Jeffrey Herlings returned to winning ways with an impressive overall victory in Montevarchi, taking a 1-2 scorecard to secure his fourth GP overall win of the 2026 MXGP season – the 116th of his career. The Dutchman showed speed throughout the weekend and, despite admitting the circuit was far from ideal conditions for a Dutch rider, he managed the races smartly to leave with maximum confidence after difficult back-to-back rounds plagued by mechanical issues.
Reflecting on his weekend, Herlings felt he had the pace to dominate from the outset and explained how improved starts played a crucial role in finally converting speed into an overall win.
“A good weekend. I had the speed to win all weekend long, just yesterday we missed the start. It was actually me, Romain and Lucas who were fighting our way through the pack yesterday, all moto. It was a track which was not easy to pass. So for today I took a gamble to go two times next to the box and I did a really good job, especially the first moto. I managed to take the holeshot and I could lead. It’s not easy to lead, I had pressure all moto from first Maxime, and then from Maxime and Lucas. When you are from Holland, this is not the most suitable, easiest track let’s say, because we don’t have this.
“The track, I think today the track was much better than yesterday. Yesterday in timed practice it was very – sorry to say – dangerous with the dust and the rocks. Today, obviously the rain also helped, but definitely today was an improvement. When it’s better, you have to be honest. Is it great? No, but it was definitely a bit better today. Today I had a good start, in the first moto I led all of the moto and won. In the second race, I was around 5th or 6th with the start, I made some quick passes because I knew I had to. And then I just wasn’t able to pass Tim, all moto I was behind him, until like 6 or 7 minutes to go. I saw I was gapping Lucas a bit, and I was like okay, as long as I keep him behind me, I’ll win the overall. I know if I went 1-1 or 1-2, it wouldn’t change so then I let him go just because I was eating roost and those stones are really painful. I can tell you that from the 450cc”
Herlings praising the efforts of everyone involved at Honda Gariboldi and Honda HRC Petronas, particularly after the recent DNF’s.
“1-2 for another GP win, the 4th of the season. It was definitely not the easiest track for me, but we made it happen so I want to give it up to Honda Gariboldi for the great job. Also the rest of the team, Honda HRC Petronas. They worked their arses off in good and bad times. Obviously we had two very bad weekends in a row with the DNF’s but that is part of racing as it’s a technical sport so it can happen. It’s a bit of a shame for the championship because I lost around, I’d say a minimum of 40 points. It’s a shame for the championship, but we keep charging. Lucas is very good on all these tracks. We just keep going and we’re halfway now so we’ll see”.
Herlings remains motivated, insisting that whilst the equipment failures are disappointing – they are far easier to accept than the numerous injuries he has suffered during his illustrious career.
“You know, I’ve went home in a stretcher many, many times with a dislocated hip, broken femurs, broken neck, back… So if for me it’s a broken engine, I’ll sign for that every day instead of a broken leg or any other bone in my body. For me, health goes first and then I prefer to have a broken engine. It’s mentally a little bit less tough because an engine can be made, a bone as well, but it takes a little bit longer time. You know, it’s part of racing and nobody wants this. It’s part of racing. It’s just a shame to happen, but it is what it is”.
The five-time world champion also had words of praise for championship rival Lucas Coenen, highlighting the Belgian’s respectful racing style and explaining why rider safety was particularly important on such a demanding circuit.
“Lucas is a reasonable, nice rider to pass. He’s never to me did anything dirty or crazy. Like this, he will have hopefully a long career by playing it a smarter. There are riders on track who, I won’t say names, but they are more dirty. And then you don’t like to race them so much because you don’t know what they’ll do or they’ll clean you out or whatsoever. Today on this track, I think all riders will agree with me, it was just most important to go home safe because it wasn’t an easy one”.
Herlings then shed further light on the mechanical setbacks that hampered his title challenge in previous rounds, explaining how Honda has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure the issues do not reoccur.
“In Germany it (the bike issue) already happened on the gate. I don’t even know exactly what it was, but it happened straight away, the first lap on the gate. It wasn’t me being on the clutch much. I know I’m heavy on the clutch and I’m not going to lie about that. In Latvia, the bike just got hot and I was pushing a lot behind Lucas trying to force him into a mistake. Not by riding dirty, but just revving the bike and this and that because I want to play it clean. But I just tried to pressure him and I just made the bike go hot and unfortunately it broke. Honda HRC, they worked hard to see what the problem was and I think internally they tried to solve it. I don’t know exactly how, I don’t really care because I’m not technical enough to know, but at least this weekend we didn’t have any issues”.
“The bike was working great. It’s just a shame because throughout all these months we never had any mechanical failure, as in engine failure. Obviously there’s always something that can happen, like you can have a bent bar from a crash or a wheel broken or whatever. With the engine, we didn’t have one all year, just twice in a race so that was a shame. But like I said, it’s a technical sport, it can happen. I know in HRC, the Japanese work extremely hard and they take this personal and they will work double as hard to hopefully not have this happening again in the future”.
The Dutchman also discussed adapting to his new machinery after spending 17 years aboard KTM equipment, admitting the transition required changes to his riding style but insisting he now feels increasingly comfortable on the Honda prototype.
“For me, the Honda is a more forgiving bike as on tracks like this, for me it’s easier to handle. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. For sure the KTM also is a good bike. It’s a proven bike. They win in America with the bike, they win in Europe. Lucas is leading, so it’s not that it’s a bad bike. But the Honda is just special in its own way. It’s a lot of pressure on the front, while the KTM is more balanced to the back. That’s the biggest difference I had to learn. That’s what helps a lot on hardpack tracks. Definitely in the sand it’s the opposite, but we’re working on that”.
“We gained a lot on the bike in the sand since the beginning. Because in the beginning it wasn’t easy for me, even though I’m so experienced in the sand. But already now, I feel like in all the races I was mostly the second best after Lucas on the sand. I feel like the bike is already very strong everywhere. It’s a prototype bike. It just gone into the shop, so we’re still learning and experiencing new things on the bike. And making steps forward. Because it’s just a different bike, I had to change it (my style) a bit but it was done quick. After a couple of weeks, I was used to it. At first I was like what’s this? Because I was with KTM for 17 years… But after a week or so I was already used to it”.
With four Grand Prix victories now to his name in 2026, Herlings has once again demonstrated that he remains a major force in the MXGP class. While recent reliability issues may have dented his championship ambitions, the Dutchman has made it clear that he is refusing to give up, and with half of the season still remaining, he intends to keep pushing for race wins and see where the title battle leads – he is currently 56 points behind Lucas Coenen.
