Dougie Lampkin got back to his more familiar form when he recorded a clear win at an international invitation indoor trial in Bolzano, Italy, last weekend.
Lampkin won the event from Marc Colomer, with the British rider producing the lowest score over the two laps.
With many of the regular World indoor competitors missing from the starting line up, Dougie was always hot favourite to take the silverware, and didn't disappoint his many Italian fans with a worthy performance.
"I know my usual rivals were not present, but a win is always a win whatever the circumstances. It was quite funny coming here tonight, as in recent weeks the pressure has been slightly removed as people have not perhaps been expecting me to win. This time out I knew it was down to me to lead the way.
"Raga has basically got the indoor championship in the bag, but this victory has given me added confidence going into the final round in Madrid on Friday. A win there would help to ease some of the pain of losing the championship, but that isn't going to be easy with Raga's recent form, and especially with him being on home ground to collect his first World title."
Three thousand noisy Italians packed the small sports arena to see the invited riders compete over a course of six sections plus one dual lane race.
Lampkin was simply stunning on his opening lap completing the whole course without a single penalty, to leave his rivals with little chance of closing the gap in the second and final tour.
Clear of the rest Lampkin looked to turn up the heat by once again cleaning the difficult log section, but his do or die method unfortunately resulted in failure.
"I thought I'd got it, but the front end just slipped away and there was absolutely no way of recovering it."
With one 'five' on his card, Dougie then played it safe in the remaining hazards, opting for cautious dabs to ensure that he still took the win.
" It's been along time since I stood on top of the podium and it felt good to be there again. I hope this is the start of better things to come for the rest of the season", Lampkin added.
He returned to Barcelona to take part in suspension testing ahead of the indoor event in Madrid tonight (Friday) and the opening round of the Spanish championship.
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