As we enter a new season, there will once again be massive question marks about who will win GPs, who will surprise, who will disappoint and of course, who will become a World champion. As shown last year, the MXGP class is not only the most competative off-road championship in the World, but also the most watched. Millions or eyes followed the stunning performances of Jeffrey Herlings, Romain Febvre and Tim Gajser and when the curtain came down on the season last November, we all took a deep breath and awaited the next chapter in the FIM World Motocross Championship.

I think whenever you do enter a new season, respect should always be shown to the men up front in the previous season and without question, if Febvre wasn't a little brittle coming into 2022, he would be in the mix for the top three. We have him at the moment at number four, but depending on his opening round performance, he could easily move up to number three.

Here is how we think it will finish, but we will have a more detailed preview in a week or two.

1. Jeffrey Herlings: Without doubt, Red Bull KTM Factory rider Jeffrey Herlings should be considered the favourite to add World title number six to his already impressive CV. Herlings won half the GPs in 2021 and also picked up his 99 Grand Prix victory and of course his fifth World motocross championship. That is of course stuff of legends and “The Bullet” belongs amongst names like Everts, Cairoli, Robert, De Coster and the big names of the sport. Herlings has 38 GP wins in MXGP to 28 GP wins in MXGP by Gajser, so it is clear he is not living off his stunning MX2 performances anymore.

Herlings also has a new bike, of which he and also Cooper Webb in America have raved what an improvement it is on the old bike, which was a handful of years old. Of course, we always have to put injuries into the Herlings story, but he did show in 2021 that he kept away from hurting himself while crashing but did get a busted shoulder thanks to somebody landing on him. Good luck and injuries are not Herlings best friends.

2. Tim Gajser: If you want to put Herlings as the favourite, then you can’t go past four-time World motocross champion Tim Gajser as the second man in line. The HRC rider had moments in 2021, but like Herlings picked up an injury that really ruins his title chase.

The Slovenian won four GPs last year, to make it 33 GP wins in his career to go with his four championships. Yes, he belongs in that select group of legends, the top ten ever you could say. We all know that the HRC rider can put together those spectacular 1-1 performances, as he did in round one in Russia last year. Yes, like Herlings, he is special, and can pretty much add another 17 or more GP wins in his career and get close to that magic 50 so few riders have been able to achieve in their careers. Gajser has been mister consistent in the last eight years, starting his GP career with 35^th and 20^th, before going 1-1-5-4-1-1-3. Nobody has been able to do that, and if that doesn’t impress you, then nothing will.

3. Jorge Prado: I can’t place anyone above these two for now, but we all know that eventually, Jorge Prado will battle with these two and probably even start beating them. When that happens, this year, next or in two years, nobody knows, but what we do know, Prado is the most talented rider in the class, with a style that is just beautiful to watch.

Still young and not fully grown in strength, you just know that the Spanish rider is coming. Like the two above he has a stack of GP wins to his name, most in the MX2 class, but with a total of 35, and four in the MXGP class, his tally, like that of Herlings and Gajser will grow considerably in the next two or three years. Exciting stuff isn’t it.

I didn’t fall into the trap of calling Prado the favourite for 2021 and I won’t either for 2022, because he hasn’t shown yet he can do it week after week, and with just one GP win in 2021, he doesn’t deserve to be favourite, but without question, when he arrives, we will all know it. I think he finishes third in the championship of 2022.

4. Romain Febvre: The biggest question mark is Romain Febvre, who came within a handful of points to become a two-time World MXGP champion, but he didn’t. Now carrying an injury, we all hope to see the Kawasaki factory rider at the opening round at Matterley Basin and hopefully pick up a bunch of points. Currently injured, it will be tough it seems, but with such a short off-season, you get the feeling once fit he will have the same intensity as in 2021 and there were moments last season where Febvre was the man. The Frenchman has 15 GP wins, a little off the top three and that isn’t a good sign if he wants to win another World title. He will need to pick up at least seven or eight GP wins in 2022 to be crowned the new World champ.

5. Jeremy Seewer: Jeremy Seewer is the next man on the rankings in my opinion. Riddled with injury and sickness in 2021, the likeable Yamaha rider found his mojo at the back end of the season and also scored a GP win. Will he be able to battle for the championship, that is a tough question, but you do get the feeling, like we saw in 2020, that he is more than capable of battling the likes of Herlings, Gajser and Febvre, but is he good enough to do it time and time again?

6. Maxime Renaux: I am going out on a bit of a limb and putting Maxime Renaux as the next man in line. A brilliant riding style and big enough to power the 450 around the 2021 MX2 World champion might not be the next Jorge Prado, but I get the feeling he is special enough to quickly get the hang of the MXGP class and with team-mates like Seewer and Glenn Coldenhoff, he will know where he is when it comes to speed, and he showed in 2021 in the MX2 class that he is okay under the pressure of race conditions.

7. Glenn Coldenhoff: Making it all three Yamaha riders in a row, I think Glenn Coldenhoff with a year under his belt on the Yamaha will come back and win a GP or two. The other Dutchman has always been solid and has surprised us over and over again with stand-out results. There are not many in the MXGP class who have a handful of GP wins in the 450 class and Coldenhoff is one of them. In the last decade he has finished outside the top ten in the World on just one occasion and is yet to finish outside the top ten in the MXGP class, going 9-5-13-8-7-10-7-3-8-7. With those stats, I for one am not leaving him out of the picture. He will race his 8^th year on the 450 and he is aging, but still young enough to be competitive.

8. Pauls Jonass: You would have to go with either Pauls Jonass, Thomas Olsen, Ben Watson or maybe Jed Beaton as the next man in the order of our top ten, but I just have to go with Jonass. He might not win a GP, but he will be hanging around the top five to top ten and be consistent. Jonass is in the same team, same bike. He is 25 years old and is yet to pick up an MXGP victory but does have 11 in MX2.

9. Ben Watson: I would then go with Ben Watson on the factory Kawasaki and working with his good mate Febvre. While Watson had moments in 2021, you got the feeling he was the odd man out at the Yamaha team, and that won’t be the case with a good mate as his team-mate and a year of experience in the class. Watson could easily be a top five guy, but he might need to get some momentum to get that close to the big guns.

10. Jed Beaton: I just get a feeling the young Aussie will surprise a lot of people. If he can stay healthy and have Marc De Reuver in his ear enough, he can put some solid results together. The F&H Kawasaki team will be up to the job, that isn't a question like some of the other privateer teams and Beaton has the style and size to be one of the most fun guys to watch in the MXGP class.

Tough to leave guys like Thomas Olsen, Mitch Evans, Alessandro Lupino and Calvin Vlaanderen out of the top ten, and one of these guys could easily be in the picture, but I am not sure there is enough pieces of the puzzel to put them in there. Injuries, question marks about their teams all come into play with these guys. Being a top ten guy isn't easy, and if the whole picture isn't in place, then it will be tough.