The 14th round of the 2026 FIM Motocross World Championship took place in the bottomless sands of Lommel, Belgium, where spectators packed the iconic Stedelijk Motocrossterrein for arguably the most demanding race of the season. Hot summer conditions added to the day’s difficulty as the deep sand separated the elite riders from the rest of the field. Jeffrey Herlings continued his dominance in MXGP with another perfect weekend, while Camden McLellan broke through with his first career 1-1 victory in MX2. Both championship battles took a significant turn as the series heads into its final five rounds.
Lommel was set to be Jeffrey Herlings’ weekend as his main rival, Lucas Coenen, forfeited his race at the conclusion of the first free practice. He now drops to third in the championship standings.
“I was able to ride in practice but couldn’t really manage more than two laps,” Coenen said. “Too much pain. We did some scans and there is more evaluation coming on Wednesday; when we’ll know more about the future.”
With Coenen out for the third race in a row, Herlings continued his championship run with another flawless performance for the Honda HRC Petronas team. The Dutch rider swept the qualifying race on Saturday which bled into his Sunday success, taking both motos to earn his 120th career Grand Prix victory. Herlings grabbed the holeshot in the opening moto and immediately controlled the pace, earning the win by more than 45 seconds over sand specialist, Kay De Wolf. He then backed it up with another dominant ride in race two despite a clutch issue late in the moto. Herlings now has back-to-back perfect weekends and leaves Belgium with a commanding 104-point lead. With only five rounds remaining, the championship momentum has firmly shifted in the Herlings’ favor.
“It was a great weekend, just like last week we were topping every session,” Herlings said. “Two good starts today, I led every lap, race one especially was really enjoyable. I had a small issue in race two so I had to manage my pace, but we kept the gap to around 15 seconds and I’m just happy to bring it home. I had a bit of a crash near the end so Kay got second, but I don’t really know by how much I won in the end, I just did what I had to do to win. That’s 60 points, massive for the championship. Now it’s about staying sharp, we’ve got five more races to go and we need to work on the sand before Arnhem, but the team works extremely hard day in, day out.”
Kay de Wolf returned to the overall podium with a strong second-place finish for the Nestaan Husqvarna squad. The MXGP rookie steadily worked forward through the field in both motos after overcoming sub-par starts. De Wolf’s speed in the sand was to be expected as he made quick work of former World Champions and avoided a crash with defending champ, Romain Febvre late in race two. Consistent 2-2 scores netted De Wolf the highest scoring result of the year and added confidence to his recently announced contract extension.
“I learned a lot this weekend,” De Wolf said. “I followed Jeffrey for the first 12 to 15 minutes in race one, then let him go because I knew I needed the energy for race two. I went the wrong way this morning in the first race, it’s something you learn from, and I’m happy it happened now rather than at Arnhem. That’s the plan since I came back, to learn, and I did that again today. I’m on the box, which is what we hoped for. Coming back from the injury I still felt like I wasn’t quite there physically.”
Tim Gajser completed the overall podium in third. The factory Yamaha rider moved from third to second on the opening lap of race one but was later demoted a spot once De Wolf made his way by. Gajser executed another great start in race two but slipped back to fifth through the mid-section of the moto. He reclaimed fourth on the final lap thanks to Febvre’s mechanical and earned his fifth podium appearance of the season, holding onto fourth in the championship standings.
“The track changed a lot from yesterday and became much more difficult, so I knew after warm-up that it was going to be a long day with two demanding motos,” Gajser said. “I got two good starts, which was really important because it kept me with the front group from the beginning. My pace was good, especially in the first moto, and I was able to run with the leaders. The second moto started well too, but I made a couple of mistakes that cost me a lot of time. It was difficult to find my rhythm after that, but towards the end I noticed the riders ahead starting to make mistakes, so I pushed hard and closed right up to them. I’m happy to finish on the podium, but there’s still plenty of work to do.”
Tom Vialle just missed the podium despite another round of excellent starts. The Honda HRC Petronas rider collected the holeshot in race two and remained inside the lead group throughout the afternoon before finishing fourth overall.
“I ended up being just a couple of points off the podium, which I think is something I am extremely happy with, on my return here on a 450cc machine,” Vialle said. “This truly is the toughest track in the world, and having not really trained on anything like this for a few years, I think fourth overall, with a third in race two is an excellent result.”
