Jett on the All-New CRF450R

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Could the Coenens Lose the Titles?

What happens if the Coenen brothers miss out on the World Cup title?

 Ralph Marzahn  July 29, 2026

Everything seemed to be decided long ago. Lucas Coenen and his twin brother Sacha are considered strong candidates for a move to the USA. There, they are expected to take the next steps in their careers from 2027 onwards and strengthen KTM in both the AMA Supercross and the Pro Motocross Championship.

Although this step has not yet been officially confirmed, hardly anyone in the paddock doubts that the brothers will be competing on the other side of the Atlantic in the future.

However, the developments of the past few weeks raise a question that can be discussed: Is now really the right time for a change?

Two title fights have completely changed.

Just a few weeks ago, there were strong indications that KTM would be moving to the USA with two newly crowned world champions.

Lucas Coenen dominated large parts of the MXGP season and had built up a comfortable lead in the World Championship. After his injury-related retirement in Loket, all of that is gone. Jeffrey Herlings has completely closed the gap and suddenly leads the standings by 49 points.

Nothing is decided in MX2 either. Despite losing the red plate, Sacha Coenen remains a title contender, but every Grand Prix demonstrates just how close the competition has become. A small mistake or a technical problem can change the course of an entire championship.

This is precisely what gives the discussion about the planned move to the USA a new dynamic.

Would KTM simply give up two title chances?

From a sporting perspective, a perfectly valid question arises. Why would KTM let two riders go who might be among the top title contenders in MXGP and MX2 again just a few months later?

Lucas Coenen, in particular, has shown that he already possesses the pace to win Grand Prix races regularly. Even if he narrowly misses out on the 2026 World Championship title, it would hardly weaken him. On the contrary, a lost title could even provide additional motivation for another season in Europe.

Sacha Coenen is also still developing. His speed is undeniable. Consistency and race intelligence often only develop with increasing experience. Another year in MX2 could be just the final step before he too makes it to the very top.

A look at the entire KTM squad

However, this consideration does not only concern the two Belgians.

Should Lucas and Sacha actually move to the USA at the same time, KTM will lose two of its biggest European talents in one fell swoop. Lucas, in particular, is already considered one of the riders with the potential to shape the face of MXGP for years to come.

Of course, KTM still has a strong up-and-coming talent pool, and with Maxime Renaux's potential move to DeCarli, the Italian branch of the KTM factory team, they have a top rider. Nevertheless, a gap is emerging that cannot be filled overnight.

On the other hand, the US factory team is exceptionally strong with riders like Eli Tomac and Julien Beaumer. Whether they actually need both brothers immediately is at least a legitimate question.

Contracts usually speak a different language.

However understandable these considerations may be, the reality in professional sports is usually different.

A move to the USA isn't decided just a few weeks before the end of the season. Such programs are often developed one or even two years in advance. Teams plan their driver lineups long-term, sponsors align their campaigns accordingly, and manufacturers adjust development, testing, and marketing to these decisions.

If there are already signed contracts, the outcome of the current World Cup is unlikely to change much.

Europe or America – both have their appeal.

The situation is also unclear for the brothers themselves.

Another year in Europe would give them the chance to make up for a potentially missed world championship title. At the same time, for many European riders, the move to the USA represents the next big career step. Supercross enjoys enormous global attention, the AMA Pro Motocross Championship is one of the sport's most prestigious series, and many manufacturers consider the American market to be of particular strategic importance.

So there are good arguments for both approaches.

The coming weeks could further fuel the discussion.

All these considerations have yet to progress beyond the discussion stage. There is no indication that KTM is actually reconsidering its plans or questioning decisions already made.

Nevertheless, the final stretch of the season could change the perspective on the planned move. Should Lucas Coenen actually lose the MXGP title or Sacha narrowly miss out in MX2, the question will likely be raised more loudly as to whether KTM should really send two riders with open world championship contracts to the USA immediately.

From a sporting perspective, another year in Europe would certainly be understandable. Whether this idea was ever a realistic option or remains merely an interesting thought experiment will probably only become clear in the coming months.

The time is now

Inside MXGP

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Lucas Coenens Gives Up MXGP Lead

Surrenders MXGP class red plate following zero-point score.

