When we now speak about the big three, Tim Gajser, Jorge Prado and Jeffrey Herlings, three of the greatest motocross riders the sport has seen, we have to think about a guy, who can run their pace and lets not forget, earlier in the season we were talking about the big FOUR, that was until Romain Febvre left the group when injuring his thumb at the French GP, a round of the MXGP championship that he had actually won, but had the GP taken from him after other riders (not Febvre) jumped a yellow flag and change the overall positions.

The Frenchman and 2015 World MXGP champion returned last weekend for the Grand Prix of Loket, a circuit he had won at on three occasions, but winning last weekend was not really the goal, as his time out needed to see him return to race speed and gain that intensity that the big three are running.

“Loket is not really one of my favourite tracks, but I have scored good results there. Initially when I was back training on the bike three weeks ago, I had some pain, but it was bearable and each week it got less and less.”

Febvre finished a surprising sixth overall in a dramatic Czech round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at Loket. qualified sixth for the thirteenth round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at Loket in the Czech Republic.

“The first goal is not to hurt the thumb again. I have no pain when I ride my bike, but I don’t know how it will be in case of a crash as the ligament is still partially torn. I’m confident with my speed and with my physical condition as I’ve training a lot the last two weeks; now I have to get back into the rhythm of racing.”

Febvre, sidelined for seven weeks by a thumb injury, showed impressive pace on his return to race action. The Frenchman posted fourth-fastest time in Timed Practice, on the same second as the first-three, and chased his teammate up the leaderboard from thirteenth at the first time-split after being pushed wide at turn one. With four laps remaining he moved into sixth and pressurised the rider in fifth, a podium-finisher at each of the last two GPs, to the chequered flag.

“I could show already in Timed Practice that the speed is there with fourth time, less than one second from the fastest. Just the start wasn't perfect for the race and in the first turn I braked a little too early and was pushed outside but I could come back to sixth at the finish. I don't know if I could have run with the top-three, but I was OK physically and hope for a better start tomorrow.”

Febvre, fastest during morning warm-up in a KRT 1-2, was less fortunate than his teammate at the start of race one to emerge fourteenth at the first timing split but had advanced to tenth by lap two. Inevitably taking no risk of a collision on his return from injury the Frenchman displayed his immaculate race skills to move forward methodically, taking over his eventual sixth place on lap fourteen of nineteen.

From a better start in race two he maintained a solid fourth place until six laps from the end when he aggravated his right ankle on landing over a jump; he was forced to slow for several laps to surrender one position in the moto, thus ended the day sixth overall and he remains seventh in the series standings.

“It's never easy to jump back into the championship mid-season after a break, so overall the result was not too bad with a sixth and a fifth. I was missing just a little physically, but I had hoped my speed would be a little better in the first race. In the second race I could match the speed of the leaders until I overstretched my ankle on a jump; I had to slow down for two or three laps and that cost me fourth.”

So, now onto Lommel, another Grand Prix that the Kawasaki rider has had huge success, winning in 2021 and 2023 and finishing on the podium on numerous occasions. You just know, despite his discomfort from his thumb, he will be lining up this coming weekend with the goal to battle up front and sooner, rather than later, he will again join the big three at the pointy end of the MXGP points.

“Loket is physically it’s less demanding than Lommel. It was my goal to be back for Loket, and I have managed it so I’m happy. Lommel will be tough physically, as it is every year, so to return there would have been difficult. I have one more week to prepare for Lommel; I think that I will be able to go fast for several laps, but maybe not for the entire race at the same pace as the leaders. But, as always, I will do my best!”

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