As the Behind The Gate crew filmed with MRT Racing Team Beta for Episode 5 of the 2026 season, “Dogfight”, we finally got to talk to the enigmatic and eternally quiet Jago Geerts. For each of the last two years, your humble writer’s first in the Paddock with the duties of planning and writing the framework for Behind The Gate, we were unable to get Jago into the studio for interview, as a rash of injuries struck in what turned out to be his last two years in factory Yamaha colours.

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Seeing the Belgian struggle has been one of the most painful sides to working in the MXGP paddock since the start of 2024. A prodigious talent from a young age, winning EMX85, EMX125, and 125cc Junior World titles before he turned 17 years old, he took an FIM medal from the last five of his six years in MX2.

This included a run of four straight years as runner-up, a feat only matched by Pekka Vehkonen from 1987 to 1990, although the Finn had already taken a world title in 1985. If justice was to be served, Jago would have been a dominant rider on his switch to the MXGP class.

After all, he had matched Tom Vialle and even Antonio Cairoli with 24 GP wins in MX2, just outside of the all-time top 20 in all classes and officially the most of any rider not to win a world crown. The most painful Championship loss was 2022, when a split-second decision to take the same rut as a crashing Vialle in the final race of the year in Türkiye saw him also on the floor, losing out in a winner-take-all scenario. Belgian fans, to this day in their longest ever wait for a World Champion since Sven Breugelmans in 2008, were still unable to celebrate an MX2 title for the first time.

At the end of 2022 he raced a 450 at Red Bud for Team Belgium in the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations, and shocked the world with an MXGP Qualifying Race win over American talisman Eli Tomac, on similar YZ450F machinery.

Following that with second behind ET in the opening race on Sunday, just over three seconds back and ahead of established 450 men Maxime Renaux, Jeremy Seewer, Jorge Prado, Cairoli, and Glenn Coldenhoff, he had thinking that the quiet man could be a real force in the big class, even though he decided to have one last crack at the MX2 world title in 2023.

He took eight Grand Prix wins in that following season, but injuries from crashes in France and Finland kept him away from a real title shot, although he won the last two rounds to lift himself up to yet another silver medal position.

Sadly, his MXGP career started with disaster with an elbow injury in the very first Qualifying Race of 2024 in Patagonia, after finishing Time Practice between Jeffrey Herlings and reigning Champion Jorge Prado. He has never truly got back to the top, apart from a single Qualifying Race win at the 2025 MXGP of Spain at Lugo, and a best of sixth overall at Kegums, a circuit where he has won three GPs.

So, it was intriguing to see the Belgian now, to ask how he is dealing with a decidedly different career in MXGP, one that has seen him hit the reset button by signing with the factory Beta squad for the 2026 season. In a much more open interview than we expected, he told of his position as we spoke to him on the Friday of the MXGP of Trentino.

BTG: Jago, it’s great to finally get you in here for an interview. It’s been a complete change for you now, with a different factory for the first time in your whole pro career, I believe. How did it come about to go to Beta? Did they contact you? Please tell us what you can about that, like how the change happened, and how are you feeling with it?

JG: Yeah, for this season I changed to Beta. I think it was my manager that had contact with them last year. For the first time in Türkiye, I think, and then immediately after the season, after the final race in Australia, I went to the team to try the bike, and after that it was quite fast that we signed the deal, because I was happy with everything and I think it was one of the best options that I had, so it was good.

BTG: Nice one, and how different is it for yourself in terms of being on a Yamaha for so many years, how different is this bike and what's been the thing you really needed to work on to try and get it to the level you want?

JG: Yeah, obviously it's a completely different bike to the Yamaha. The frame is different, it's a steel frame, and also the power in the engine, the delivery is completely different. So, it was not too difficult to set up, like I said before I quickly had quite a good feeling on the bike, so we didn't have to change that much and I could start good, like quite fast with doing real training on it. Then it was nice, to set it up quite quickly, and obviously a bit later we made some more changes, closer to the season when I was coming into better shape, but in the end, we didn't have to do that much testing.

BTG: You say about being in better shape, did you have many injuries in 2025? You had the big crash at Lommel, were there any injuries that you were still dealing with coming into winter or are you pretty much 100% now?

JG: No, they were all quite small injuries and they healed quite fast. I took a few weeks of rest after the season and then I was feeling 100 % again, so I could start again to train physically and then ride the bike. Luckily, I felt quite good immediately, and the injuries are all gone now so that's the most positive. 

BTG: I know you've been set up in the Monaco area for a few years now, so has this changed much for Beta? Are you just going to Italy more now, or have you moved there? What's happening in terms of your base, where are you living and training etc?

