Source: Supplied.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli captured the overall victory in the MXGP category at yesterday’s 2016 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations in Maggiora, Italy.

Cairoli met his expectations of claiming the overall while leading an inexperienced Italian squad despite enduring soreness from a heavy crash that he suffered throughout the opening qualification heat on Saturday afternoon.

“It’s hard to find the motivation, but I did that to try to win my class,” Cairoli recalled. “I wasn’t feeling that great after my crash yesterday and I was a bit sore when I woke up this morning, although luckily there were no injuries. But my riding was perfect even though I am still not 100 percent fit and lack some confidence. We know what to work on for next season.”

The eight-time world champion secured the early lead in moto one, and after controlling the race up and until the halfway mark, he was forced to relinquish the position to a hard charging Romain Febvre (Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing) leading him to claim second.

Cairoli’s second race of the day saw the Italian position himself in second from the beginning of the race, however he was unable to match the pace of race-winner and Open class representative of The Netherlands Jeffrey Herlings (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). Being the first MXGP rider to cross the line, Cairoli was credited the premier class win.

Febvre was awarded second, while Belgian’s Kevin Strijbos (Team Suzuki World MXGP) completed the weekend one point behind in third.