Tony Cairoli's Time

It is easy to look back on the last two decades and forget just how long two decades is, it all goes so quickly. When Antonio Cairoli burst onto the World scene back in 2004, nobody could have imagined he would end up being very, very close to catching “The Man” of that era, Stefan Everts.

Everts was on the crest of his own wave, having wrapped up his seventh World title and was hunting for number eight in 2004. Everts was coming off racing both the MX1 and MX2 championships and came very close to winning both titles. He has scored his triple GP victory at Ernee, and had picked up his 71^st GP win in 2003 and was by far the most successful GP rider of all time. It seemed nobody could match those statistics.

When the 2004 season started, all eyes were of Everts in the MX1 class and Ben Townley in the MX2 class and we all looked forward to the 2005 season when the two would face off. Townley would win that 2004 MX2 championship and in doing so attract a lot of attention around the World, including American. While the New Zealander was fighting off Everts in 2005, that young Italian kid who had shown so much form in 2004, even picking up a GP win at the famous Namur circuit was stamping his own print into the World of Motocross.

A high-tension battle with fellow Yamaha rider Andrew McFarlane, the Sicilian would score GP wins in Portugal, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Czech Republic and Germany to take his first World title at the Dutch circuit of Lierop. He was on his way, and despite his impressive 2005 season, we still could not have imagined what was to come. Sure, he was a World champion, but in that 2005 season all eyes were really on Everts and Townley and their fight for the MX1 title. Not to mention guys like Michael Pichon, Joel Smets and Josh Coppins, who also fought hard for GP wins against The King.

Everts would win again in 2006 and of course retire with 10 World title and 101 GP victories and Cairoli would lose out to crafty Frenchman Christophe Pourcel in the MX2 class and scored just three GP wins. Was this little Italian racer just to be a single time World champion we wondered?

With Townley heading to America to race at the end of 2005, Europe was in desperate need of a leader and while names like Coppins, Philippaerts, Ramon and were all eligible for that position, nobody stood out as a future legend.

A year later Cairoli picked up his second World MX2 championship and also scored 11 GP wins. Suddenly it seemed, we had found our replacement for the great Stefan Everts. Cairoli would lose out to Tyla Rattray for the 2008 championship after a knee injury at the South African GP but would come back in 2009 and win his first premier class title and another four GP victories to his name. 

From here on in, it was Cairoli time as the Sicilian picked up loads of GP wins and World titles in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. It was a golden era as he moved from Yamaha to KTM and dominated. Scoring eight GP wins in 2010, six in 2011, 11 in 2012, nine in 2013 and nine again in 2014. By the end of the 2014 season, it seemed nobody could match him and Everts records would be broken.

The 2015 season wasn’t what we had all hoped, as American Ryan Villopoto arrived, and everyone waited for the battle between these two legends. Amazingly, neither really took a hold of the championship with Cairoli starting with 4-3-3-2-11 results, before winning in Spain and Great Britain, but from there on in, injuries played a major part in his championship season as was the case with the American champion. 

In fact, injuries started troubling Cairoli more and more and that domination of the previous seasons was gone. Sure enough, he would lose out in 2016 to young rookie Tim Gajser and it seemed his title reign was over. He did score his ninth World championship in 2017, although mainly due to Gajser and Jeffrey Herlings being injured often, but still, that 2017 championship was a typical victory for the Italian legend where he just gritted his teeth and remained composed.

His final championship battles would be epic as he fought Herlings and Gajser, but came up short in 2018 to Herlings, 2019 and 2020 to Gajser and 2021 to Herlings. The youth had taken over and for our Sicilian friend the writing was on the wall. 

Mid-season he announced his retirement and while he did have stellar moments in his final season of Grand Prix motocross, his sixth-place finish in the series points was well down on what he was capable of. Injuries again playing their part in his performances.

He did take his GP victories to 94, just seven short of Everts and he did leave the sport with a GP victory in Italy in his 274^th GP weekend. While we look back though, over the last 18 years we have seen a man who put everything on the line, rode with great pride and contributed to the Grand Prix series more than most have, more than anyone but Everts.

The legend of Antonio Cairoli will live on forever, that we are assured and while he will continue to work with the De Carli team and his presence in the GP paddock will be long standing, that golden era from 2009 until 2014 will always be remembered as the Cairoli years. 

Just like the golden eras of Robert and De Coster in the early 1970s, Geboers, Malherbe, Jobe and Thorpe in the 1980s and Everts and Smets in the 1990s and early 2000s, Tony Cairoli was the man for his period. 18 years of GP wins, 18 years of blood, sweat and tears and 18 years of high respect from everyone inside the paddock and watching from home.

Reprint from MXLarge.com