CYCLE NEWS RIDER OF THE YEAR AND FIM MXGP WORLD CHAMPION JEFFREY HERLINGS
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ability to lap the entire 250cc
field up to second position in the
sand of Lierop in 2012, or ruling
28 from 30 races in 2013. There
were serious injuries as well,
such as the broken femur (with
which he painfully tried to race at
the 2014 season-ending Mexican
GP and missed a third cham-
pionship by just eight points),
dislocated hip, mangled left little
finger and repeatedly bashed col-
larbone, all in 2015 alone.
By 2017 he was finally ready for
the "big boys," as he called the
collective of Cairoli and company
in the MXGP division and a group
of almost 20 riders with GP-win-
ning experience. A broken right
hand and an underestimation of
the opposition after another year
of harvest in MX2 in 2016 meant
(Above) Red Bull KTM
teammates Antonio Cairoli
(left), the veteran, and Herlings,
the young gun, still get along
well even though they are bitter
rivals on the track.
Second, Herlings is a curious
case study as an athlete capable
of such an accomplishment.
Fame and attention at such
a young age conditioned the
teenager that many Dutch media
were already calling "the future
of Dutch motocross" in the
middle of the last decade and
as he fizzed through the junior
ranks. Herlings was hyped and
was supercharged into the spot-
light and under the tutelage of
former multi world champion and
records-holder Stefan Everts
before he was legally allowed
to vote. The period in MX2 from
2010-2016 brought spoils, re-
wards, spats and bad decisions
as he grew in the public eye.
"In the past you would be
happy when he finally got on the
bike because it was the least
stressful part of the day; he was
a handful!" said KTM Team Man-
ager Dirk Gruebel.
His time in MX2 also delivered
outstanding scenes; such as his
a jittery and concerning opening
to a rookie term with the Red Bull
KTM 450 SX-F. Cairoli prospered
early in the season. Herlings—pri-
vate, slightly shy, surrounded by
his trusted small circle of prac-
tice mechanic Ruben Tureluren,
Gruebel, mechanic Wayne Banks
and Team Co-Ordinator Valentina
Ragni—had to revaluate. By the
middle of 2017 he grasped his first
