Le Mans isn't the only place in the lives of French riders to pick up a win, and this weekend there was also Lugo, Spain, for the eighth round of the 2025 FIM Motocross World Championship.
A Grand Prix with a lot at stake, since after his withdrawal last week for the MXGP Portugal, Tim Gajser, one of the overwhelming favourites for the title, finally declared his withdrawal for the rest of the season and underwent shoulder surgery.
Sad news for the Slovenian, but one that gives Romain Febvre (Kawasaki) an even better chance of winning the world title for France.
Race 1: the perfect scenario for Romain
The dark soil of Lugo works for Romain Febvre. The Frenchman on his Kawasaki showed himself to be very comfortable during the practice sessions and warm-up, being the fastest every time. Right from the start of the race, he showed his pretensions by putting the Kawasaki in the lead in the first corner. A first corner where Coldenhoff missed completely and went wide, too wide. Jeremy Seewer on Ducati, and the two Yamaha riders Maxime Renaux and Jago Geerts took advantage of the situation to pass Coldenhoff.
The second to make a mistake was Geerts, who fell into the trap of deep mud at the edge of the track (it had rained before the race) and lost so much time, that he went home 15th. At the front, Fernandez and Coenen battled it out for the Top5 until the third lap. But Seewer on his Ducati
but Seewer on his Ducati suffered his first mishap of the race, and the following ones saw him finish in an improbable 19th place with a badly damaged machine!
The rain had stopped before the start, but the circuit was very difficult, which put Romain's performance even higher. It was all about trying to stay upright on a tricky surface that didn't leave many overtaking options. The other Ducati rider, Mattia Guadagnini, scored his first Top10 of the year with 10th place.
Herlings progressed throughout the race to take seventh place from Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP's Calvin Vlaanderen, while his Fantic Factory Racing MXGP team-mates Coldenhoff and Andrea Bonacorsi were fifth and sixth from the sixth lap.
Despite his best efforts, Coenen was unable to steal third place from Fernandez, and Renaux was never able to make up the four seconds that separated him from Febvre for the lead.
Race 2: big mistakes, fortunately without consequences
Despite his good start, Febvre was not completely safe at the front. The Kawasaki rider even made a mistake that momentarily gave the lead to Vlaanderen at the end of the first lap. Coenen, with his appetite, also took the lead on a crazy first lap.
Febvre dropped as low as seventh before starting his comeback. Lap after lap, he overtook Geerts and Guadagnini before running into his former team-mate Seewer for four laps to take fourth place on the seventh lap.
His pursuers Geerts and Guadagnini made big mistakes (crashes) to fall to 15th and 18th.
Meanwhile, Romain Febvre continued his efforts to regain the big points. His next victim was Fernandez for third place. On lap 11, the Kawasaki regained third place in what had been a crazy race. Romain was in with a chance of victory. But before perhaps joining Coenen for the win, there was still Vlaanderen in second place, putting in a solid race. Faced with the Frenchman's experience, the Belgian gave way on the 15th of 17 laps. It was now too late to regain Coenen's lead.
Febvre's 23rd career victory gives him a 49-point lead over Coenen in the championship, with Lucas now in 3rd place ahead of Tim Gajser (Honda HRC).
In two weeks' time, Febvre will continue to wear the red plate proudly at his home GP in Ernée!
Romain Febvre I was in the lead in the second race and crashed on the second lap after the big stage. There was a tricky section with deep mud and bumps. I tried to change line in the air and landed in the wrong place. That was my mistake. It took me a while to get up again and I was quite far behind, but I found good trajectories and came back to second place. At first, I didn't think the overall classification was possible, I thought Renaux and Lucas (Coenen) were ahead. Then I saw the pit sign and realized that third place might be enough. I pushed on, passed Ruben and got the overall. Really happy with that. Now we're off to Ernée, which is always special for me, and I hope we get some good weather this time.
Overall MxGP standings at the end of the weekend
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