Motocross of Nations 2026: France leads after qualifying

France are the favourites at the Motocross of Nations, which they are hosting. On Saturday 3 October 2026 at Ernée, in qualifying for the 79th edition, Romain Febvre, Mathis Valin and Tom Vialle secured first choice of start gate for the French team in each of Sunday's three motos.

The three qualifying races

MXGP: Spain's Jorge Prado (KTM) won by 1.9 seconds from Febvre (Kawasaki), with Slovenia's Jan Pancar third. Belgium's Lucas Coenen, back in competition after a hip injury, crashed at the first corner, started the race from last place and finished fifth.

MX2: Mathis Valin (Kawasaki) won on his return after three months out, by more than six seconds over South Africa's Camden Mc Lellan. America's Levi Kitchen took third. Belgium's Sacha Coenen had the best start and led, but a fall on the steep downhill cost him the lead; he finished seventh.

Open: the Netherlands' Jeffrey Herlings (Honda) won by 19.6 seconds over Belgium's Liam Everts (Husqvarna). France's Tom Vialle (Honda) was third.

The standings by nation

Two results out of three count for the gate-pick order, and France secured priority before the last race had even started. Spain are second in the team classification, Latvia fifth and the United States seventh. Great Britain qualify directly with the tenth gate pick, thanks to Taylor Hammal, ninth in MXGP after climbing from twenty-third. The Netherlands, with Herlings, are sixth in the Saturday standings. After the first two races, Belgium were fourth, level on points with Italy.

Sunday's format

Nineteen teams have qualified directly for the main programme. A twentieth will come through Sunday morning's B final. They contest three motos for the Peter Chamberlain Trophy and the world team championship title:

• Moto 1: MXGP and MX2 riders.
• Moto 2: MX2 and Open riders.
• Moto 3: MXGP and Open riders.

Two riders per team race in each moto, and the final classification counts the best five results out of six. Australia are the defending champions. France have not won the event since 2023, when Tom Vialle was already part of the team.