Red-hot MX in France: Kiara Fontanesi already on fire! MX2 surprise, Herlings roars in MXGP

Tricolor flying high only in the Women’s Motocross World Championship. How did Saturday go in MXGP and MX2? Report and standings.

Kiara Fontanesi roars on Saturday in France, hosting the opening round of the 2026 WMX World Championship. In MX2, Sacha Coenen loses his qualifying invincibility to hometown favorite Mathis Valin. Finally, in MXGP the killer move comes from Jeffrey Herlings, with points leader Lucas Coenen charging to 3rd and the homegrown rookie on the attack, Tom Vialle, making a costly mistake. A scorching day of Motocross at Lacapelle-Marival—here are the summaries and standings of what went down today. Tomorrow brings the women’s final race, followed by all the other contests. Full live coverage only on mxgp-tv.com, while Raisport will air only Race 2 live on TV at 16:00 (MX2) and 17:00 (MXGP).

It was clear from the race weekends already contested in the Italian championship that our “terrible girl” was fired up. Kiara Fontanesi now raises the bar: total domination on Saturday at Lacapelle-Marival, first securing pole position with the fastest time in the qualifying race, then triumphing in the first race of the French weekend as well. A double statement right away (she hadn’t won the season opener since the Netherlands round in 2013!) and tomorrow morning it’s on to Race 2—will we see full coronation? “It’s another day, we have to stay focused,” she stressed right after. The 2024–2025 world champion Lotte van Drunen, meanwhile, made a few too many mistakes—one early on in particular—dropping her to the back... before climbing back to 9th. Spain’s Daniela Guillen is 2nd, with hometown favorite April Franzoni in third.

Sacha Coenen’s dominance is interrupted—this time he’s not the king of the qualifying race. Look to Kawasaki: hometown favorite Mathis Valin lands the first blow of 2026 in MX2, earning the pick of the gate for tomorrow’s two motos. Even with the holeshot it wasn’t a cruise; he had to grind it out, but the final result is what counts, and it rewards him. Liam Everts secures second, rookie Jan Reisulis is third, followed by the Triumph boys and the red-plate holder Simon Laengenfelder, who, without overextending, still maintains a solid overall lead even with 6th taken on the final jump. And the Italians? The best of them—Ferruccio Zanchi on Ducati and Valerio Lata on Honda—round out the top 10 of the qualifying race. A pity especially for the latter, who rocketed out of the gate and ran in the top 3 for a long time before fading in the second half.

Another home hero starts the qualifying race in style: Tom Vialle gets the jump and leads Herlings, De Wolf, Adamo and the rest. Alas, that’s only the beginning—the French super-rookie on Honda runs into multiple issues: not just getting passed by Herlings, who then begins to check out, but also a big scare he initially saves, followed by another he doesn’t, which causes a crash. From 2nd to 18th in a heartbeat... His rivals pounce, especially the headline rookie Kay De Wolf—who had already sent strong signals by topping the earlier timed sessions—as well as points leader Lucas Coenen, charging up from the fringes of the top 10. In the end, no one catches the flying Dutchman on Honda, in fine form after shining in every national championship he tackled during the break: he’s Saturday’s king in France! Sparks fly behind him: Kay De Wolf and Lucas Coenen duel to the finish, but the rookie nicks it at the line by a whisker. As for Italy, Andrea Adamo is the best finisher in 8th.