Toni Bou added another landmark to his Trial career in 2026 by reaching 40 world titles. The total is split evenly between 20 TrialGP championships and 20 X-Trial championships. From 2007 through 2026, the Spaniard has won both major world competitions in every season, all of them with Repsol Honda HRC. The achievement arrives in the year of his 40th birthday, meaning that Bou has collected two world championships per season across 20 consecutive years.

His path began well before that record run. Bou won the Bike Trial World Championship in 1999 at the age of 13, then moved into motorised Trial. He became Spanish Junior champion in 2001 and made his World Trial Championship debut in 2003. Honda became his factory partner in 2007, the same year he secured his first world titles in both TrialGP and X-Trial.

The 40 world crowns are only part of the wider tally associated with his career. Honda counts 70 titles for Bou since he joined its factory team, including national and team competitions. His record also includes 11 national outdoor Trial championships, 19 victories representing Spain in the Trial des Nations and the 2026 X-Trial des Nations title.

The Cota 4RT behind the run

Bou races a Honda-Montesa Cota 4RT that is based on a commercially available model, while its competition specification has been developed by HRC together with Montesa Honda. The motorcycle weighs 70 kilograms and uses a specially configured engine with PGM-FI fuel injection. Its response can be adjusted to suit the terrain and the conditions. Honda says the 4RT has been used for every one of Bou’s world-championship victories since 2007 and has continued to evolve throughout that period.

Trial sections can combine climbs, jumps, vertical faces and technical obstacles. The layout of the motorcycle reflects that job: a low chassis, no seat, large-diameter wheels and tyres, very low weight and a short wheelbase. Performance is not simply a matter of engine output. The rider must read the line, maintain balance and place the motorcycle accurately through each section.

Training, recovery and the next target

Takahisa Fujinami, Bou’s former teammate and current Repsol Honda HRC team manager, links the rider’s sustained success to his dedication to training and his ability to adapt to different conditions, whether indoors or outdoors. Fujinami also points to details that are easy to overlook from outside the sport: finding the correct body position, using brief pauses to gain stability and choosing the exact point from which to begin a jump.

Bou says recovery from injuries becomes more important as he grows older, particularly when he is competing against younger riders. He still wants to race them, however, and regards the pressure they bring as motivation. Current teammate Gabriel Marcelli compares trying to beat Bou with taking on a wall, while also treating that seemingly extreme challenge as a reason to improve every day.

Bou is now preparing for 2027 and accepts that every winning streak eventually comes to an end. That acknowledgement does little to reduce the scale of the achievement: 40 world titles across two forms of Trial, supported by a Cota 4RT that continues to develop alongside its rider.