Red Bull KTM Factory team manager Dirk Gruebel sat down and talked to us today about the preparation for his MXGP rider Jeffrey Herlings. While Herlings rode the bike for the first time on Sunday, it doesn’t look like he will be racing any time soon.

For sure not in Mantova, Portugal and even France in three weeks’ time is looking unlikely. In fact, a return for the Dutch championship race on May 30 looks likely to be his comeback race and Russia in the first week or June his first GP. Read below our little chat with the always friendly and professional team manager.

MXlarge: I obviously saw that Jeffrey isn’t on the start list for Mantova.

Gruebel: It isn’t possible yet. He rode for the first time on Sunday, on a little track, with no jumps, just to try and see how he goes. He went well, but the speed isn’t there after so many weeks and he is also very careful. He had pain straight away, as motocross is different than riding his mountain bike. He isn’t too bad, and he rode again today, and he will do that every second day and he will see how the pain goes. Mantova isn’t realistic, I don’t think Portugal is either and we have to see about France.

MXLarge: Is it not better he just comes back at Rhenen for the Dutch Masters of Motocross at the end of May?

Gruebel: This is a consideration, to see if he can try that and get his feet wet with racing. That would make sense yes.

MXlarge: And then the next GP is Russia or Latvia?

Gruebel: To be realistic, I think Russia would be a good comeback point, just after Rhenen. We need to see how the next two weeks go. We need to see how the foot goes, because until now it was just mountain biking and physical training. Now the bike is riding again, and you can imagine the head isn’t there, because you are super cautious because you don’t want to hurt it again. It is still only three months since the accident and if you look at other people with the same injuries it is always four or five months.

MXLarge: Is Jeffrey mentally okay, has he accepted this is the way it is?

Gruebel: He has accepted it and he is happy he can start riding again. He wants to come back strong and he has never been patient, you know that. Now it is baby steps and it isn’t like he is missing two seconds and next week he will just miss two seconds, it isn’t like that at the moment.

MXlarge: I know in Valkenswaard he was a little conscious about his weight. He has lost much weight in the last weeks?

Gruebel: He lost a lot of weight. He is doing really intense cycling and he is back on his diet. You know with these guys, once they have a break it is hard to stay on their diet and as soon as they go away from it, they put on a lot of weight. What they eat while racing is burnt off, but it doesn’t get burnt off on the couch.

MXLarge: Jeffrey has always been great with me, being available all the time, but I know he is really quiet at the moment, and doesn’t really want to talk about it with the media. Why is that?

Gruebel: Well, you know, for him it is really frustrating. He had a really good year last year and he had really good preparation in the winter and this stupid accident happened. He was so quick, and I think he would have come in really big time, he was fast, confident and then it exploded, and it was a big bummer for him and big frustration.