Two years ago, nearly to the day (April 30), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing hero, Jeffrey Herlings launched into the first of two back-to-back events on the Iberian Peninsula winning his 101st career Grand Prix and his second of the 2023 MXGP series at a sunny Agueda for the Grand Prix of Portugal.

“It’s really great to come and get another win,” Herlings said at the time. “It’s been a long road, and I feel I am getting back to my old self in some ways. A good performance today. The first moto wasn’t that positive, and I had some arm-pump again - I really don’t know why - but in the second one I felt like a different rider and could really push. I’m looking forward to Spain. 101 GP wins is pretty special and now just one more for the record.”

Now, as we head back to Agueda and Portugal in a little over a weeks’ time, the rider many once called, “The fastest man on the planet”, is sitting on 107 GP wins, and unfortunately, due to a handful of injuries, has added just six GP wins in the last 24 months.

Herlings made history that day in Portugal, equalling Stefan Everts' hefty 101 GP win total, which had been the record since his final GP win in France in 2006. Incredible that it lasted 17 years, but even more incredible, that it was broken at all, but we all know, Mr Herlings is very special.

The Dutchman went 3-1 at Agueda in 2023, for the ‘overall’ and two rounds after Herlings crested the three-figure barrier in the Grand Prix record books, the five-times world champion was back to his attack on the sport’s statistics. But suddenly, GP wins dried up somewhat (in his terms of success) and since Portugal in 2023, wins have been hard to come by.

For me, a Herlings fans for 15 years, since 2010, when he burst onto the GP scene with that very first Grand Prix victory at Valkenswaard in The Netherlands (in his fourth GP of his career), I cannot wait for him to pick up win number 108, and while those six GP wins over two years is a long way from the days of him scoring 17 GP wins in 2018, or 15 in 2016, or 16 in 2013, with his career coming to an end, please motocross Gods, bring him back to the top of the podium, where he so often belonged.

Wouldn’t it be something if Herlings could go 108 in Portugal, the sight of his 101st GP win and a circuit, while tough on the Dutchman, has also seen him have some of his best battles.

Side Note

On a side note, that 15th place in his return in 2025, at the Sardinian circuit, was only the 11th time in his career he has finished outside the top 10 overall (and we know a few times he has DNS the second moto after winning the first moto, which makes those numbers even more impressive). The other unfortunate statistic though, he has missed 75 GPs since his first in 2010, due to injuries. Oh, what could have been if his bones were not so brittle. The mind boggles at how many titles and GP wins he would have scored without the injuries.

Jeffrey Herlings – Yearly GP Wins

2010 - 2

2011 - 5

2012 - 9

2013 - 16

2014 - 12

2015 - 4

2016 - 15

2017 - 6

2018 - 17

2019 - 2

2020 - 4

2021 - 9

2022 - Zero

2023 - 4

2024 - 4

JP/KTM image