As I sit in my hotel at Madrid Airport, reflecting on what we saw last weekend, I have to admit, I absolutely loved it. I cannot even believe I am saying that and while I am often told I am too positive and I am not realistic, on this occasion, I think there was enough positives to be happy with the weekend.

While last weekend’s Grand Prix in Cozar, Spain was anything but great, for some reason, I left that muddy, dirty facility with a feeling I had really enjoyed myself and wanting to write what I saw.

Maybe I just felt lucky I didn’t have to leave the media room as much as everyone else, because going outside was putting it bluntly, SHIT. The facility was shit, the weather was shit, damn, we didn’t even have a toilet and for the men in the media room, which wasn’t nearly as bad as it was for the women.

I had booked my trip to Spain during a really cold period in The Netherlands in January, and because of that cold gloomy Dutch weather, I had booked going to Spain for a week, instead of just the four days of the race. I figured I would make a bit of a holiday in the sun and take in the whole experience. Boy, was I wrong in that department.

Spain rained a lot, and it was cold and while the GP weather did bring some sunshine, generally, it’s been overcast here and just a huge disappointment.

Funnily enough, chatting with one of our advertisers, Nick from Pro Carbon last night, he reminded me that Spain is famous for muddy GPs and I then reminded him about Bellpuig back in the early 2000s, which was one of the worst GP’s conditions wise I had ever attended.

They say, the rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain, and that was correct for the Spanish GP this year. At time we lost power, Wi-Fi, the whole paddock was on DNF mode, and the torrential rain kept coming. But then, just when it seemed everything was bleak about the weekend, three men made it all worthwhile.

We already know Tim Gajser is special, five World motocross championships, four in the MXGP class, 50 GP wins, a win ratio of 25% and the guy is just a splendid human being. Watching him dominate last weekend to get his historical 50th, well, I loved it. Now, I am a Jeffrey Herlings fan, I have made that very obvious over the years and I am excited to see him come back.

However, you have to hand it to Gajser, because he has just did his own thing, he doesn’t say outlandish stuff, he doesn’t do those charges through the field (ala Herlings), he just puts his head down and remains consistent, smooth and on many occasions, effortless.

Last Sunday was one of those days and interviewing him after his victory, he was typical Tim, friendly, honest and just a damn good bloke. He is a true professional, down to a tee.

A sixth World title awaits him if he just does Tim Gajser for the next 18 rounds and with a 20-point lead over Romain Febvre, he sits nicely. Now, I would tip Febvre or Renaux to win next weekend in France, but you also know, Tim will just do Tim and maybe go 2-3, or 3-3, or whatever and then turn up in the deep sand of Riola or the hard pack of Trentino and again be himself, maybe win one of those and watch his rivals make mistakes, which is what happened last weekend.

While we all applaud Gajser for his win, how about that 34-year-old (the oldest rider in the field) Glenn Coldenhoff?? Just like Gajser, a totally amazing human being. A complete gentleman, always smiling, nobody can dislike this Dutchman, but at the ripe old age of 34, he has started 2025 better than any time in his season (at least that is what he told me).

Like Gajser, the Fantic factory rider loves it when its dirty and horrible. Be it the deep rutted out sand of Arnhem or the mud and slush of Cozar, you will find Coldenhoff slashing around like a pig in mud.

If Coldenhoff can pick up some handy points in France, I would tip him to maybe crack the top three spot in the MXGP points after we leave Riola, because the way he is riding, he has every chance to win that deep sand GP and we are expecting some rain for the French GP next weekend and if we get enough, you know he will use his skills better than most. Seeing the two smiling faces of Gajser and Coldenhoff on the podium reminds me how nice guys don’t always finish last.

And taking us to the MX2 class, well, another positive moment as Liam Everts led his good friend and Nestaan Husqvarna factory team-mate, Kay De Wolf to victory in Spain.

How can we not be super impressed with this third generation Everts. His mud skills made many of the MXGP riders sit up and try and copy his attitude in the mud and for Coldenhoff (one rider who watched Everts skills and was super impressed) he showed the perfect performance.

Everts, like Gajser is really a level above everyone else in the mud and his calmness, precision and mental toughness in these conditions made him a joy to watch, but the win on the ground wasn’t as big as the win in his head.

As he mentioned in the press conference, six months ago, he was on the couch and wondering if he would ever race again. His horrible accident in China last September leaving him for a short time paralysed and for some seconds, he must have though not only his career was over, but also the life he had wanted to live.

Now, we know about his fathers fight with malaria and we know about his grandfather’s life with polio, so we know the Everts family are tough, so many we shouldn’t be surprised by his toughness. This isn’t something that is bred into Liam Everts, this is in his DNA, and boy, many of us around the circuit last weekend might have even shed a tear, because these sportsmen we call motocross riders, they are not normal.

Liam, like Gajser and Coldenhoff is a good human being, a very polite, well brought up young man, and the way he has pushed himself out of the huge shadows that were cast over him, that alone makes him a special character.

When it seemed, Liam was going to miss Argentina, we all thought, okay, another year of waiting for him to really fight for a World title. We wondered if he would make it happen, would his time ever come to be a serious contender, with the points leader in eye view. It looks like after Cozar, that the time is now, and it seems, 2025 is the year we get to see Liam Everts fight for a World title.

In a sport that takes as much as it gives, Cozar, Spain could easily be a round we all looked at and wanted to forget, the facility was a complete mess, the mud covered every single point of ground, and it was uncomfortable, it was cold, it was damp, and it was horrible and fortunately, we won’t be going back there any time soon.

What came out of the MXGP of Castilla la Mancha for me, was these three men, Gajser, Coldenhoff and Everts. Good guys don’t finish last and in Spain last weekend, we all won because of that.

As for my positivity for such a horrible Grand Prix. I still remember my first ever motocross race as a 10 year old boy. What attracted me to the sport was these men with gothic like face masks, chest protectors that reminded me of the Roman soldiers fighting in the Colosseum. These athletes, covered in mud and sweat, as tough as any man we had seen in any sport. That is still what amazes me, because motocross men, are the toughest sportsmen in the World and Cozar, Spain, was another reason to believe that.

Images Eva Szabadfi, Fullspectrum and Bavo Swijgers