STEFAN EVERTS AND JOEL SMETS ON 2026 MXGP

There is no doubt, the 2026 MXGP season will without question be one of the best in the sports history. Legends like Tim Gajser and Jeffrey Herlings changing teams, former World MX2 champions, Tom Vialle, Kay de Wolf and Andrea Adamo moving up in the class and many other questions to be answered.

Of course, the 2025 battle between Romain Febvre and Lucas Coenen can not be forgotten and that still could very easily be the highlight again in 2026. We decided to ask two of the greatest riders in the sports history, 10-time world champion, Stefan Everts and five-time world champion, Joel Smets, what is their opinion of what is to come next year.

Stefan Everts: “Yes, sure and with Kay moving up next year, which makes it so exciting. I think its going to be tough for the older guys, to have these young guys moving up. We saw it with Lucas how he put Tim under pressure in Switzerland, and we saw what happened with Tim, he made this huge mistake. These young guys are putting the level up. We were in Valkenswaard (International race few weeks ago), and we saw Kay and Liam were just following Jeffrey the whole time. Jeffrey is normally the best sand rider, but he couldn’t pull away from Kay and Liam. These guys are not even in the class yet. Its going to be difficult for both Tim and Jeffrey. Kay will be on that top level; I am sure of that. Tim and Jeffrey, swapping teams and bikes, it can turn out well, or not well and that is the gamble they took and maybe they needed the new challenge. It is cool to see them on different bikes and how they will adapt to it. Being on the same team, its normal motivation can go down and being on a new team brings new motivation and maybe it is the right time for them to make this change. We will know in one years’ time.“

Joel Smets:  “We don’t know how exciting it is going to be of course. I have been in the sport as long as you (telling Geoff Meyer), maybe even longer and I am like wow, this is going to be really interesting. How the hell is Jeffrey (Herlings) going to do, how the hell is Tim (Gajser) going to do, how the hell is Tom Vialle going to do, how is Kay de Wolf going to be on a 450, Andrea, how is he going to do. You also have Calvin Vlaanderen changing teams, we have Mattia Guadagnini, he won’t be fighting for the championship, but how will he do. Really, the top eight, there are a lot of contenders. It is going to be cool, really cool. Over the last 17 years, when Jeffrey was healthy, there were not many question marks, easy. When Tony was in his prime, not many question marks. All the time when Tim was good, he was fighting at the top. There were often not many question marks, but now, for 2026, there are a lot.”

Photo credit: KTM