Lucas Coenen is reaching an elite level that few ever have. Sure, Herlings is in the latter part of his career, but take Coenen out of the equation and he’s still the best sand rider in the world. Lucas may simply have found another level.
At the MXGP of Sardinia, it’s no surprise that the top 3 best sand riders in the world went 1-2-3; Coenen, Herlings, and Kay de Wolf.
Lucas’s best lap in Moto 2 was FIVE seconds faster than Febvre (defending champ)in 4th!!! Other than a mud race, when do you ever see such a huge disparity in speed in the US? Or anywhere really? This is rare Stew, RC, peak-Herlings stuff, and it’s awesome to witness.
The kid doesn’t even have a single title yet, but there are many in his future.
I do believe once de Wolf is 100% and finds his groove on 450 by the end of the season and next year, he’ll be right there in the mix at the front as well.
He was 2 seconds faster on hard pack as well, over Gajser and Herlings. I’ll probably get downvoted for this but Lucas is turning into what Herlings should have been for a career path. Get out of the 250 class fast and up to a 450. For elite guys that’s how it should be.
I disagree with DeWolf take, IMO Lucas is another level. Kay should not follow him to USA. Stay in Europe avoid Lucas and go into an era where your the young gun.
If Lucas wins the next GP in Arco,the rest of the field is in for a long season!!!The guy is fast as hell on all type of soils.
silly comparison
Herlings has won a shit load of titles and races. Lucas has moved to the 450s and is fast.
We don’t know yet if he will also be injury prone and then retire early… we really don’t know. maybe he’ll go to the US. Who knows….
The depth of top level riders in MXGP is super impressive at the moment. I don’t think it’s any fluke that Europe is producing more elite riders than the US.
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His racecraft has increased exponentially regarding the last years. He closed a gap of around 5 seconds on Herlings, took a lap or two to study his lines, then retaliated and gapped him 20 seconds. The Coenen of 2024 or the beginning of 2025 would'nt have studied the lines and attacked immediately, probably resulting in getting closed off or crashing.
He learned from last year how Febvre took his title: keep your bad days as good as possible. With his eye problems in Argentina he decided to take it as easy as possible and just score some decent points, instead of going balls to the wall and ending up out of the top 10. That's something the "old" Coenen would never have done.
I think his opponents are lucky he had those issues in Argentina, the DSQ in Switzerland and the startcrash at Riola on Saturday, otherwise the gap would've been enormous by round five.
Herlings had a startcrash in Spain, the crash in the qualifying race in Argentina followed by a freak bike issue and the same chain DNF in Switzerland. So to call him 'lucky' is kind off misplaced. All ifs and btts. The others tho should be worried.
I agree he has made a huge step in the winter.
It has nothing to do with how many titles he won and everything to do with wanting to get to the 450 class as soon as possible and try and win the premier titles. Could you imagine Lucas racing a 250 right now? Would be a complete waste of that talent and skill.
This is good stuff. It’s hard to believe Herlings could be gapped in the sand like this. Did you read what Herlings said about Coenen & Jett?
“he’s on a level right now that, even though I’m maybe Jett Lawrence’s biggest fan, I don’t even think Jett Lawrence would have stayed with the boy here next to me today. Even though I’m a massive fan, I think currently he’s [Coenen] one of the fastest in the world.”
Looks promising, but don't forget he crashed while trying to keep that speed up. We need a bit more time.
And I wrote in another thread, just to put things in perspective: Herlings in 2012 was 7 sec a lap faster than second guy in Lierop. 5 sec faster than Cairoli who won MX1 class races in Lierop.
As a slight aside, did anyone else think Febvre looked awful this weekend? Carrying an injury from one of the early season crashes, perhaps?
That's a stretch.
Besides Deegan…who do we have coming up?
He's correct . They have the EMX 125 and 250 series' to develop . We have Loretta's . It's really not hard to figure out .
Cole Davies
Wait what?
Awful is a severe word to use, off would be more accurate
When you say Europe are you counting AUS and NZ in that…
Pit Row
What are you even talking about? He went 2-3-4 on the weekend and virtually stood on the overall podium before De Wolf passed him for 3rd place in lap 13.
This isn't 2018. Herlings isn't what he was. You want to tell me that prime Herlings can't beat Coenan?
It won't even surprise me if Herlings gets a lot better throughout the season
Coenen looked even more smooth than Herlings - just carrying speed everywhere never seemed to be hammering his way through the track. Those elite sand riders know every roller, every rhythm, every bump to jump or wheelie over. FMOTP? In the conversation at least, but an age-old comparison of someone in their prime (Coenen) vs someone (Herlings) still fast but near the end of their career.
I think the only thing that can stop Coenen will be Coenen. Stay upright, don't crash too hard/too much - who is going to stop him?
Theyre in SMX next turning lap times 2 seconds shy of Jorge Prado. SMX next is creating absolute monsters in many cases. it's just that no one's told you so on a podcast yet so it isn't on your radar.
So are you worshipping him now?
That’s what Herlings did, total waste of his time
Selfishly, bring Conen brothers over along with De Wolf, Fabrev and a few more of them.
That would fun.
Its age, happens to the best of them.
This isn't peak herlings... that day is long gone... same for gasjer and febvre.... lc is fast... but not some new level...
I'm neither American nor Belgian, but I'm real excited to see what the Coenen's make of it when they get to the US.
I never really got the Euro Vs US stuff, British Superbike and British Touring Car were both the best racing of their type for a while, just like AMA pro motocross and supercross is the best of it's type for the majority of us.
Having many of the best and baddest from all over racing in your national series is awesome and it's good times for all of us who get to watch it.
There are definitely still solid American lads coming up, always will be, but many that were going to be the next best thing seem to fizzle out way before they even take a decent swing at the 250 class these days.
Some of the European and Australasian lads build serious technique and grit in the EMX and GP series, it still seems to be real good for development and resilience. Fast guys will be fast wherever they've come from, so it'll just be cool to see how it shapes up.
Rambling, unsolicited musing over 🤙
He’s not wrong though. Besides Deegan and Davies, the rest of the 250 class is a snooze fest with the same old tale repeating itself: flashes of brilliance and wildly inconsistent.
If they develop through Europe yes, otherwise no.
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