Previous MXGP points-leader Lucas Coenen has described his Loket race-day withdrawal as ‘tough to take’, with a compressed sciatic nerve ultimately becoming too severe to ride through the pain.

The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider arrived in the Czech Republic carrying hematomas around his left hip that caused compression of the sciatic nerve. He initially lined up in Saturday’s qualification race, but was forced to exit while running fourth after six laps.

The 19-year-old then sat out Sunday’s races, while title rival Jeffrey Herlings (Honda HRC Petronas) swept the weekend with a 1-1 performance after also winning Saturday’s qualification race, transforming an 11-point deficit into a 49-point championship lead with six rounds remaining.

“Not much to say,” reflected Coenen. “I did what I could to be ready for Loket – physio, massage… But I was in pain all day. It’s tough to take. I can only hope I will feel a bit better with each day, and we can think about Lommel.”

Lucas’ brother Sacha also raced through injury at Loket, recording 7-7 moto finishes for seventh overall despite a broken collarbone sustained at Southwick. He remains in the MX2 title hunt, 33 points behind Guillem Farres (Triumph Factory Racing).

The 2026 MXGP World Championship season now heads to Belgium’s famed Lommel circuit this weekend – the home round of the Coenen twins – before a two-week break ahead of the MXGP of Sweden in mid-August.

Dubach takes on the most famous hill in world motocross

American legend and Yamaha Factory superstar Doug Dubach is back for VMXdN 2026.  Dubach is a regular at the VMXdN events, having raced at 13 of these events since its inception, and is the only racer to win three classes on one weekend when he was a member of the winning USA squad, the +50 and twin shock classes at the OG vets race formed in 2009. This year the event is in its 17th year, but this is the first one to be held at the historic and iconic Hawkstone Park GP circuit in Shropshire.

Born in 1963, Dubach began his passion for motorcycles on a Briggs and Stratton minibike. After a few years, he got an XR75 and rode it as often as he could at Saddleback Park. He started racing just before his 15th birthday. On a Yamaha YZ80, he quickly moved from 80 Novice to 80 Expert in just four months!

As a Southern California resident, he was in the hotbed of talent as the sport began to grow stateside, so he was perfectly positioned to become a star.

His pro career began in earnest at the 1982 Carlsbad National, finishing just behind Jeff Ward (Jeff was 9th; Doug was 10th). He continued racing Supercross and Nationals as a factory Yamaha rider; his greatest race was San Jose SX in 1991, where he took the win. Dubach kept racing professionally until his last one in 2001. Dissatisfied with other aftermarket companies, he started his own accessory business. His deep understanding of products, developed through his work as a magazine test rider and long-time factory test and development for Yamaha and his own DrD products, set a solid foundation for his business.

Dubach remains active in vet motocross racing and holds an unbeatable record in the World Vet Championships, with 27 titles and counting! In addition, he has always exhibited a super-positive attitude when dealing with the public, a great enthusiasm for all things moto, and is a humble family man to boot.

The buzz for the VMXdN brought to you by The Range has notched up a gear in 2026 with a change of venue to the picturesque Hawkstone Park circuit. A venue that covers all eras of MX in the UK, having been in constant use since the 50s and some of the most epic 500 GP’s over the years.

The anticipation for VMXdN Hawkstone is at an all-time high, and it’s only going to get bigger, so strap yourself in as news continues to drop in the final month leading up to the four-day motocross festival held over the annual date of the August Bank Holiday weekend, 27^th-30^th, 2026.

VMXdN is the ultimate event for MX Fans of all ages. It is most certainly the “must-see” event of the year.

If you plan to camp, be quick to secure your camping pass, be it regular or VIP (where you can watch the racing from your own awning), the promoters have rented three extra fields from the local landowners but space is still limited and selling fast, when its gone then there is no more space available – and it’s on target to sell out…. don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Saturday, Sunday, Weekend Tickets, and Camping Passes are available here 

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Tom Vialle on getting back on the podium in Loket: “I’m still learning”

Tom Vialle returned to the podium in the Czech Republic with a strong second-place finish at Loket, confirming the progress he has been making since returning from the injury he suffered at the French Grand Prix in Lacapelle-Marival.

Beyond the result itself, it was arguably one of his most complete weekends of the 2026 season so far. While Vialle claimed victory at the Swiss Grand Prix back in March, his maiden MXGP overall win came with 1-6 moto finishes under unusual circumstances, and without scoring any points in Saturday’s qualifying race. He left Frauenfeld having added 40 points to his championship tally.

