Defending a world title is no joke and for many, a challenge that is too difficult to overcome. For two time world motocross champion, Romain Febvre of the Kawasaki factory team, you know that he is up to defending his MXGP title, but 2026 sure has been tough so far.

Image Pascal Haudiquert

Last weekend in Sardinia, the Frenchman went 3-4 for fourth overall, and in the 2026 MXGP championship points, Febvre dug deep to jump back to fourth in the rankings, two points off third, in the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship standings. With 60 points, and Tom Vialle on 62 points, the defending champion might be able to jump to third in the series with a good results in Trentino this weekend.

After missing the podium on the tie-break at Riola Sardo, was only headed by three ultimate sand experts in the Sardinian dunes, and no surprise, all from the benelux. Lucas Coenen, Jeffrey Herlings and Kay de Wolf finished ahead of Febvre, but he isn't too bothered just yet.

"I was quite strong in the first race, but I missed my flow on the track in the second moto. Today was not great but it was still good points for the championship. The starts were really positive all weekend and I hope we can carry those on to all types of tracks; we made some changes about the front fork, and it was working really good in the deep sand. I crashed three laps from the end of the first moto; it didn't lose me any positions, but it cost me some energy which was missing in the second moto so I couldn't find my flow. I try my best every time I race but today it was not quite enough for the podium."

An excellent fourth-placed start in the first moto formed the basis for a solid ride to third in the demanding conditions which favoured the riders from Benelux who were raised on such tracks.

The Frenchman surrendered one position to the eventual winner at the final turn of the first lap and faced a lonely ride after following through to third; he was so far ahead of the rest that even a fall three laps from the finish could not endanger his position.

After taking a classic holeshot in race two he was already pushed back to third on the opening lap but never settled into his usual flow and was eventually demoted to fourth six laps from the finish. He finished on the same points as third overall, missing the podium on the second-moto tie-break, but could seek consolation in the fact that he jumped from sixth to fourth, just two points shy of third, in the series standings.

Febvre finished a close runner-up in the Saturday qualifying race, for the fourth round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at Riola Sardo in the sand dunes of the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.

"I had some really good lines so I could close the gap to Jeffrey several times, but I couldn't quite make the pass. We have made a few changes to the settings, so I felt really good out there. Now we are starting well again, and I could take the holeshot so I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

The Frenchman earnt fourth choice of start gate for the Qualifying race in a tightly contested Timed Practice and launched decisively out of the gate to take the holeshot and lead for just over a lap until the leading Dutch sand expert slipped past. The Kawasaki leader remained unruffled and maintained the pressure throughout the race to finish a close second.

Now onto Trentino, a circuit that suits him well and will hopefully give him some confidence in getting closer to series leader and 2025 rival, Lucas Coenen and hopefully pass both HRC men, Jeffrey Herlings and Tom Vialle in the points.

There is no tougher man in the class and his two world championship and his decade long battles with Herlings, Gajser, Prado and Cairoli leave him as one of the special riders from the last 10 years.