Round one of the 2026 Motocross World Championship is getting underway this weekend at the beautiful location of Bariloche, Argentina. Nestled in the Andes, in the Patagonia region, this new venue on the calendar is a long way to travel, but always provides a great atmosphere for the first MXGP gate-drop of the season.
For the Honda HRC PETRONAS team, that means the debuts of Tom Vialle and Jeffrey Herlings, alongside Ruben Fernandez in the MXGP class, and Valerio Lata in the MX2 class. All four riders have had a busy preseason, trying to get ready for this event and this weekend they finally get to see how they stack-up against the best motocross riders on the planet.
Fernandez won last weekend in a Spanish Championship race and has looked very impressive in training and having ridden this prototype Honda CRF450RW last year, he has the most experience and has had a less intense preparation for this opener. He really likes this event, having had his maiden GP victory in this country in 2023 and also because of the Spanish culture in Argentina giving him a sense of home, and making him a fan-favourite with the passionate crowd here.
After three podium performances in his preseason races, Vialle has settled into his new team and environment very quickly. The Frenchman returned from his stint in America at the end of last year and has adapted quickly to the Honda CRF450RW, in what is his first year in the MXGP class. A previous two-time MX2 world champion, he knows what it takes to succeed at this level and now will be hoping to turn that 250cc success into this newest chapter of his career.
Another rider who is starting a new chapter is Herlings, who changed brands for the first time in his professional career, when he joined Honda HRC PETRONAS on January 1st. The five-time world champion and winningest GP rider in history, hasn’t had too long to get used to his new steed, but victory last weekend at the Lierop International showed that things are heading in the right direction and adding to his 112 GP wins is definitely achievable when the gate-drops on Sunday.
In the MX2 class, Lata will look to start strong, as he hopes to improve upon his rookie campaign. There were plenty of positives to takeaway from his 2025 effort, but there were also things he needed to learn, and the hope is that he’ll come into this campaign much better prepared for the rigours of this 19-round series.
And while Argentina is obviously an important round to start-off the championship, all four riders know that staying fit, healthy and building into the future rounds will be the best strategy to achieving their goals for 2026.
