What could go bad for Team France at the Ernee circuit in France last weekend did go wrong. Having started the weekend as heavy favourites and then winning the Saturday qualification with 1-2-3 results, the Sunday turned out to be a complete mess.

Bavo Swijgers and Pascal Haudiquert Images

Sure enough, team captain, Romain Febvre did his job, finishing with 1-3 scores, but his team-mates, Tom Vialle and Mathis Valin struggled big time. Vialle going DNF-DNS and Valin finishing with DNF-11 scores. It could have been so much more for the home nation.

Febvre swept into second at turn four of the opening MXGP/MX2 moto and, after three laps to settle into his accustomed rhythm on the KX450-SR, he hauled back the leader at a second per lap before exerting pressure to move ahead on lap six. His dominance was such that he took the chequered flag nearly ten seconds clear after a jubilant final lap as he saluted the frenetic French public all around the track.

It was the fourth Nations victory from five starts around the iconic Circuit Raymond Demy for the supremely proud Frenchman. Crashes by each of his teammates had already eliminated the French team as a candidate for the team podium when he went to the start for his second ride of the day in the closing MXGP/MX Open moto but there was still personal pride to battle for and he swept through turn one majestically to take the holeshot award before line-choice errors pushed him back to third at the end of the first lap.

Lapping significantly faster than the other leaderboard rider he raced back to second and had the front-runner in his sights on lap five when he clipped the trackside banking as he powered out of a turn and was flung to the ground. Rejoining the race fifth after the incident had cost fifteen seconds, he swept back to third by the finish to finish second overall in the MXGP individual classification.

"It's incredible to win again at the Nations. I savoured that winning moment in the first moto so much, particularly to do it here again in Ernée in front of this fantastic crowd. I think I was riding at my very best level today; I was also strong in the final race to come back to third after my crash. I did my job for the team, and I delivered well in my last race for Kawasaki too. I didn't know until after the finish of the first race that Mathis was out; it's a shame for Mathis but that's the Nations. The atmosphere with the public was fantastic all weekend; it was a moment we will never forget."

Unfortunately for Tom Vialle a huge crash in the opening race of the day and the injuries sustained in that crash were too much for him to be able to complete the last moto, which was a shame for him, the French team and the approximate 50,000 French fans who swarmed this Ernee circuit.

“Definitely not how I wanted today to go. The whole team felt really good after yesterday, and it was awesome to race in front of so many French fans, and the atmosphere was just amazing. However, sometimes things just don’t go your way and today, it seemed like all of the bad luck happened. I got the holeshot in my race and was leading early on, before coming over the jump I had to bail off the bike. Thankfully I was pretty much okay, but while I tried to race in the last race, I wasn’t feeling right and had to withdraw. Not how I wanted it to go but this is motocross. Thank you to all the fans for their support!”

It was also a tough day for Team France MX2 colleague Mathis Valin. A seventh-placed start against the 450s in the opening MXGP/MX2 moto was highly promising but the elation was negated before the end of the opening lap. Reacting to a slight line-switch by the rider ahead on the first long downhill he clipped the trackside banking with his front wheel and cartwheeled down the hill; his bike was too badly damaged in the incident to continue. After recovering from the physical shaking, he was back in track action an hour later against the MX Open opposition to hold a confident eighth, and second in MX2, for half of the race before the after-effects of the earlier crash started to take its toll and, with nothing still at stake in the Nations stakes, he was pushed back to a still respectable eleventh - fifth in MX2 - at the finish.

“I made a pretty good start against the 450s in that first race but then I made my own mistake. I went a little to the right when the guy in front moved across on me, but I went a little too much and hit the yellow bloc; when you went even one millimetre off-line here you were in trouble. But it is what it is; it happened and I can't change it. It was a pretty tough crash, and I was in a bit of pain for the second race, so it was hard to manage everything, but I gave my all."

The French will now head to Assen in Holland and while the deep sand of Assen won’t be as comfortable as their hard pack at Ernee, this team is so strong, they will again be one of the major favourites to win the Chamberlain Trophy.