The fifth round of the 2026 FIM World Motocross Championships takes riders from the Italian island of Sardegna to the north of the same country for this weekend’s MXGP of Trentino.
For the 15th year in succession, the beautiful “Il Ciclamino” venue will host the MXGP elite, and this race attracts vast numbers of fans every year from all corners of Europe to the circuit between the villages of Dro and Pietramurata, becoming a true “bucket list” weekend for hardcore Motocross supporters and casual fans alike.
Its central location, close to the borders of Switzerland, Austria, and particularly Slovenia, mean that many fans travel to support their riders, especially for the most successful rider in the history of this circuit, the five-time World Champion from Slovenia, Tim Gajser.
The new Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP pilot has taken six victories in all here, including his first ever GP victory, exactly 11 years ago this Sunday.
His five wins in the MXGP class include last season’s event, when he enjoyed a perfect Sunday to clinch the 52nd GP winner’s trophy of his career.
He is just one of eight previous Trentino winners to line-up this weekend, at a circuit which saw its first GP in 1987, won by Italian Massimo Contini on a 125cc Cagiva.
Dutchman Jeffrey Herlings, currently second in the World Championship for Honda HRC Petronas, has won here five times in total, and would dearly love to match Gajser’s record in a season where he is facing one of the toughest challenges of his career.
Current MXGP red plate holder Lucas Coenen has won five of the last six GP races in 2026 for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, but the teenager has never finished on the podium here, with a best of fourth in last year’s event.
His chasers will hope that lack of form continues, so that they can dent the confidence of the points leader with a four-week break to come afterwards.
Reigning MX2 World Champion Simon Längenfelder has taken three out of four GP wins with the number one plate on his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machine, but he has also yet to win overall at Pietramurata, scoring just one podium result in 2024.
His main challenger in the points standings, Sacha Coenen, has just as many podium results at Trentino as his twin brother. Yes, that means zero! With a perfect record of qualifying race victories so far in 2026 for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, he will be another set to correct his record at this iconic venue.
The EMX250 European Championship class heads to Trentino for its fourth round of 2026, and the bad news for the chasing pack is that Francisco Garcia, who has won all but one race of the season so far for Venum Bud Racing Kawasaki, was also victorious here last year.
Sardegna winner Nikolaj Skovbjerg has jumped into second in the standings for MX-Handel Husqvarna Racing, but the Dane is an amazing 50 points back from the Spaniard.
Garcia’s Australian team-mate Jake Cannon had a nightmare at Riola and is another five points back. Top Italian in the series is last year’s EMX125 Champ, Nicolò Alvisi, who lies seventh for the Maddii Racing Honda ABF Italia squad, while Beddini Ducati Factory MX2 Team racer Simone Mancini will be hoping to bounce back from his Sardegna disaster at the track where he scored his only race win of last year.
There might be a few more Austrian fans joining the Pietramurata party as they have two young riders at the top of the EMX125 European Championship Presented by FMF Racing standings.
Norman KTM Factory Rookies teamster Moritz Ernecker took his second overall win of the year in Sardegna, while his team-mate Ricardo Bauer lost ground to sit 32 points behind.
Frenchman Sleny Goyer took the second race victory for Yamaha Europe Monster Energy MJC, promoting himself to third in the series. Top Italian Andrea Uccellini will be the crowd favourite as he lies fifth for TM Moto CRD Motorsport, just ahead of his countryman David Cracco for Dreams Racing KTM.
After the sand-dance of Sardegna, the rocky slopes of Trentino will provide a very different show, but will the winners be the same.
Tune in this weekend for an unmissable GP to round out the first quarter of the season! Already? Time flies when you’re having fun.
The pace of championship leader Lucas Coenen at Riola Sardo will have unnerved any long-time Herlings fan, but there is now seven weeks until the next sandy GP, and moving to the hard-pack of Trentino could even the odds between the top two in the series, who are now 14 points apart.
The Dutchman has taken ten individual race wins, two Qualifying Race wins, and five GP victories away from the Italian cliffsides, and will hope to make all of his 12 GP’s worth of experience here count this weekend.
