Last weekend, four-time world MXGP champion, Jorge Prado did something very special. With his victory in the SMX championship, the Spaniard set himself up as the man. His last round victory at the AMA 450 Nationals and his SMX victory possibly put him as the main man for the time being and while it is clear, the Lawrence brothers are the landlords of AMA racing, Prado is coming, and as his confidence builds, so too will his speed and results.

But, more importantly for now, the wins in the outdoors and SMX have us all talking about this coming weekends MXoN. We all know, at this current moment, Jeffrey Herlings is the fastest man in Europe. He has won 22 of the last 24 races and is possibly close to the form of his life.

While question marks are involved in that run of wins, there is no doubt, Herlings is riding a wave of confidence and we all know, when “The Bullet” is confident, he is hard to beat. However, with Lucas Coenen working hard to be ready for the event, to compete with his brother Sasha and Liam Everts for Team Belgium and Prado coming back to race for Team Spain, there will be some questions answered and for the fans, its made the event a little livelier.

Prior to the win by Prado at the AMA Nationals and the SMX, his place in America was probably a third to fourth guy, sitting behind the Lawrence brothers and in a close rivalry with American sensation, Haiden Deegan, but those two wins have placed him (for now) at the very top.

We all know Prado beat Herlings for the 2023 and 2024 MXGP championships, and we all know Lucas Coenen battled hard with Herlings prior to picking up an injury at the British GP. At times, Coenen looked unbeatable this year, but then again, Herlings was in the fight and had his share of wins over the young Belgian.

Now though, with the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations just a few days away, these three men are the BIG THREE and while Coenen might be down on condition, you can be sure, he is working hard to be ready and we know, his MXoN performances so far, have been impressive.

Prado, who doesn’t always shine at this event, will still want to show the MXGP boys, that he is still the best European rider in the world. As for Herlings, he will know that both these men have beaten him in the past, but if he wins, if he beats both Prado and Coenen, the Dutchman is suddenly back to being the fastest European in the world and maybe even back to his spot as the fastest man on the planet.

The pressure is rising and all three will know the game. All three will say how individual results don’t matter and its all about The Netherlands, Spain and Belgium, but all three, will be wanting to beat the daylights out of each other.

The Monster Energy Motocross of Nations has always delivered special moments, often involving Team USA, but this year, I get the feeling we will see something special between these three men, and I do believe that Jeffrey Herlings will come out on top, grow his confidence even more for 2027.

As for the Teams event, its hard to go past a Romain Febvre, Tom Vialle, Mathis Valin and Team France victory, but as we all know, the MXoN always throws something at us and it could just as easily be The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain or USA who shock the world.