Andrea Adamo overcame a big crash to round out the top five overall thanks to 6-5 moto scores.
“I didn’t have the best feeling in the first moto and that meant I went into the second not completely on-point,” said Adamo. “A bad start, a crash also, and from then on I managed to get back to P5 with a good rhythm. I chased and passed the guys ahead of me quite easily. Fifth overall in Lommel is better than just ‘good enough’.”
Ruben Fernandez finished sixth overall ahead of Ben Watson, Isak Gifting, Romain Febvre, and Kevin Horgmo.
Video Highlights
MX2
Camden McLellan delivered the biggest victory of his career with a dominant overall performance for the Triumph Racing Factory team. After winning the Saturday qualifying race, McLellan charged from outside the top ten in race one and later stole the lead away from his teammate and championship leader Guillem Farres. The South African native then backed it up with another strong push in race two as he battled Simon Laengenfelder for much of the moto. He finally secured the lead with a decisive outside-to-inside pass and completed the first perfect 1-1-1 weekend of his professional career. The win also moves McLellan closer to the championship conversation as he sits third overall, 60 points out of the lead.
“It was a great day and I’m really happy,” said McLellan. “To get the overall win is an amazing feeling, and it’s been an awesome weekend. I can’t thank the whole team enough for all of their hard work. It was also great to see Guillem on the podium again, and I had another really good battle with Simon Laengenfelder in the second moto. It was a tough race and physically demanding, but luckily I was fit enough to keep pushing right to the end and come away with the win. I’m really happy with how everything came together.”
Championship leader Guillem Farres took second overall but continues his hold on the red plate. The Triumph rider led much of race one before a mistake allowed teammate McLellan through. A few more mistakes throughout the day saw him surrender the lead position before going 3-2 for second overall. While his four-race win streak came to an end, Farres still increased his championship lead to 47 points and remains firmly in control as the series enters its final stretch.
“It was a great weekend for me,” Farres said. “I finally put together two solid starts after a tough one yesterday. I led a lot of laps and did my own race. Camden was really fast today, so in the second race I tried to learn from him and made a push at the end to hold second. I go race by race, I want to win every time I go out, but I also know Camden is strong, I train with him, so when I saw him going in the second race I settled for second, I think that was the right call. Good points for the championship again, and I’m happy to keep the podium streak going.”
Simon Laengenfelder completed the podium for the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team. The defending World Champion battled both Triumph riders during race two and briefly took over the lead from McLellan. After a mid-season slump, Laengenfelder is showing the speed that won him last year’s title and another podium result keeps him within striking distance of McLellan in the battle for third in the championship.
“Three consistent motos and without any big mistakes which is already better than last weekend,” Laengenfelder said. “I’m happy about that. Coming away with a podium is also positive because we all know Lommel is a tough GP. A good way to bounce back from Loket and Sweden next, which is a cool one.”
Karlis Reisulis narrowly missed his second-consecutive podium with fourth overall. The Latvian continued his recent run of success and once again finished one spot better than his brother Janis.
“We made some positive changes after yesterday, and I definitely felt much better on the bike today,” said Reisulis. “My start in the first race wasn’t great, but I rode my own race and felt strong throughout. I felt like I could push hard right to the end.”
Janis Reisulis finished fifth on the day, putting both Yamaha’s inside the top five overall.
“My speed was really good, and I managed to keep a clear head throughout the races, even when I was battling with other riders. To finish fifth overall at my first Grand Prix here is a result I’m happy with.
Former championship leader, Sacha Coenen finished sixth overall and now trails Farres by 47 points.
“A difficult weekend,” Coenen said. “I was not feeling 100% and was getting quite tired. We just need to accept the 6-7 even if I am not so happy with the result. I brought some good points home and I hope in two weeks we can be back going for the win. Battling for the championship again is now key.”
Julius Mikula took seventh over Alve Callemo, Noel Zanocz, and Valerio Lata.
Results
MXGP
- Jeffrey Herlings (Hon) 1-1
- Kay De Wolf (Hus) 2-2
- Tim Gajser (Yam) 3-4
- Tom Vialle (Hon) 5-3
- Andrea Adamo (KTM) 6-5
MX2
- Camden McLellan (Tri) 1-1
- Guillem Farres (Tri) 3-2
- Simon Laengenfelder (KTM) 2-3
- Karlis Reisulis (Yam) 4-4
- Janis Reisulis (Yam) 5-6
