The Jeffrey Herlings to America dream is officially dead. On Wednesday, the reigning MXGP World Champion announced that due to his foot injury suffered earlier in the year, he will not race period in the 2022 calendar year. A massive blow to the Motocross world, in addition to the Dutch Motocross Des Nations team’s hopes of winning at RedBud this year as well.
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Surgery on both Feet
Via the official press release from KTM, it isn’t just Herlings’ left foot that needs some fixing up, but his right foot as well. As a reminder, it was his left foot that was injured during the Red Bull KTM MXGP photoshoot before the season. However, his right foot has been a trouble spot for some time as we now know.
[Herlings] will have a plate removed and his left foot corrected and will also visit the operating theatre a second time for more repair work on his troublesome right foot to reduce the discomfort and inflexibility the Dutchman has been suffering. Recuperation and rehab from both processes means that ‘The Bullet’ can head into the winter, fit and ready to test and train with a view to a potential third MXGP title in 2023.
A shame that Herlings will miss out on a full year of racing. However, if he isn’t anywhere close to 100-percent this far out from the incident, this may be for the best. It would be a fair bet to say he should be good to go for 2023 now which is good.
Injury Prone
At no point is Herlings’ talent to be denied, but his ability to stay healthy is a different story. 2022 was set to be the Bullet’s sixth year in the main MXGP class. Pending any races being canceled this season, he will have officially missed 42 percent of his races. That number jumps up to nearly 65 percent when you take out his first and second seasons. In that span, he made 38 out of a possible 39 rounds. His numbers are still all-time great even with the injuries and missed time, but just think if he could be healthy more. Here’s to hoping that this is the last of his injury issues.
What does this mean for the Dutch at MXdN?
As it relates to the Netherlands’ chances at Motocross Des Nation this fall, no Herlings likely closes the door on a win. The United States, France, Italy, and Australia, among others, should be very well set at RedBud. This isn’t to say the Dutch cant be competitive.
Glenn Coldenhoff was a 100 percent lock to serve as one of the two 450 riders anyway. Additionally, Kay De Wolf is riding himself into the likely MX2 seat. Currently, he sits in a three-way tie for third in the 250 World Championship. The battle for that Open/MX1 spot will most likely be between Brian Bogers and Calvin Vlaanderen. Roan Van De Moodijk would have been an interesting option as a second 250 rider, but he suffered a big injury two months ago back at Argentina.
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Main Image via KTM