At Loket, however, the Honda HRC rider delivered remarkable consistency – three strong starts, laps led, three top-three finishes and a full haul of 50 championship points.

“It was a good day for me. In fact, the whole weekend went really well at Loket, starting with the qualifying race on Saturday and then continuing into both motos on Sunday,” explained the Frenchman. “The track was demanding. As everyone knows, I hadn’t raced a GP’s for three years, and coming back here to race against riders who are incredibly fast and have several years of MXGP experience isn’t always easy.”

After being caught up in an incident at the start of the second moto in France, Vialle missed the German and Latvian Grands Prix while recovering from injury. He returned in Italy and, after a run of difficult weekends (7th at Montevarchi, 12th at Agueda, 12th at Johannesburg and 10th at Foxhill), the factory Honda rider found his rhythm again in the Czech Republic.

“I had a really good feeling throughout the whole weekend. The last two or three GP’s had been quite difficult for me. I had the pace, but a few crashes stopped me from getting the results I was capable of. So yes, I’m really happy with today and with the whole weekend at Loket. I’ve been working really hard lately. People don’t always see it, but during the week I work extremely hard every single day. Today all that hard work paid off, so I’m very happy.”

In his rookie MXGP campaign, Vialle knows every weekend is another opportunity to gain valuable experience. At Loket, the two-time MX2 World Champion also benefited from racing alongside Jeffrey Herlings, using those battles to continue refining his riding against one of the very best in the class.

“I usually get good starts, and once again this weekend I managed three excellent starts, which helped me a lot. I was able to lead Jeffrey for a few laps in both motos before he passed me. I’m still learning. It’s my first year on a 450, so riding behind Jeffrey and trying to learn something every time he passes me is really important. Some riders get passed and immediately move on, but I try to analyse everything he does – his lines, when he chooses the inside or the outside – and learn from it to improve. That’s something that’s very important to me and it’s just great to be back. The bike is continuing to improve little by little, so we’re heading in the right direction.”

With one overall victory and now two podium finishes, Tom Vialle continues to write the opening chapter of his MXGP career. Having returned to Europe after three seasons racing in the United States, the Frenchman has quickly shown he belongs among the elite of the premier class. Sitting eighth in the championship heading into the final part of the season, a place on the overall podium is now out of reach, but his focus lies elsewhere: continuing to develop in MXGP and building towards the future. This year is about learning, the next could be about challenging at the very front. Already, 2027 is beginning to come into view.

Herlings talks riding the Honda on hard-pack tracks

After his weekend of domination at Loket on the hard-pack, MXGP championship leader, Jeffrey Herlings, spoke about how good the Honda feels on conditions that were traditionally not his strong point!

The HRC Honda man said: “This bike really, it’s just, like I’ve been mentioning, it just sticks onto the ground, and the track is really slippery, there’s not many lines, but it’s still technical. You can pass actually quite good, I think, because that was actually good when you have tracks that you can really go left, right, and make changes. So, actually, the track prep was actually quite good, I think.

“But, yeah, the bike just sticks to the ground, and I can just really do what I want to do with it, and like I said, the KTM was a great bike once again., don’t get me wrong, but these tracks, riding the Honda is something pretty incredible, and yeah, for me, it was a better bike on this surface.”

Heading into the Lommel, Herlings feels he has a better set-up than at the start of the season: “We’re in a very good spot. I feel really good. I’m physically fit. The starts go better. We have a great set-up. The set-up, compared to the beginning of the year in the sand, to now, we have definitely improved, because in the beginning, we were still fighting for the right set-up, but doing the Dutch races with great competition with riders such as Romain, we had a chance to try things, and I think in the sand now, I can also try to fight for the victory.”

“Obviously, in all the other sand races, I was more or less second best after Lucas, but I had nothing for him. So I don’t know if he’s going to be back next weekend, but if so, I don’t expect him to be as good and as fit as he was in the beginning of the year with his injuries. So I definitely think we have a chance to also win in the sand.

Herlings is looking more and more the dominant rider he used to be with every win on the Honda as his confidence in the machine keeps rising. The question is can anyone else not named Lucas Coenen match his pace for the rest of the year?