The undisputed King of Steel City, Toni Bou – Repsol Honda has signed on the line and will return to Sheffield’s Utilita Arena for the DL12 Indoor Trial V3.0 to defend his crown on Saturday 18th January 2025.
With other major names due to be released over the coming weeks, it is only fitting that the Spanish superstar – the most dominant rider in the history of Trial – is the first to be announced for the third edition of the DL12 Indoor Trial.
“I always enjoy competing at Sheffield and it felt great to win there earlier this year,” he said. “The fans are amazing – so passionate and loud – and the sections are very technical and challenging so it has a special feeling for me.”
Currently it is the thirty-seven-year-old’s only confirmed and contracted appearance in the UK next year, ensuring that the DL12 Indoor Trial V3.0 really is the hot ticket in 2025 for feet-up fans.
Bou’s record in Sheffield is both exemplary and unparalleled. Victorious on his debut in January 2006, out of his fifteen subsequent appearances he has tasted defeat just twice – both times at the hands of his compatriot and fierce rival Adam Raga – and 2025 could see him claim an incredible fifteenth win in the spiritual home of UK Indoor Trial.
Competing as a ‘lowly’ wild card when he took that very first win, while his genius was clear for all to see no-one could have predicted at the time how long and fruitful his reign at the top would be.
On a high following this career-first FIM X-Trial World Championship win, less than three months later Bou added a career-first FIM Trial World Championship victory to his résumé at the opening round of the 2006 series. In December that year he won again in Sheffield, a victory that acted as a springboard to a whole new era of Trial as he seized the sport in a vice-like grip that to this day he still has not relaxed.
The record books make for astounding reading. Since 2007 Bou has remained unbeaten over the course of a full season in both X-Trial and TrialGP, making him a thirty-four-time FIM World Champion – a total that rises to fifty-two when you factor in his victories as part of his nation’s all-conquering FIM Trial des Nations team – and in 2024 he is currently undefeated in World Championship competition.
In short, the wild card has become the trump card!
“For me, Sheffield is one of the most special races and has been very good for me,” added Bou. “I have enjoyed lots of success there during many years since my first time in 2006. I am focused to continue this story by taking my fifteenth victory in January next year.”
Tickets for DL12 Indoor Trial V3.0 on Saturday 18th January 2025 at the Utilita Arena, Sheffield, are on sale now. To make sure of the best seats in house and to book one of the limited upgrades – which include the Dougie Lampkin course tour – click here