After months of uncertainty, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing has confirmed that Jeffrey Herlings - who is working towards a competitive return and through the final stages of rehabilitation after surgery to repair a torn right ACL – will miss the start of the 2025 FIM Motocross World Championship.
The five-time world champion and currently the most successful Grand Prix winner in history is getting closer to his goal of being able to ride, test and get back into MXGP shape for 2025. The 30-year-old underwent an operation to fix the right knee injury, which he sustained in the sand of Valkenswaard in October 2024 and after a strong campaign in which he completed the 20-round season with third in the standings and with 4 GP wins and 15 podium finishes.
Since the medical procedure the Dutchman (Red Bull KTM’s longest serving racer after joining the factory MXGP team in 2010) has been following the rehab steps and is now just a few weeks away from being able to ride his 2025 KTM 450 SX-F.
Herlings will not be able to join the rest of his team for the season-opening Grand Prix of Argentina on March 1/2 but will then assess his pace and progress until he is ready to enter the MXGP start gate once more for his eighth attempt at the class and his 16th year as a world championship athlete.
“We’re looking good. I can do everything aside from ride the bike. I can cycle, swim, cross train – and it should only be a few weeks until we are back to the normal plan,” said Jeffrey. “2024 wasn’t a great season but it was decent; we’d made a lot of races, came close to the MXGP championship, won a few GPs and had something like 15 podiums at the end. I wanted to be strong coming into this year so having this setback was not good but what I can hope for now is a successful second part of the championship. It was a weird injury because there was not much pain after surgery but it takes time to recover. I want to ride as soon as possible and join the rest of my Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team… but we just need to wait a little longer. I really want to race again.”