De Carli KTM Factory rider, Lucas Coenen might have ended the 2024 season in the back of an ambulance, but his performances prior to his crash at the 2024 Monster Energy Motocross of Nations shook up the World and allowed people to understand, just how good this kid is.

At just 18 years of age, he has on a regular basis shown that he is special and while it is hard to know if he is as special as a those two young teenagers from 2010, Jeffrey Herlings, or Ken Roczen, or even most recent World champion, Jorge Prado, there are enough signs to know, he will have a long and successful career.

As far as his performance at the MXoN last month, one thing is sure, he went to Matterley Basin full of confidence and he also knew, he would be in amongst the best 450 riders in the World, while racing his MX2 machine and trying to beat them.

“Yes,” Coenen said. “I mean, I expected that I was really fast, and I knew it was possible to battle with the 450s. Like, in the past, Ryan (Villopoto) did it (at Budds Creek in 2007), he won two races, and I thought it could be possible. If I got the holeshot, I thought it would be possible, but for me, I came from a little back, in 10th position. When I was battling with them, I passed Ken (Roczen), I passed Jeremy (Seewer), I passed a couple of other people, and I mean, that was already impressive and I was catching Prado and I was like, “this guy is the MXGP World champion and I am behind him and catching him”. Unfortunately, then I got a problem with the goggles and then I lost the good vision, and I was like, I will settle for fifth, but then a rut broke in front of me, and I didn’t see it and went over the bars and broke my collarbone. For the event, I have no big regrets and what I showed, I think people will remember. It was really cool to ride like that.”

Heading into the 2025 MXGP season, Coenen will have done his share of 450 riding, and challenging the likes of Eli Tomac, Jorge Prado, Jeffrey Herlings and many other 450 legends, means his confidence for the 2025 season will only grow in time.

“I showed to the people that I was fighting out there, with the best people in the World, so that isn’t bad already and also on the Saturday, I think I put on a show for everybody. I was hoping the track was not flat on Sunday, but it was flatter than on Saturday. I was how is this going to be possible. I was a bit mad going into the first race and in beast mode. I saw Eli was in front and also Romain, and Prado, what do you want more (only Gajser, Tomac, Febvre and Prado were ahead when Coenen crashed).”

And now, with a winter of only riding his KTM 450, Coenen will arrive at the gate, in round one in Argentina with the knowledge, that even on his MX2 machine this year, he could clock laps times as quick as the best MXGP riders. He also knows that he can pick up a couple of seconds on his MX2 times, riding the MXGP bike.

“I never actually rode the 450 and the 250 in the same training, but I do know, on the 450 I am two seconds quicker than on the 250. From the outside, I look slow on the 450, because I am rolling the corners, but then we look at the times and its like, wow, this is fast. Sometimes people look fast from the outside and the lap times are slow, but I am completely the other way around. I don’t’ push the corners, just roll them and then it doesn’t look like WOW, but its fast, you know.”

So, for those who think we will miss Jorge Prado in 2025, as he heads off to race elsewhere, remember that Lucas Coenen is coming and will bring something new, something fresh and something special to the MXGP class and I don’t think anyone would be surprised to see him win a Grand Prix or two in his quest, to become every bit as good as those champions we have mentioned above and make his own story in on the Grand Prix scene.

Ray Archer image