With this years MXGP championship possibly going down to the wire in Darwin Australia in three weeks’ time, it got me thinking about the heroes of the last decade in Europe. Injuries and drama have fill this last 10 years and on so many occasions, two men have stood tall as the benchmark of our sport.

Back in 2015, when we had the Ryan Villopoto vs Antonio Cairoli opening round in a night race in Doha, Qatar, nobody could have imagined that two men would more or less own a majority of the MXGP world titles, Jeffrey Herlings and Tim Gajser.

I cannot say how luck we are with the last 10 years of the Grand Prix series. Firstly, with the unexpected 2015 season, that while not being what we expected, which saw so many ups and down. Max Nagl shocked the world a little with his GP victory in Qatar, with Cairoli finishing fourth overall and Villopoto seventh.

The season would bring so much drama, with Cairoli and Villopoto winning just one GP each and both ending their seasons in the back of an ambulance. Nagl led the series and was looking likely to be world champion, until he also exited heading to hospital, and eventually, MXGP rookie, Romain Febvre won the title, his first and only world championship until now.

From that 2015 MXGP championship, Gajser and Herlings had pretty much dominated, Gajser winning in 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2022 and Herlings winning in 2018 and 2021. Of course, Jorge Prado joined the party, winning the MXGP championships in 2023 and 2024 and we can not speak of the last decade, without the 2017 World MXGP championship by Antonio Cairoli.

I remember that 2017 well, I had written the Italian legend off, as it seemed for sure that Gajser, who was the 2016 champion, and Herlings, who arrived in MXGP in 2017 would dominate the next 10 years and they nearly did. 2017 though, Cairoli survived the season, with both Gajser and Herlings suffering injuries and not being able to compete with Cairoli.

A great champion, as Cairoli is, always have a last say, a championship not many expected, and the Sicilian showed us, outside of Stefan Everts, that he is a league above everyone else, when it comes to MXGP world titles.

Cairoli would fight on, but Herlings dominated 2018, winning 17 GPs and finishing with second place in the other two rounds. It was Herlings at his best, but just as we expected him to win world title after world title, he would get injured as defending champion and his 2019 and 2020 seasons were cut short. Just five GPs in 2019 and six in 2020. He still managed six GP wins from those 11 GP’s, which was impressive enough.

Many say Gajser was lucky to win his second and third world MXGP championships in those seasons, but the sport is about staying fit and scoring more points than anyone else and the Slovenian did that. His place in amongst the all-time legends is well deserved.

In 2021, both Herlings and Gajser showed that their performances were similar with both fighting with 2015 champion, Febvre for the MXGP title and again, when fit, Herlings showed that he is tough to beat, in fact, even when injured, the Dutchman was a solid contender. Nine GP wins in 2021 and his second MXGP championship.

Gajser came back in 2022, while Herlings missed the complete season and the HRC man took his fourth MXGP world championship and like Herlings, was a five-time world motocross champion. Both Herlings and Gajser had reached for the stars and joined the likes of Roger De Coster, Eric Geboers, Joel Smets and Georges Jobe inside the top 10 best ever, with only Joel Robert, Stefan Everts and Antonio Cairoli above them.

Of course, Jorge Prado turns his injury riddled MXGP career around in 2023 and 2024, winning the first with both Gajser and Herlings injured, but then dominating the two legends in 2024 for his fourth world motocross championship. We might not miss the Spaniard in 2025, but his US adventure has kept us wondering, why he ever left us.

Now, as we roll to the end of the 2025 season, it is that man Febvre, trying to capture his second world title and become a two-time MXGP champion. In his way, Lucas Coenen, and of course, two men who could make a big difference in the championship finish, Gajser and Herlings, both after injury riddled seasons, looking stronger, and smarter to mix it up with Febvre and Coenen.

A decade with so much drama, and so many moments we will never forget, the last three GPs of 2025 will decide who ends the decade as a champion. Will it be a champion of the past in Febvre, or will it be the future in Coenen, who takes the crown?