There is only one man who is now the favourite to win the 2025 MXGP championship and that is 18-year-old Belgian, Lucas Coenen. Forget he doesn’t have the red plate, forget he doesn’t have the experience of Kawasaki factory rider, Romain Febvre and forget he isn’t a former World champion, the talented and consistently improving Belgian is just getting stronger and stronger. Only an injury can really stop him it seems.

At the Loket circuit in Czech Republic last weekend, he blitzed to another GP victory, the 14th of his young career, and while his 2-2-1 from the weekend saw him beaten by Febvre on two occasions, mistakes like the one the Frenchman made in moto one, where he went from second to fifth and lost himself the Grand Prix and major points, is starting the help Coenen as much as hurting Febvre.

With a huge amount of confidence and coming into sand races in Lommel and Arnhem, it is hard to see the teenager not enter those final three rounds in Turkey, China and Australia with a sizeable points lead.

As a 64-year-old man, I look at this 18-year-old kid and wonder where he gets not only all this confidence, but also the way he controls the pressure and just seems unflappable at the moment. It is more like Coenen is the veteran in this 2025 MXGP battle.

Moto One

Lucas Coenen: For sure, I took a good start. My jump wasn't good but came out good and controlled the race. Start seeing clouds, but I didn't know if it would start raining. I am not thinking about that (Febvre crashing). If I do what I know what I can do, I can race up front, and I am being the best person of myself.

Moto Two

Lucas Coenen: I mean, I wish it (the race) was longer, because I felt good and was pushing. I knew this track is tricky and I didn't care if I won or lost, because you can lose a lot here. I saw he (Febvre) was pushing at the end, but we showed we have the speed, and the home GP is coming, and I look forward to that. We just keep pushing until the end. I mean, it was good and happy to come out first and gain some points. I had some arm pump in that second one and then passed Glenn. Let’s go and head to Lommel.

Overall, Victory

Lucas Coenen: Happy to be 1st and gain some points. Physically I felt really good, and I was pushing but I knew this track would be tricky: you can lose a lot here. I’m happy to win but not so much with the second moto because I lost time…but we showed we have the speed. It’s good for the confidence, and now my home GP is coming. We’re closing [the gap] in the championship, and we’ll keep pushing until the end.

The Dangers of Loket

Lucas Coenen: I mean it was good. I came out first and gained some points, which I didn’t expect because I was really careful on the track. In the second race I felt good, then I made a small mistake but regrouped, passed Glenn (Coldenhoff) and pushed to catch Romain (Febvre), who was far ahead. I closed the gap, which is good for confidence, and I know I have the speed and the fitness. Now let’s keep rolling and have some fun at the next GP.

Finnish GP Victory

Lucas Coenen: I was a bit angry after being 2nd so many times in recent GPs, even if I was consistent, but I switched off during the summer break and now I’m on the grind. I made life a bit difficult in the second moto with a tip-off and I also damaged the clutch, but I kept sending-it and was really happy to win. The first moto was great even if the lapped riders were quite hard to deal with and I also had some arm-pump but that’s part of it. We are back on top baby. Today I turned it on and made some improvements. We’ll keep building.”

Juan Pablo Acevedo image