Herlings and Vialle own the MXGP and MX2 classes together for the fourth time this season in France

MXGP of Spain: this weekend took the twelveth Grand Prix of the 2021 Motocross World Championship in LaCapelle-Marival.

MXGP

Jeffrey Herlings regains red plate with 95th career win, fifth of 2021 and tenth podium finish.

Jeffrey Herlings: “A pretty good day. I already knew this morning that Romain would be good here and I had to step-up my game. The set-up I had for the first moto was pretty hard and there were a lot of off-cambers I was struggling with some arm-pump. Romain made a pass and I had to let him go. At the end of the moto I tried to close him back but I was just a bit too late. He won fair-and-square. I had another good start in the second moto and tried to pull away but it was tough. I entered a turn too hard and just washed out a front wheel; luckily I didn’t lose too much time and again managed to close it back down to Romain. We had a bit of bar-banging with the pass but I knew on this track you had to make a statement. I won the moto and the overall and now I’m looking forward to next weekend.”

Tony Cairoli: “It seemed better today compared to last week in Germany but I’m still struggling a lot. It’s four weeks now since I’ve been able to ride during the week. I didn’t do much before Sardinia because I knew it would be a heavy GP but then I crashed and haven’t trained since. I cannot do much cardio either because the ribs hurt. It’s hard to keep my condition like it was before. Today I was 5th in the first moto and could push until the end but in the second I started to suffer. It was good to get the holeshot in the second and be 3rd. I was riding a bit conservative but Gajser was chasing me a lot and I started to get cramps in my side and back. I was hard to hang-on anymore. It was a shame to be 4th because another few laps would have given me the podium. I have to accept that things are not easy for me at the moment in this condition and with the training. I can only hope that this week I can do a bit more than I could recently and regain some more speed with the bike.”

Jorge Prado: “Coming here this weekend I didn’t know if I could even ride the bike but I had the mentality to try. I’m in the fight for the championship and to get some points is something. After these two motos the cut looks OK and it’s not worse. It was a rough day because I didn’t feel there was much strength in the arm. I didn’t get a good lap in Timed Practice, so I didn’t get a good gate and then actually touched the gate for both starts with my front wheel! I did what I could, and I began to feel better in the second moto. We got some valuable points and now we’ll get ready for the home GP because I want to bounce back as soon as possible.”

MX2

Tom Vialle sends home crowd into rapture with fifth MX2 success and fourth from the last five GPs.

Tom Vialle: “A really nice day. It’s the first time I’ve won the French GP and it’s amazing to ride in front of the public. Last year we didn’t have many fans at the races, so this was very nice. I had a bit more pressure than a ‘normal’ GP today but I managed to do good. The starts were really important. The track was sketchy and I don’t think this was my best GP in terms of riding but I’m really happy to win both motos again.”

Mattia Guadagnini: “I’m happy to be back on the podium and to come back from a bad weekend in Germany both for the results and my riding. We did a great job today. Taking Pole Position was important for the start and I had a very decent gate pick. The track made passing difficult but I was pleased to go 2-3. I lost a bit of rhythm towards the end of the second moto but it’s positive to be back on the podium.”

Rene Hofer: “Coming here I thought it would be better for passing but it turned out to be pretty one-line. The starts were quite OK and I was happier with the second race because my pace was good and 5th place was quite solid. I made a few mistakes in the first race and that was the key moment because I couldn’t make the passes. We can definitely keep on progressing and we gained pretty good points for the championship. My confidence is up and I feel much better compared to the beginning of the season. I haven’t ridden the next track in Spain but I like the look of it. We’ll put in the hard work this week and will be ready to go again.”

Motocross World Championship 2021, Round 12 – LaCapelle-Marival (FRA)

MXGP
1. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM)

5. Tony Cairoli (KTM)

14. Jorge Prado (KTM)

MX2
1. Tom Vialle (KTM)

2. Mattia Guadagnini (KTM)

6. Rene Hofer (KTM)

10. Stephen Rubini (Honda)

15. Simon Längenfelder (GasGas)

16. Isak Gifting (GasGas)

18. Gianluca Facchetti (KTM)

25. Filippo Zonta (Honda)