Red Bull KTM Factory team manager, Joel Smets has seen our sport from every single angle imaginable. First, as a young Belgian kid, he watched in awe as names like De Coster, Robert, Geboers, Malherbe and Jobe battled the best in the world. Then as a racer, he won himself five world motocross championships and fought the likes of Stefan Everts, Marniqu Bervoets, Mickeal Pichon and Trampas Parker. Now, as a team manager, he looks over the young KTM riders.

We gave Joel a call after he has returned home from the hospital, where he is getting his new knee up to the challenge of walking without pain and discomfort. One of the toughest men our sport has seen, and also a man with a great view on the sport.

It is a two part interview, where Joel talks about his battles with his knee, his (fortunately) lack of major injuries, about his riders for 2026, how MXGP is going to be next year and also an interesting look at the value of supercross in our sport. Here is part one.

MXLarge: Firstly, you have a new MXGP rider now in Andrea Adamo, after having Jeffrey Herlings for 15 years or so. It’s a big change, but I think Andrea will be more than up for the challenge, as he has the confidence that he can run up front with the top 450 riders.

Smets: I told him, you are going to move up to 450, you are a strong boy, you are a fighter, so you are going to have your place, but you are not Lucas Coenen. If you think you are going to take the footsteps of Lucas Coenen, then you are going to work yourself into trouble. We did however have in several occasions, in Ernee and there was another one or two GPs, for example in Ernee, I remember very well, where the 250s, with Simon (Langenfelder) and Andrea (Adamo) where battling it out for the win and in the moto, they were 20 or 25 seconds faster than Romain Febvre and Lucas Coenen, who were battling it out in the 450 moto. You can say, okay, maybe for the 450, the track was a bit rougher, but they also flattened the track, flattened the start straight, stuff like that, so there wasn’t a big difference (in the track conditions). I was actually also surprised to see that, that those two kids on the 250, were 25 seconds quicker (for the length of the complete moto). It wasn’t just two seconds, you know. That proves, that the speed, as you said, of the 250 guys isn’t too bad.

MXLarge: That brings me to 2026, because you have seen some great championships in the sport, first as a kid in the 1980s in Belgium, then as a racer in the 90s and now as a team manager in this current era. I have also been around the sport for a few decades and for me, and I can maybe exaggerate things, but I see 2026 possibly being one of, if not the best season the sport has ever seen. What is your opinion?

Smets: I fully agree, Geoff, I fully agree with you. We don’t know how exciting it is going to be of course. I have been in the sport as long as you, maybe even longer and I am like f**k, this is going to be really interesting. How the hell is Jeffrey (Herlings) going to do, how the hell is Tim (Gajser) going to do, how the hell is Tom Vialle going to do, how is Kay de Wolf going to be on a 450, Andrea, how is he going to do. You also have Calvin Vlaanderen changing teams, we have Mattia Guadagnini, he won’t be fighting for the championship, but how will he do. Really, the top eight, there are a lot of contenders.

MXLarge: As you would also remember, being a kid and you go to the races, and all the riders are in new colours and on new bikes. Argentina and round one, the whole world will be watching.

Smets: It is going to be cool, really cool. Over the last 17 years, when Jeffrey was healthy, there were not many question marks, easy. When Tony was in his prime, not many question marks. All the time when Tim was good, he was fighting at the top. There were often not many question marks, but now, for 2026, there are a lot.

MXlarge: How do you think Jeffrey will do on the new bike. I know we cannot mention what brand it is, but everyone knows. What is your opinion on him racing a different brand to KTM?

Smets: No, I won’t mention the brand, we cannot, we are not allowed to. In general, it doesn’t matter what brand it is, it is another brand. After 17 years, changing the brand, like we said before, I have a lot of experience in the sport, just as you do, but I have a hard time judging how this will go. I want to be careful saying it will go easy, and Jeffrey will fight for the win, could be, but it won’t be a surprise, if it wasn’t easy. If he needs more time to adapt. Also, Jeffrey, being at the age he is now and already this year, his approach has changed a bit. If he doesn’t feel comfortable, he won’t risk it, like he did at the beginning of his career. He used to be half ready and still push through to win. I think it can go either way, if he feels good, he will be able to win, but if he doesn’t feel good, I think he will be more calculating than in the past. Slowly built it up. I expect he will take his time to grow together with the bike.

MXLarge: I saw this week that Lucas was flying home from America, where he has an extended say with his brother Sasha. We also hear rumours of them racing A1. Do you know if any of this is true and if they will in fact race A1?

Smets: Geoff, I was texting with Rafaël (father of the twins) yesterday and he told me they will be in Belgium from 13th until the 17th. I need to do a social media clip with them for the Belgian federation, so I never asked about these rumours. I hear these rumours, but I haven’t checked with KTM how true it is. I am not sure.

MXLarge: KTM, we have read a lot about what might be happening, seen interviews with shareholders saying they will be cutting back with marketing and racing, but it’s gone a little quiet lately. What do you know about the situation?

Smets: No, and I would be happy to tell you off the record, if I knew something, but we hear very little in motorsport. What I can tell you, of course, restructuring, which was approved by all concerned partners, and already back then, a lot of people were fired and part of that program, they are still working on the new structure with less people. You saw the interview with the owner, who said there are 1500 employees in production and 3000 in the offices and it doesn’t work like that and I think the best example is that Belgium and Holland KTM will now combine. A good friend of mine was more than 20 years KTM Belgium CEO, and he is now gone. Two of his assistants are out and already now five from 15 people had lost their jobs, and now I hear another two are gone, so that is already half gone from the Belgian side of the KTM team. By doing that, I hope that makes the company strong again and it won’t affect motorsport. That is my personal conclusion. In racing, we are still trying to work with limited budget, and we also went from eight to six riders, so it has also affected us. In the past, with Dakar, we went from GasGas, Husqvarna and KTM and now we only have KTM in Dakar. We also cut our most expensive rider out and also the other rider and that is also two mechanics and two others who help that rider, so we have made big cuts.