I think while all motocross fans are excited to see Jeffrey Herlings back racing, the return of the fastest man on the planet could go either way. Having not raced since his World title victory at Mantova more than a year ago and at the age of 28, he is closer to the end of his career than the start, but he himself also knows that.

These final years as a Grand Prix racer could still produce a title or two, maybe even three, but he will need to stay away from injuries, because the older he gets, the harder it will be to recover.

Stefan Everts, who will turn 50 on Friday had his own demons of injuries back some 24 years ago in 1999 and 2000, back when he was also a similar age to what Jeffrey Herlings is now. With World titles in 1991, 1995, 1996 and 1997, he was the man of the 250cc Grand Prix class and despite losing his World title to Sebastien Tortelli in 1998, heading into 1999, he was still the strong favourite to add to those four World titles. It didn’t turn out that way though for Everts, at least not straight away.

Everts at the age of 28 had missed almost two years of racing, with a late season return from an injury at the pre-season Beaucaire race in France in 1999 after missing most of the season, before getting injured again at the Beaucaire International in early 2000.

Many had written Everts off coming into the 2001 season, as he tried to deal with the horrible injury toll, but, just like Herlings some 20 years later, Everts always showed his brilliance, coming back for the last few GPs and also doing the MXdN in Brazil. He came close to winning the USGP, finishing equal points to Kevin Windham and he also winning two motos at the MXdN, not to mention winning the Fastcross in Italy. Yes, he had been out a long time, but he was back and looking strong on the Honda, but then it all changed again.

In the 2000 off-season Everts had been offered a ride with Suzuki in America or Husqvarna in Europe and he took up the second option. It turned out to be a bad one, that second crash in Beaucaire broke his leg again and took him out of contention for yet another World title.

Nearly a year off the bike in 2000, he had changed to Yamaha for the 2001 season, it was a completely different Stefan Everts, a completely new version of his already legendary Belgian and surprisingly, that second part of his career was his most successful.

I still remember standing at the top of the hill in Bellpuig and watching that 29-year-old Everts in practice on Saturday. He looked brilliant, that Everts stand up style whipping him through the corners as he made rivals Smets and Bervoets look a little ordinary. Of course he won the GP and went on to win another 50 GPs in the next five years. We all know what followed in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, just complete domination. Yes, Stefan Everts in his 30s was as good or better than Everts in his early 20s.

Now, Jeffrey Herlings, who just turned 28 a couple of months ago and having won his fifth World title and his 99^th Grand Prix in 2021 will be making a long-awaited return in 2023. A full year off the bike, a full year of living the life of a normal person, but also a full year of resting from the grind of being a full-time sportsman.

While Herlings has missed many races in his life due to injury, you should also remember Everts probably missed out on three or four titles due to injury, so those old worn-out bodies could be rather similar when it comes to wear and tear.

We saw Herlings struggle with old injuries in the past, not being able to race at his full potential, well, it seems his body is now back to (as good as its going to get) something that might get to see him race to his full potential.

He will more than likely start his assault on 2023 in pre-season internationals in the sand of Lierop and Hawkstone Park and coming in fresh and excited to be racing again, these are two races worth waiting for.