World champion Antonio Cairoli qualified quickest in The Netherlands on Sunday. Image: KTM.

Red Bull KTM teammates Antonio Cairoli and Jeffrey Herlings have won the MX1 and MX2 qualifying races respectively at Valkenswaard’s opening round of the Motocross World Championship.

The MX1 class was clearly dominated by Antonio Cairoli, but Clement Desalle and Steven Frossard also proved that they can fight for the victory tomorrow.

Evgeny Bobryshev had to pull out of the race, as he landed on a wooden stick in the beginning of the race and his bike was too damaged to continue.

Kawasaki-mounted Frenchman Christophe Pourcel has not shown his potential today and he finished 16th, a tough start to his GP campaign.

The MX2 qualifying heat started with a crash in the first corner, where Alessandro Lupino, Petar Petrov and Dylan Ferrandis were stuck in a pile-up to start their season.

Herlings crashed twice during the race, but he managed to cross the finish line with more than 25 seconds advantage over the second one.