Despite miserable conditions and an extremely difficult track, it was the MXGP rookie, Lucas Coenen, at just 18 years old who delivered perfect riding in both motos to take the MXGP win and underline, for any remaining doubters, that he is now a threat for this title with Tim Gajser still out injured.
Coenen controlled both motos despite the conditions and the ever present presence of Romain Febvre who didn’t let Coenen run away, but when push came to shove it was Coenen who didn’t make any mistakes showing calmness under pressure that belies his age.
Romain Febvre still had a good day and now takes the red plate, and both riders were the class of the field all weekend once Jeffrey Herlings hit the deck on Saturday.
Herlings battled through the pain of a suspected broken rib to go 10-7 for ninth overall with a small crash while sixth ending his hopes of a top five, but it was Ruben Fernandez who delivered the podium on Sunday with two great rides keeping Honda shining brightly despite a tough couple of weeks, Fernandez impressed.
Coenen, 43 points behind Febvre in the championship, said: “A really good weekend, didn’t expect it coming in with the mud. Romain was pushing hard, I was a bit nervous at one point, then I think he made a mistake and the last lap was the best of the whole weekend (pressure free).”
In MX2 Andrea Adamo blitzed both motos in a brilliant ride, and the Italian might just be in better form than he was when he won the world championship in 2023! Sacha Coenen led moto one until he got stuck in the mud and Adamo controlled the race, he then battled Coenen again this time, making the pass and controlling the gap until the chequered flag to move withing striking distance of Kay de Wolf and Simon Längenfelder in the world championship standings.
De Wolf came away with second overall but it came down the the last lap of race two after Längenfelder came from, a turn two crash to almost catch De Wolf for third, a pass would have given the German second overall but he had to be content with third overall on the same points as the reigning world champ.
With just ten points between them, it looks to be coming down to de Wolf, Längenfelder and Adamo for the MX2 world title after Liam Everts had an uncharacteristic disaster in the mud, crashing numerious times in moto one after a good start and getting stuck in the mud and another costly DNF, his second of the season, at the beginning of race two.
Everts is now 59 back of De Wolf in fourth, the DNF’s in Arco and Agueda have really affected his championship aspirations.
