FEBVRE AND THE CHAMPIONSHIP

Kawasaki Factory rider, Romain Febvre really showed in 2025, that he is more than capable of adding more world titles to his name and he will enter the 2026 season, confident that a third world MXGP championship is very confident.

Already with two, his first in 2015 and this years championships, he also has 26 Grand Prix wins, that puts him level in the all-time GP winners list with legendary Italian Alessio Chiodi, and not far behind Heikki Mikkola on 32, Gaston Rahier 30, Georges Jobe 28, Andre Malherbe 28, Paul Friedrichs 28 and Dave Strijbos 27. A solid 2026 and he should easily pass Strijbos, Friedrichs, Malherbe and Jobe, which is not mean feat.

Returning from the 2025 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations, Febvre is ready for a busy winter, as he deals with sponsors, fans and friends, in his role as the current MXGP world champion.

“It feels good,” Febvre said on his return to Europe. “And now to come back to Europe I need to meet a lot of sponsors and friends. After the Nations, I forgot that a little bit and when I see people now, they all remind me I am a two-time world champion. Whenever somebody tells me that, it means a lot. It is a really good feeling.”

As for the season, it was a long and hard road to victory, but he showed time and time again, that winning a world motocross championship comes with being patient and confident.

“I am pretty sure I was the most consistent and I was always there. Even if I had one bad Race, I could cool down and then the next one and keep the championship points gap, it was always there. I could always keep some points. With Coenen, he is young and from the middle of the season, he had proved everything and anything after that was his job done and after it was a bonus. I think he was trying to win and beat me every time, even if he had to take some risk. He showed everything as a rookie and then, after, it was harder for me. I could not manage the gap, but I also needed to go for it and at some GPs I really needed to go for it and not make a mistake. In Sweden for example, I felt like if I get the holeshot, I really needed to win and that is what I did, and he then had a bad GP at that time.”

As for that visit to the Ironman circuit in America, for the Nations, the experience and was happy with making the podium with Team France. Always a tough event after a long season, Febvre looks back on Ironman with the knowledge that he ticked off a bucket list experience.

“Motivation is always there, but the travel was heavy, Turkiye, China, Australia, back to US, so the biggest challenge was the travel, and it was getting heavy going to the Nations. I was happy to ride there, a track that I wanted to ride once in my life, because it’s a nice track and also, Nations in US, is always special and I was happy to be there. Maybe I wasn’t feeling on my best level, because of the travel and after the championship. I had a vibe, that the stress and everything was low, and I was tired after a long season. I found I rode well and the European riders, we were okay against them. Maybe Australian won with Jett and Hunter, but some European riders, like Tim, or Lucas or myself, we were sometimes close to them. It was nice to see where we are compared to them.”

Now, with some rest, time with his little family and obligations as the world champion, he will return in 2026 as a 34 year old and with that little bit extra experience to make the defence of his MXGP championship, that little bit easier.

Photo credit: Pascal Haudiquert