Coronavirus, which have been applied by different European countries including Italy, France or, more recently Austria, have forced the cancellation of various trial events, such as the one scheduled for April 21st in Wiener Neustadt. The Austrian trial, the penultimate of the X-Trial championship, has been called off and, as a consequence, Toni Bou, who currently leads the competition with 100 points – 25 more than the nearest second-placed rival – is now automatically able to claim the X-Trial World Cham- pionship title. Since 2007, the Repsol Honda Team rider has never failed to win the event. The feat represents a fourteenth indoor title for Toni Bou and his 27th overall, who has won all five events held so far in this year’s X-Trial World Championship (La Reunion, Rennes, Budapest, Barcelona and Bilbao). Toni Bou will now celebrate the newly conquered title in the final world cham- pionship trial to be held in Andorra la Vella (Andorra) on April 25th. “It is a pity that this decision had to be taken to postpone the Austrian trial due to the Coronavirus, but I understand that everyone’s safety the first and fore- most issue.,” said Bou. “The sensations, in this case, are strange, because I would have preferred to win the title during a competition. This year we have had a great season: I showed myself to be at a high level: we have won all five trials and would have arrived at Wiener Neustadt with a great possibility to take the title there. Anyway, there is still one final trial before we finish the championship and I hope to celebrate it definitively in Andorra, where I am confident that I can give the show that the Coronavirus prevented us from putting on in Austria.”