Victories In Sardegna

Italy is always an important stop in the world motocross championship. Back in 1957 in the very first year of the FIM Motocross World Championships when Swedish legend Bill Nilsson won at the Imola circuit, a circuit that would hold seven of the first eight 500cc Grand Prix’s.

Many great circuits have been a part of the GP scene, from Gallarate where Torsten Hallman won his first 250 GP in Italy, and would win five times in that country, at various circuits. Of course, Maggiora, which first appeared on the GP scene in 1966 when German legend Paul Friedrichs won a 500cc GP has a huge history, with the legendary 1986 Motocross des Nations, and that events return in 2016, not to mention a long list of Grand Prix’s held at that magnificent circuit on the hillside.

We could go on forever, with circuits like Cingoli, Fermo, Faenza, Montevarchi, and Arco Di Trento have all been written in motocross folk-law and will remain great memories for those lucky enough to visit those old school circuits.

This weekends fourth round of the 2026 MXGP world championship heads to Sardegna and the very tough, Crossodromo Comunale “Le Dune” circuit, a circuit that has celebrated some historical moments in the sports history.

The opening GP at Riola was won by Jeffrey Herlings with a perfect 1-1 result, beating Jorge Prado who scored 2-2 and Romain Febvre with 3-3. In MX2, it was Tom Vialle who won with 1-1, Maxime Renaux was second with 2-3 and third was Kay De Wolf with 4-4 scores.

Who can forget the winner in 2022, when Calvin Vlaanderen, on a privateer machine won with 1-1 results, ahead of Prado 3-3 and Glenn Coldenhoff with 8-2 finishes. Vialle won again with 1-1, ahead of Jago Geerts on 2-2 and Roan Van De Moosdijk 4-3.

Herlings won again in 2023 with 2-2 scores, ahead of Coldenhoff 5-1 and Prado 1-6 results, while in MX2 in 2023, it was Geerts with 2-1, de Wolf 1-2 and Thibault Benistant 4-3. 2024 and Prado on with 1-1, Tim Gajser made his podium debut at Riola with a 2-2 score and Herlings went 3-3 for third overall. In MX2 de Wolf went 2-1, Lucas Coenen was second with 1-2 and third was Camden Mc Lellan with 3-5.

Finally in 2025, Romain Febvre added his name to the winners list in Sardegna, with a 4-1 score, Coldenhoff was second with 2-3 and third was Tim Gajser with 5-2 for third place. In MX2, de Wolf joined Herlings and Vialle as a two-time winner in Sardegna, with a 1-1 performance and second being Mc Lellan with 2-3 and third was Andrea Adamo with 4-2.

Now, we arrived with two very tough championships in MXGP and MX2 and a number of riders capable of taking victory. It is hard to go past Lucas Coenen, who has been sensational in 2026 and takes the red plate to Sardegna, but you can not count out the likes of Herlings, De Wolf, Gajser, Vialle, Febvre or Adamo as possible winners.

Photo credit: KTM