Calvin Vlaanderen once again showed his class in the deep sand of Lommel, securing another hard-earned podium in MXGP. The South African-born rider impressed with his pace and consistency across a brutal weekend of racing, proving he’s still very much a force in the premier class. We spoke to Vlaanderen about the demanding conditions, the importance of strong starts, the current level at the front with Romain Febvre and Lucas Coenen, and his desire to keep competing at the sharp end. He also touched on his pride in representing South Africa, life in the Netherlands, and his uncertain future for 2026.
GateDrop: Calvin, I was just watching and I am tired just watching around there, that was absolutely brutal. Even for normal standards or it felt like that anyway…
Vlaanderen: It was a tough weekend. I think, I honestly expected it to get a bit worse than today. Because yesterday was already so rough, you know. Yesterday for the qualifying race, the track was brutal… I was like Sunday is going to be a mess. You don’t know how deep it’s going to be. I think they worked on a couple of places, which was good because it kind of made it inside and outside lines. But it was still brutal, you know. Every lap is just really tough separating the men from the boys.
GateDrop: Watching you guys, it’s probably hard to describe for people how fast it is to go around there. Can you just talk me through how hard it is to go fast round there? Because you guys make it look easy, but it’s ridiculous…
Vlaanderen: I’m interested to see the gap with lap times, like how much we dropped off because I felt like towards the end, with 10 minutes to go, we were still pushing really good lap times. I mean, the level is so high. It just keeps getting higher and higher, you know, especially this year with Lucas. He’s brought another level to it, I think. It’s nice to see, it is good for the sport, especially now with the championship fight between them. Even I’m fighting them, it’s always quite interesting to see what they’re doing. But for myself, I had a pretty decent speed throughout the track today and just consistent laps. I didn’t really make mistakes. I had that crash in the second moto, which cost a lot of energy. But overall, that was the only mistake and I’m pretty happy with that.
GateDrop: One thing I noticed this weekend is the qualifying race in the first moto. There’s two good starts. That hasn’t really been happening much, from what I can remember, a lot this year. Did you change anything on the bike? Or just a mental thing? Or what would you put that down to? It certainly makes life easier…
Vlaanderen: Yeah, for sure it makes life easier, big time. I mean, the qualifying race yesterday was so nice, being out front and just not having to get roost and using all the energy to try and pass the guys. Today, my starts weren’t great and I still had a lot of roost. I had to pass a lot of guys, so it wasn’t ideal. But we have improved with the bike, for sure. We know that’s the point where we need to improve to get me out of the gate better and we’ve definitely improved, but we still can make steps. My starts weren’t great today, but I was kind of lucky with the inside gate, so I could kind of sneaked around. We will try and keep improving and try to get better in the starts. Because honestly, I would like to race up front with Lucas and Romain. I mean, I just need to get out front like I haven’t really been able to lead laps from the beginning. As soon as I can get a holeshot or two, I feel like my pace is not so far off them. I think that’s the only way I’m going to learn their pace, is if I can start up front and race with them.
GateDrop: I was going to ask you about the pace that Romain and Lucas were setting. I mean, they were on it. Did it feel like that for you?
Vlaanderen: Yeah, they were moving. They were really moving. Obviously, being in a championship fight, it gives you a bit of an extra boost. It’s cool to see. They don’t really back off, you know? The 30 minutes, the lap times are sort of the same. I went off the first moto to look at the lap times, and Romain’s last lap was still really good. I was like, he’s feeling fit. Obviously, we’re all in shape, we’re all fit. But I think mentally, you’ve got to be able to push, especially around this track, push a high pace for the whole moto. As soon as you start feeling tired, mentally, you start feeling tired physically also. So I think, obviously, when you have a championship in the back of your head, that gives you extra motivation.
GateDrop: A good weekend for South Africa. Yourself on the podium as well as Camden in MX2. You must be pretty proud to see two South Africans on the podium…
Vlaanderen: Yeah, I’m so happy for him. He’s riding so well. It’s the second or third podium of the season, so it’s so cool to see. To have two South Africans on the podium today is really special, especially in the deep sand. I mean, where he grew up in Johannesburg, there’s no deep sand at all. In Cape Town, where I grew up, there’s like a couple of sand tracks, so there definitely is in my background a bit but it’s still so cool. Maybe, you know, one day I’ll race the Nations and we can put in a pretty strong team together.
GateDrop: You obviously live in the Netherlands. Does the Netherlands feel like home now?
Vlaanderen: Yeah, I’ve been living in the Netherlands for many years – seven or eight years already. So it’s definitely home. Yeah, I’m happy here. I live together with my girlfriend, and we have a really good base. I think that also helps me a lot to get away from the sport a bit. I mean, obviously growing up, my first 15, 16 years of my life was spent in South Africa. So South Africa will always have a special place in my heart and I cannot say that I’m fully Dutch. Everyone knows that I’m South African too, but I’m proud to be half Dutch and half South African.
GateDrop: The million dollar question, plans for next year. Obviously, you’ve got a podium in Finland, and you’ve backed it up here. Any phone calls after your podium in Finland?
Vlaanderen: Not really.
GateDrop: Really?
Vlaanderen: Really… I wish. I can’t really say anything. Honestly, I don’t know anything. I wish I knew something I could tell you, but I don’t know.
GateDrop: Do you think there’s a chance you can stay at Yamaha though, or you still don’t know that?
Vlaanderen: Honestly, I don’t know.
GateDrop: There were rumours of AMA. Any AMA teams on the phone or not? Would you be interested in going to America, or do you want to stay in GP’s? Any preference?
Vlaanderen: Preferably, I would like to stay in GP’s. I’m still at an age now where I can still fight for podiums, like I showed this weekend, and still fight for race wins, I believe. I feel like I’m just getting in my form, and I still have not reached my peak. I would like to stay here. I’m comfortable in Europe but you never know what doors open. We’ll just keep focusing on my riding, and I know if I can keep getting podiums that I’ll get a good ride here, or I’ll get a good ride there.
