Tom Vialle’s phenomenal debut: Honda all smiles, the MXGP rookie is already among the elite

Did you expect it? Tom Vialle impressive in his MXGP debut with Honda, the French talent is already roaring.

We talked about the super phenomenon Jeffrey Herlings, a steamroller in the first MXGP weekend with Honda. But let’s not forget the new teammate. Tom Vialle is certainly no rookie, but a talent who has already made his mark, first with two MX2 world titles, then taking on the Supercross challenge and bringing home two more 250 titles. This is his rookie year in the world 450 class, and if the signs we saw in Argentina are anything to go by, we can say that HRC, already rubbing its hands over the current 1-2 in the riders’ standings, has fielded a pair of super talents for 2026!

There are quite a few differences between AMA Supercross and the Motocross World Championship, as the French rider himself has admitted in the past. He’s not the first to make this switch—there’s a long list—and more recently Jorge Prado took on the same challenge too, moving to the USA last year (an unlucky debut due to injuries) after four MXGP/MX2 titles. The 25-year-old from Avignon, however, having had a highly successful stars-and-stripes experience, returned in 2026 to the international stage with Honda HRC Petronas, a radical change after a lifetime with KTM, with whom he won all his titles. Yet the feeling on the CRF450RW proved immediately remarkable: prominent in every session, he dominated and won the qualifying race, then finished 2nd in the first moto (yielding only in the final laps to a rampant Herlings), and 4th in Race 2, with only the expected reigning champion Febvre and Gajser starting with Yamaha ahead of him, plus his teammate. These results earned him 3rd overall for the GP and second place in the standings, tied on points with Herlings. It was hard to expect more from an MXGP debutant.

"It’s really nice to be on the podium. I didn’t quite know what to expect, because there are a lot of very good riders in the GPs." Tom Vialle keeps a low profile—there are many races to go—but his was certainly a stellar debut. "Saturday went well, I felt comfortable winning the qualifying race. I felt good in Sunday’s races too, it was nice to lead for a stretch before Jeffrey passed me. My intensity was pretty good in the first laps, but I made a couple of mistakes later on, though overall I’m very happy with my first weekend with Honda HRC PETRONAS." Eyes will be on him in the coming race weekends as well—the attacking Frenchman can spring some great surprises.