Jeffrey Herlings did an interview with Motocross1971, where he discussed the situation with MXGP and a lunch he had with Giuseppe Luongo in Dubai during the off season.
Herlings said: “The photo is Mr. Loungo. I was in Dubai on a holiday and he messaged me. He wanted to go for lunch and we talked about many things and sometimes I was also very negative about MXGP but then he also told me the reason behind why he does something. I’m like, okay, okay, this makes sense. I kind of respect them way more”.
“For me, I’m just looking at a pure sports perspective but there’s also a business perspective and at the end of the day, people need to have jobs, people need to get money because they need to live so I still believe we should get prize money. Not just for the top guys. For me, Gajser, Febvre, who gets the most money from the teams, most likely those riders but more like a guy like Valentin Guillod right now. Like in Argentina, you finish 5, you get paid nothing. So I think that’s still a part of what’s discussable but I cannot get it changed. It will most likely not be changed. We have to accept if we don’t agree.
“I mean, we can all go to the US and change the dream there but that’s all our decision to stay here, to sign contracts here, to race here. Then we know this is the deal and for the rest, I think MXGP also does a lot of good things because I think where we were 20 years ago, they didn’t make the amounts we make today so I think MXGP did a lot of good things for me. That’s all I can say.”
We caught up with Dutchman after his top ten at Arco to discuss his comeback to racing, how the injury happened and plans for 2026:
