Andrea Adamo is enjoying a strong first season in MXGP and has established himself as the championship’s leading rookie in 2026.
Adamo hasn’t made much noise, and certainly hasn’t grabbed many headlines. However, in his first MXGP season, the Red Bull KTM factory rider has put together a particularly strong campaign. Consistent, discreet and almost always running with the front group, the Italian has quickly established himself as the best rookie in the class. Currently fifth in the championship with four rounds remaining, Adamo can already look back on his move to the 450cc class positively.
Following the Swedish Grand Prix, the KTM rider reflected on his first season in the premier class, his adaptation to the 450 and the areas he still needs to improve in order to take another step forward. Interview by Kevin Frelaud.
Andrea, seventh overall this weekend in Sweden. It probably wasn’t exactly what you were hoping for, but it’s still a solid result. How was the weekend?
Adamo: Yeah, I would say it wasn’t a shit weekend, but it wasn’t the best weekend either. I had some difficulties in certain areas, but overall I’m pretty happy with the first race. I started up front and stayed fourth for 90% of the race, but in the last two laps Romain [Febvre] passed me and I eventually finished fifth, so it was a pretty solid result.
In the second race, unfortunately, I got another good start, but with Tom [Vialle], we went really wide because we touched. So I found myself at the back of the pack. I managed to come back to seventh and stayed there for basically the whole race. I passed Pauls Jonass, who was ahead of me, to move from eighth to seventh, and then the race was over because there weren’t many overtaking opportunities. Honestly, it was a little bit difficult to find places to pass this weekend.
There are four rounds remaining and you’re fifth in the championship. You’re the best rookie in MXGP. You’re having a very good first season on the 450 and are probably meeting everyone’s expectations, including your own.
Adamo: Yeah. I don’t really look at the championship standings that much. When I came into this year, I didn’t really have any particular expectations. I didn’t have a specific number that would allow me to say, ‘OK, this is my goal.’ The goal was to do my best at every race and be as consistent as possible. That’s what I’m doing this year. Some races have been better, some have been worse, like maybe this weekend in Sweden, but I’m really happy with my season so far.
I feel like you don’t get talked about much in the media, and Andrea doesn’t make the headlines. You’re still considered somewhat of an outsider in the class despite this excellent season. Do you agree?
Adamo: Yes, but I’m not here to put on a show. Some riders maybe put on a little more of a show and therefore attract more attention. I’m not here to put on a show. I’m here to do my best every weekend and, if people talk about me, it’s because I bring results, not because I put on a show.
That’s just how I am. It’s my personality, everyone is different and that’s perfectly fine. I have absolutely no problem with it and I’m not targeting anyone. Of course, at the beginning of the season I was maybe a little bit under the radar, but here I am, as you said, fifth in the championship. I think it’s a pretty good season so far, but of course there are still four rounds. So we still have work to do.
You seem to be running between fourth and seventh in almost every race this season. How do you take that next step to become a podium contender every weekend? What do you think is missing?
Adamo: I think I’m still missing a little bit of experience, but I’ll get there. I’m convinced that before the end of the season, we’ll make that little extra step.
I’d say you’re quite a calculated, intelligent rider. You know when to settle for a result, you’re aggressive when necessary, but you don’t do anything spectacular. So I’m not surprised you’ve adapted so well to the 450. How do you see your room for improvement in MXGP?
Adamo: Yeah, my goal was clearly to improve little by little without rushing things, because the 450 is a big bike, a powerful bike, and it can quickly punish you. So my goal was really to improve step by step, as I’m doing now.
After that, taking another step during the season isn’t that easy. But to take another step forward, when you have the opportunity to start up front, you have to try to stay as close as possible to the front riders. From there, you can learn as much as possible. That will definitely help you take that extra step.
Given the class, moving to MXGP this season was a big challenge. You could have stayed in MX2. You could potentially spend the next 15 years in MXGP if you want. So why did you decide to move up this season rather than stay in MX2 for another year?
Adamo: Honestly, I would have liked to fight for another MX2 World Championship. Obviously, when I moved up to MXGP, I knew that wouldn’t be the case in the first year, that I wasn’t going to immediately fight for the championship. But let’s say the reason I moved to the 450 was to learn, to have a learning year in the class. And once again, that’s what I’m doing. My goal is to understand the bike as much as possible and not start the season thinking that I absolutely have to be competitive in my first year. As I said, it’s a bike that can quickly punish you for being overconfident. So it takes time to adapt, and time to adapt your riding style to the new engine size as well.”