He took a race win when he was last fully fit at this venue, in 2023, but his most recent GP win was in October 2021, the first of three GPs here that year.
In contrast, Coenen has finished in the top three here just once, with a third in race one last year, while his best qualifying result was a mere seventh in 2023’s MX2 round.
His only success at Trentino was a double victory in EMX125 back in 2021, so he’ll be looking to unlock the old feelings from that day.
Third in the 2026 standings is now Frenchman Tom Vialle, and the Honda HRC Petronas man has won twice overall here in MX2, taken seven race wins, and even clinched his first world title at this venue back in November 2020.
After a crash-affected Riola GP, he has just a two-point gap over reigning champion Romain Febvre, who holds a curious record at Il Ciclamino, winning on Saturday for the last three years, although he has never won the overall on Sunday.
He has taken second overall four times in total, including each of the last two events for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP.
Next in the standings come the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP duo of Tim Gajser and Maxime Renaux, and the crowds always come to get behind the Slovenian at one of his best circuits, where he clinched his 2020 world title.
He has finished on the podium in 13 of his last 14 appearances here, with 12 race wins and three QR victories. Can he take his very first win in blue here, as he did in red?
Renaux also clinched a world title here, his only one so far in 2021, when he took his sole GP victory at the circuit. He will welcome the return to hard-pack this weekend, as will Ruben Fernandez, who sits in seventh for Honda HRC Petronas.
The Spaniard quietly took his best result yet from Sardegna, and with three MX2 podium results to his name at Arco, he is not a rider to be discounted.
Steadily building in his rookie MXGP season is Andrea Adamo, currently eighth for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and no doubt looking forward to what may be his “true” home GP.
The Sicilian has won two MX2 Grands Prix here before, including his first ever, but bizarrely never won a Sunday race, apart from a QR win in 2024, his only one that year.
His old MX2 sparring partner, Kay de Wolf, is just two points behind Adamo, and took the first MXGP podium of his career last weekend for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing. Despite the contrasting terrain, the Dutchman has shown pace in Trentino with podium results and an MX2 race win in 2024.
Calvin Vlaanderen is flying the flag for the Red Bull Ducati Factory MX Team this season, holding down tenth for the Italian manufacturer, and he will be hoping to get inspiration from what will doubtlessly be a very busy GP for the team, at a venue where he has a best finish of fourth overall in MXGP.
His team-mate Andrea Bonacorsi will be trying to get his first points score of the season at his home GP after coming back from his Argentina injury.
Fantic Factory Racing MXGP team leader Alberto Forato is also looking forward to his first home GP on the mainland since he took a qualifying race win at Maggiora in 2023, and the big man is just four points outside of the top ten in the series after a great sixth in Sardegna.
Another home rider returning to Trentino for the first time since 2023, when he took fifth overall, is Mattia Guadagnini, with special kit coming for his Venrooy KTM Racing squad.
Other former winners at the Pietramurata venue include MRT Racing Team Beta rider Jago Geerts, who has won twice here in MX2. Jeremy Seewer won the 2021 MXGP of Garda here, and he sits 20th in the current standings for Red Bull Ducati Factory MX Team.
British star Ben Watson lines up for Dirt Store Triumph Racing at the site of his victory in 2020, his last GP in MX2.
Frenchman Thibault Benistant took his last MX2 GP race win here last year, and he’ll be looking to turn around what has been a difficult first MXGP season so far for Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul.
The talent-packed MXGP field is sure to provide some incredible racing and get the big crowd involved in the process. Don’t be missing it.
Catch up with the action from last weekend right here:
MXGP – World Championship Top 10 Classification (after round 4 of 19):
1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 192 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 178 p.; 3. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 162 p.; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 160 p.; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 149 p.; 6. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 143 p.; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 115 p.; 8. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 107 p.; 9. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 105 p.; 10. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, DUC), 90 p.
MX2 – World Championship Top 10 Classification (after round 4 of 19):
1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 205 points; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 181 p.; 3. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 166 p.; 4. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 162 p.; 5. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 153 p.; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 143 p.; 7. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 118 p.; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 114 p.; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 105 p.; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, KAW), 87 p.
Photo courtesy Infront Moto Racing
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