Vialle and Herlings Head to Monster Energy MXoN

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing riders Jeffrey Herlings and Tom Vialle have dominated the sport in the last month, with three Grand Prix victories each from the last three rounds, two each in Turkey and one last weekend in Sardinia.

Now these two super faster riders will direct their attention to the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations where they will try and win the Chamberlain Trophy for their countries. Herlings racing for defending champions The Netherlands and Vialle for the multiple winners from the last decade Team France.

Herlings was as mentioned part of the Dutch team that won the event in 2019, the last time the event was held, and the 26-year-old is excited to try and pick up his countries second win ever at this event. He also knows that several teams will be looking to try and do the same thing.

“Obviously,” Herlings said. “It is Holland vs Italy I think, but many teams could be in with a shot, you never know with this event, which I understand. Every time you go out on a bike it is a risk and for sure this race the risk is a little higher, because you are riding for your country and the honour is high. It is the biggest race of the year normally and I don’t want to miss it.”

There was no place Herlings would rather be than at Mantova in Italy this coming weekend and with two strong team-mates you get the feeling the four-time World motocross champion is pretty confident he can help The Netherlands to the top of the podium come Sunday afternoon. If he is excited to race, isn’t a question.

“Yes, of course I am excited to race, because I have a team that can win. Maybe if I had a team that couldn’t win it would be different. We have Glenn (Coldenhoff) and Roan (Van De Moosdijk), so we can win it, but it is a shame other guys are not racing it.”

As for Vialle, it will be his first appearance for Team France, and despite having a father who raced back in the 1990s, this will only be his second time to be at this event live. The defending MX2 World champion attended the event in 2019 as a young fan, and now, in his first time racing he expects to enjoy the experience.

“I think it is good to race as much as I can and I will fight for this race,” Vialle said. “It is nice to race for the country, with the gear, the helmet, we have some good ideas for this race. It will be less pressure than for a Grand Prix.  My father did it four or five teams with team France and I think they got on the podium once. I never went to watch the race. My father stopped racing before I was born and the only one Nations I have been to, was the one in Assen. I had watched GP many times, but I never watched the Nations live before, just on television.”

So now, as all the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations teams make their way to Mantova in Italy, we can be sure the two hottest riders in MXGP and MX2 will be two of the stars when the races are finished on Sunday. Where they will finish and how their individual results will be we will find out soon enough.

Photo Copyright: KTM Racing