Do you feel like you had to adapt your riding style to the 450?
Adamo: I had to adapt, but it happened quickly. At the beginning of the season, obviously, you can’t attack the bike in the same way you did with the 250. So at the beginning of the season I had to adapt, but honestly, I would say it happened pretty quickly. I was really, really happy with how quickly I adapted to the 450.
A word on the USA. Kay de Wolf has talked about it, Thibault Benistant has as well. We more or less know what is going to happen with the Coenen brothers next year. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk about the United States. Has it never really been part of your plans?
Adamo: For the moment, I still have a lot of things to accomplish here. Take Jorge Prado, for example. He won two MX2 championships and then two MXGP championships consecutively. He has accomplished a huge amount and still has a long career ahead of him. So I would say his decision to go there made sense. But I think when you still have a lot of things to accomplish here, I don’t really see the point in leaving. For the Coenen brothers, it’s a little different. From their first year in the World Championship, they said their goal was to go there. Their goal was eventually to move to the USA. And if your goal is to go there, then it’s better to go sooner rather than later, because over there you also need time to adapt. I really hope they understand that and take the time to adapt, discover Supercross and learn, because learning Supercross isn’t a walk in the park either.
We know the KTM Group has been going through a difficult period recently. Have the recent problems affected you in any way, or has the factory and team done everything necessary so you don’t have to worry about what’s happening behind the scenes within the group?
Adamo: No, they did everything they needed to do to be here. They didn’t make any compromises, nothing like that. Of course, the situation was difficult. I think now we’re back on the right track, but they did what was necessary to be here, so it didn’t have any impact on us or on our work at any point, let’s say.
This season, I’ve been walking around the paddock asking team managers how to attract more investors and major companies to MXGP, to increase the commercial value of the championship and open it up to new audiences. Make it more attractive, basically. If you could do something, what would it be?
Adamo: That’s an interesting question. I think we still have a lot of things to improve, especially the tracks and maybe also the race format. For me, the weekend is enjoyable, but it’s really long. And only people who really love motocross can stay in front of their television for five or six hours continuously at home. And it’s another story when they come to the GPs. People get bored pretty quickly, I would say.
If you look at MotoGP, it’s also a long weekend, but they have two main races and the Sprint race is around 10 laps, so it goes quickly. From there, they concentrate everything on Sunday with the main race, but that also goes pretty quickly. In MXGP, we also have a lot of sessions. But I feel like all these sessions carry the same weight as the races. The qualifying race has the same importance as the main races on Sunday. Do you see a difference between all these sessions? Maybe moving to a one-day format could also be something better… But I don’t really like saying what should or shouldn’t change either, because I don’t think it would make any difference in the end… you know?”
So if it were up to you?
Adamo: If they cared about it, yeah, why not. But the problem is they don’t really care that much. So yes, I think there are a lot of things that could be done. With the tracks, and maybe the race format could evolve. All of it with the aim of selling our sport better, because our sport is a beautiful sport, but in this world, we need to be able to sell it better. And that’s definitely an area where we can improve enormously.
I’ve heard that a change could soon happen on Friday, particularly regarding the start practice. Do you think it’s necessary to come on Friday just to do a few starts? Would you prefer having a proper 20-minute session to get familiar with the track instead, like a ‘press day’?
Adamo: It’s true that these start sessions don’t change the outcome of your weekend. Whether you take part or not, the result at the end of the weekend will be the same. But I hope we can still do a few starts somewhere on Friday, because for a rider, it’s always nice to be able to test the bike a little before the weekend.
But honestly, I would do something different. If it were up to me, I would do it like they do in the USA. For free practice and timed practice, we would start from the gate. Instead of starting the session from pit lane, why not start the session directly from the gate, and the same for the warm-up? That’s what I would do. That way, we can do our start testing at that point. If they want to remove the Friday starts, that’s fine with me, but we should be able to start the practice sessions with a start from the gate, right?”
I take it you’ve never done a start on Friday and thought, ‘Thank goodness I was here, because we need to change this, this and this…’
Adamo: No, never. Absolutely never. That’s never happened, because we do starts all year anyway. We do a lot of starts in training, so we’ve never found ourselves changing the bike’s settings after a test session on Friday.