JG: Yeah, I'm still living in Monaco, but the team is based close to Rome, so in the winter I spent a bit more time with the team, and did some more training in Italy. After Trentino, next month we will move also to Belgium for a bit, to do some training there. So, it's still mostly the same, just in the winter it's a bit more time of riding and training in Italy.

BTG: We’ve not had you in here before, so I get to ask you the number question for the first time! We know that Lucas Coenen likes the number 93 because of Marc Marquez, but you have it reserved for MXGP, so what is your reason for running that number?

JG: Yeah, it wasn't my first number actually. I had a friend that I always rode together with, when I was young. He was riding with 93 and then I took his number, and after that I kept 93 until now. For a few years I couldn't run it, because someone else had it, or in the European Championship 85cc we had to run a number that started with a five, so then I couldn't run it, but for the rest of my career I've always used 93, and I would like to use it until the end. 

BTG: We got some good footage of you guys at the beach house that was set up in Sardinia by the team there. So, how nice was it to have this kind of set up around the Sardinia GP?

JG: Yeah, it's really nice, it always is, the GP in Sardinia. It's close to the beach and it's a really nice region. I enjoy going there. The track looks also a bit like the beach. So yeah, it's really fun.

BTG: On the track, with some riders we’ve been talking about the difference between the Belgian and the Dutch sand compared to Riola Sardo, so yeah, what are the main differences for you between those two types of sand and which do you prefer?

JG: Yeah, the sand in Riola is a bit different than in Belgium or Netherlands, let's say. In Riola, the sand's really soft, there's like no base actually, and the bumps get really deep, but they are nice. It is difficult, let's say, you have quite a flow to it, compared to the tracks in Netherlands or Belgium, the bumps there are more sharp, and they are a bit more technical, let's say. I enjoy both to ride, but for sure I enjoy it more in Netherlands or Belgium still.

BTG: How do you view your season so far, compared to what you expected? Were you hoping to be higher up than you have been?

JG: Yeah, the season so far, it didn't go to plan yet. I feel that I'm improving every weekend, but the results haven't shown it yet. Obviously, I crashed in Argentina. I hit a rock on the landing and I hurt myself quite bad. So, it was not the best start of the season, but now, since Spain, I've been slowly getting better and better, and I feel like now I should make a step again this weekend. I think I should be ready to fight for the top ten, I think it's possible. We just have to keep working and try to get closer and closer to the top ten.

BTG: Looking at your career, you had so many GP wins in MX2, one of the most in the class, the same as Vialle and even Cairoli, so a pretty crazy number. Going from there and obviously going to MXGP, straight away you had such a horrible GP to start your 450cc career in Argentina. Do you have hopes that you can get back to winning races, challenging at the front? What's going through your mind now when you're looking at just a top ten as a goal? I’m sorry to ask a difficult question but I’m intrigued, what is it like for you racing now, when you're not in it for the win, as such? Do you think you've got much chance of getting there, to be honest? What are you thinking it will take to get back there?

JG: Yeah, for sure, I still believe that I can fight for podiums and for wins, even in the MXGP class. I already showed it at the Nations in Red Bud a few years ago, so I know I can do it. The injury in Argentina at the first GP, two years ago, was quite hard for me. The elbow, that was like every bone was a bit broken in it, let's say? So, it was hard to come back from that, and then last year was also not the best season, a few too many ups and downs.

Now I just have to regain my confidence, I think that's the most important thing at the moment, to get the confidence back like it was before, and ride like I know I can ride. Until now, in the races it doesn't really come out yet, so I want to start to ride in the top ten again. Don't put the bar too high, I want to just take it really step by step, and come back slowly to my level again. And yeah, that's the goal until now. And for sure, it's not so fun to ride in 15th, 17th place at the moment, but I'm happy if I gave my everything at the end of the weekend and I did everything that I could. So yeah, that's the most important thing.

BTG: Thank you for answering that so honestly. I was surprised when somebody told me that you're a massive Metallica fan, or something like that? So, I've got to ask, do you go to a heavy metal gig, get in the mosh pit, beating people up, do you get into all that?

JG: Yeah, I like a lot of different kinds of music, but Metallica is one of my favourites. The mosh pit, no, not really. That's not my style!

Epilogue: After issues that kept him from completing a lap in the Qualifying Race at Trentino, Jago fought from a difficult starting position in each race on Sunday, not helped by a lap two crash in the opener. He fought well to get a point in race two, and sits just outside the top twenty in the series, just two points behind Jeremy Seewer on the factory Ducati. World Championship Motocross is impossible without confidence, but if the quiet Metallica fan can “Ride the Lightning” again, he might one day again be able to “Seek and Destroy” the opposition!