Part 1 -Trials des Nations 2025 Team Ireland
Team Ireland - Trials des Nations 2025
Trial Des Nations, Tolmezzo, Italy September 20th - 21st, 2025
Cillian Doyle Report
12 years since competing in my first and only TDN to date, I was lucky enough to get the call up as the reserve rider this year. While I was sad that my brother Seán had to pull out due to injury, I was honoured to get the call. So, 2 weeks of practice and bike prep later I flew off with the team for Italy.
While this was only my second TDN as a rider, and Scott Callaghan’s first, we were lucky enough to have Stuart McClurg as team leader with 8 previous TDNs under his belt. We also had an experienced team of support crew with us, who deserve a shout out: minders Josh Hanlon and Jonny Lunney, team manager Andy Perry, FIM delegate Phillip McClurg, Nicola and Stephen Coulter on hospitality and bike transport and Ken Perry who provided rider transport and entertainment!
Friday:
4 AM start for me as I was collected by Scott and Roger on the way to the airport for our 6AM flight, we met the rest of the lads in there as they’d been on the road since 2 AM. Needless to say it was a quiet flight over as we caught up on some sleep before we landed in the sunshine in Bergamo airport. We then had the usual wait at the car hire desk before making our way across northern Italy. As luck would have it, we happened to stop at the same service station for lunch as a certain Mr Toni Bou! We took it handy for the rest of the day, getting to the hotel in time for dinner, followed by a quick spin into town to find the paddock and get our bearings etc. for the weekend ahead. Early to bed after an early start for everyone that day!
Saturday:
Later start today thankfully, but the busiest day of the weekend! We had a nice breakfast in the hotel before heading in to the town and getting the van set up in the paddock. We got the all the bikes and gear unloaded, while the support crew did a pro job with the hospitality setup. We made our way up to the sign on truck and technical control around 9:30 and joined the crew of teams from around the world. It was great to catch up with some of the guys and girls we knew from the other federations. This was a first experience for me riding with a back protector and having to get the CE marks inspected as well as the usual bike checks. I did have the great honour while we were queuing up of getting nabbed by the FIM TV crew to say “Fáilte go Trial Des Nations” which was to my knowledge the first use of Gaeilge on the platform!
We arrived back to the paddock to a feast of fruit, rolls and any toppings you could have wanted as we waited for the practice area to open. At 12:30 we headed down the road and got our first taste of the terrain and the heat we would be riding in for the weekend. The practice area was quite busy as we fought for part of a section to get warmed up on. I was a bit shaky getting going and unfortunately nicked a break line after about 20 minutes! Queue a quick roadside repair courtesy of the minders bike and the hands of Josh and Jonny and I got back up and running to join the lads. Scott and Stuart were riding well and after a few attempts of the sections they had moved onto I started to settle. As we got to the last 15 minutes of practice time, we were joined in our section by the aliens of the Spanish team: Toni Bou, Jaime Busto and Gabrielle Marcelli. Having not been at a world championship event for so long I had forgotten how incredible it was to watch these guys play in real life. If you haven’t seen them up close yet, get it on your bucket list!
At 14:30 we made our way back to the paddock and hopped into the cars to drive the lap for section inspection. The lap was split into 3 groups of sections; group A was sections 1-6 set in a dried up river bed, group B was 7-10 and set further up the mountain in the trees and group C was 11-15 consisting of 2 manmade sections before finishing with 3 tricky sections with some big banks.
After this we made our way back for the TDN Opening Ceremony and Team presentation. It was amazing to see the turnout of locals along with the international crews supporting all of the riders.
Trials des Nations parade
We found a lovely pizzeria down the town after the parade, where we discovered that apparently a pepperoni pizza in Italy is literally a pizza with peppers on it, not the fermented meat slices we were expecting! Soon after we made our way back to the hotel for an early night before the big day.
Sunday:
Nerves kicked in a bit again that morning but we all got a good breakfast before leaving the hotel. It was another sunny day but we were glad the heat had dropped a little from the day before. We got lined up for our team photo before making our way to the start ramp for our start time of 9:16. We got our digital tags scanned and it was time to start.
We all headed down to the first group in the riverbed of white rock and there was a nice detour for the riders to give us a small warmup before section 1. After a quick run through to make sure the line hadn’t changed, we all made our way safely through the first section, cleans all around. I was unfortunate to knock off my lanyard in the second section while clean which knocked my confidence a bit but thankfully Scott got through it and saved us from carrying my 5. This first group of sections consisted of technical sections that were definitely geared to the stop allowed style of riding. We had a few unlucky decisions go our way as we struggled to settle in the early part of the day.
As we reached the second group which were more natural sections we settled more as a team and when one of us made a mistake the other 2 were generally able to make up for this. There was an awkward step/jump in section 10 that caught me out badly on the first lap as I got my timing wrong but luckily no major damage was done. Shout out to Stuart for a savage ride here!
The last group started a bit more settled for me as we hit the manmade sections and I loosened up a bit on the rocks and logs, however I got caught out on the banks of the last 3 sections which weren’t my strong suit. The tight time limit on the first lap left us under some extra pressure, which may have penalised us more if not for the watchful eye of Andy as team manager. Thankfully we managed to get the team through with 2 minutes to spare after a big dismount from Scott on the last section!
We made our way back to the paddock for lunch break, which I have become a fan of after riding this and the British Championship round in Dunmore this year! I got a phone call from Seán during the lunch break which helped me sort out some stuff on the bike setup and in my head, this, coupled with the food provided by Nicola and Stephen helped to give me a fresh reset for the second lap.
Lap 2 was more settled as there was no walking the sections so less battling for position in the queues. We each rode better this lap and, after a slack mistake on section 3 I found a bit of the form I had shown in practice. I was happy to get out of section 5 at the top of the hill after seeing a lot of people drop a 5 on it this lap (shout out to Mam and Dad for cheering me on here as well, it’s some extra motivation when you see where someone with a knee replacement will climb to support you!).
As we got to the second group this lap, we each had a bit of a flow going, with Stuart having a brilliant clean on Section 9 and I got my revenge on section 10!
The last group went better for us this lap, though some overconfidence cost me on section 12 as I misjudged a step. As we got to the banks of the last 3 sections, we each pulled off some great rides and a big shoutout has to go to Scott who rode as last man on the last section and produced the best ride of us all to recover from his lap 1 crash with a savage ride for 1. There were cheers, hugs and high fives all around as we completed the trial.
All in all, it was an incredible experience for me, especially having been off the team for so long. We each had some brilliant rides during the event and I know we are capable of a much higher finish with some small improvements going forward. Once again, I want to thank all the guys for taking me into the team on short notice and all the support throughout the whole experience. Now I need to get the finger out and try to get on the team for next year!
