Team Spain won top honors at this year’s FIM Trial des Nations (TdN) in Tolmezzo, Italy, on September 21, while the United States claimed victory in the second-tier International Trophy.
This year’s TdN returned to the scene of its 2011 edition, where a technical and testing course of 15 sections—the majority of which were plotted in an imposing dry riverbed and on steep, rock-strewn bankings—was tackled twice.
Winners for the previous 20 consecutive editions, Spain fielded Toni Bou (Montesa), Jaime Busto (GasGas), and Gabriel Marcelli (Montesa), who have dominated the top three of the Hertz FIM Trial World Championship since 2023, and they started as clear favorites. However, the remaining podium positions were too close to call, with the home country competing with France and Great Britain.
With a team’s two best scores from three attempts at each section counting toward the final result, Jack Peace (Sherco) and brothers Harry Hemingway (Beta) and George Hemingway (Beta) gained an early lead for Great Britain after the Spanish trio added five to their total in section four. However, their lead only lasted until section six, the last hazard set among the massive riverbed boulders, before the reigning champions took control.
Despite adding another six points on the final section that twisted up, down and around a steep bank with a series of large concrete steps, Spain’s total of 21 at the halfway mark, which included three time penalties, put them 19 points ahead of Great Britain in second.
Tied with Great Britain in observation, but with three additional time penalties, the Italian team of Matteo Grattarola (Beta), Lorenzo Gandola (Beta) and Francesco Titli (TRRS) improved throughout the opening lap to pull ahead of France’s Hugo Dufrese (Beta), Benoit Bincaz (Electric Motion), and Alexandre Ferrer (Montesa), who finished the lap on 56.
As the Spanish began to tighten their grip, Italy briefly led over Great Britain before two consecutive perfect scores of 10 on sections four and five dropped them back to third place, a position they couldn’t improve despite some heroic efforts in front of their passionate home fans.
After a second lap score of just nine brought their total to 30, the Spanish team’s winning margin of 49 reflected their dominance. However, spirits were nearly as high under the British tent, where Peace and the Hemingway brothers, both making their TdN debuts, celebrated narrowly beating Italy by just six points.
Fourth-placed France finished on 138, and that was 40 ahead of the Norwegian trio of Sondre Haga (GasGas), Jarand-Matias Vold Gunvaldsen (TRRS) and Jone Sandvik (Sherco).
Japan has dominated the International Trophy for the past two years, but this time its team of Tsuyoshi Ogawa (Beta), Shinya Hirohata (Montesa), and Jin Kuroyama (Sherco) had to settle for second place after a strong performance from a United States team made up of Josh Roper (GasGas) and brothers Alex Myers (Scorpa) and Will Myers (Sherco).
On a low-scoring day where the ability to handle pressure was crucial, the U.S., last year’s silver medalists, shared the lead at the halfway point with a total of four, alongside the German trio of Jonathan Heidel (Beta), Johannes Heidel (Beta) and Paul Reumschuessel (TRRS), with Japan another point behind in third.
Remaining incredibly calm and collected, on its second lap the U.S. team dropped their score by a point to finish with a total of seven, leaving them four ahead of a two-way tie for second place, with Japan edging out Germany on a tie-breaker.
“It’s been an amazing weekend, and we have had such a good day today,” said Roper. “We rode phenomenal all day and were able to cover for each other, even on sections we messed up, so that really helped our score.”
In the Women’s division, it was a close battle to the end with a tie-breaker needed to determine the overall winner, which went to Team Spain. Both Spain and Italy totaled 54 points, while Great Britain took third with 62 points. Team USA, with riders Maddie Hoover (GasGas), Kylee Sweeten (Montesa) and Abigail Buzzelli (Beta), was seventh with 104 points. CN
2025 FIM Trial des Nations Results
OVERALL (Top 5)
- Spain (30 pts)
- Great Britain (79)
- Italy (85)
- France (138)
- Norway (178)
INTERNATIONAL (Top 5)
- United States (7)
- Japan (11)
- Germany (11)
- Belgium (36)
- Poland (36)
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