Italy is such an important part of our sport. Like Belgium, France, Great Britain, Holland and Germany, Italy is one of the centre pieces of our history. Back in 1957 in the very first year of the FIM Motocross World Championships when Swedish legend Bill Nilsson won at the Imola circuit, a circuit that would hold seven of the first eight 500cc Grand Prix’s.

Many great circuits have been a part of the GP scene, from Gallarate where Torsten Hallman won his first 250 GP in Italy, and would win five times in that country, at various circuits. Of course, Maggiora, which first appeared on the GP scene in 1966 when German legend Paul Friedrichs won a 500cc GP has a huge history, with the legendary 1986 Motocross des Nations, and that events return in 2016, not to mention a long list of Grand Prix’s held at that magnificent circuit on the hillside.

We could go on forever, but places like Cingoli, Fermo, Faenza, Montevarchi, and Arco Di Trento have been written in motocross folk-law and will remain great memories for those lucky enough to visit those old school circuits.

In a little over a week’s time, the MXGP paddock heads to Trentino, a circuit that arrived on the MXGP calendar in 2013 and is an old school circuit if you ever saw one.

Nestled up against the Dolomite Mountain range, the hard packed Crossodrome Ciclamino facility is just beautiful, and atmosphere at that place is just sensational. It is one I never miss and with the beautiful lakes in the area and the huge mountains, its a motocross postcard.

Five-time World champion Tim Gajser loves the place and has won on six occasions, while nine-time world champion Antonio Cairoli, a big fan of racing in his homeland, has won their five times. He also produced some of his own magic there in 2017 when he completely dominated everyone from the back of the pack.

Of course, Gajser won his first ever GP at Trentino in 2015, finishing with 2-1 results, giving Jeffrey Herlings one of his very few real beatings in the MX2 class (Herlings went 1-2). Gajser went on to win the MX2 World championship that year after Jeffrey Herlings crashed out of the series.

We had the triple header in 2021 and of course, drama, crashes and so much more exciting moments as the big three Herlings, Febvre and Gajser went head-to-head. Gajser won in 2022, with Vialle winning MX2. Both will battle in 10 days time in MXGP.

Jorge Prado won MXGP in 2023 with a 1-3 score, with Maxime Renaux second with 2-2 and Jeffrey Herlings third with 9-1. Andrea Adamo won in MX2, so he will be looking for a good result this year in MXGP. Prado won again in 2024 ahead of Romain Febvre and Tim Gajser and Liam Evets took that famous win in MX2.

Last year, Gajser continued his love affair with Trentino with a 1-1 performance ahead of Febvre and Glenn Coldenhoff and Adamo won again in the MX2 class ahead of Kay De Wolf and Thibault Benistant. All three now in MXGP.

So, it will be interesting to see what we get at Trentino this year. Can Gajser add win number seven at this circuit, or will Lucas Coenen take it up a notch and grow his confidence, or will it be five-time winner at this circuit Jeffrey Herlings stamping his mark on the event?