After winning the MX2 FIM Motocross World Championship in 2021, Monster Energy Yamaha MXGP rider Maxime Renaux had an impressive rookie MXGP season where he finished fourth in the MXGP world championship. He then was selected to represent Team France in the MXGP class at the 2022 Motocross of Nations which meant they would be leading the charge for the six-time champions as they looked to get back to their winning ways.
Renaux did just about everything right for France on race day as he was able to come home third in his first moto behind runaway winners Eli Tomac and Jago Geerts. But the Frenchman turned it around in the final moto of the day and would win the moto and the MXGP class overall. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough to propel France to the top step of the podium, but he did help them get second place on the day and also checked off a big personal box as well. We caught up with him after receiving his Rockwell watch from Rick Johnson for winning his class to hear all about it.
Maxime Renaux: Not the result we wanted, we wanted to go for the win, but USA was very strong today. But I’m very, very happy this year. We had such a good speaking within our team, we were like friends, these guys were like big brothers to me because they know the track, so they gave me lots of advice and I want to thank them for that. My result was partially because of them and their help. For me, first ‘Nations on a 450 and to win MXGP [class overall], when I see all the names in this class, yeah, it was a strong, strong class. Amazing. I got goosebumps in that second moto when we started 1-2, with me and Dylan. He was riding so good. It was a bummer that he lost the front, but he did a great job. So, like I said, thanks to the team.
Racer X: You’re the overall MXGP winner. That has to be a great individual accomplishment?
Maxime Renaux: Yeah, sure! Individually, it’s amazing! For me, first Motocross of Nations in 450s, first time in the U.S. I’ve never been to the U.S. before. So, it’s great to win in front of such names like Eli [Tomac], Chase [Sexton], and Jett [Lawrence], it’s just amazing you know. So yeah, very grateful for that. Grateful also for the teamwork and team effort. Also, my team Yamaha, we made some big steps today from yesterday. I was riding with my European settings, and it was definitely not fitting the track. So, we made a big step coming into today and it worked really well.
Talk about that team effort. We always hear France behind the scenes is so organized with every detail. Just talk about that experience and how much that helps.
Yeah Team France tries to think about every small percentage to make us feel the best and to make us perform. But it’s great you know. We have a lot of talent in France and the Federation [FFM] is helping that. We bring children to being teenagers and racing motocross and becoming the next stars you know. I’m grateful for that and it’s amazing. We can see it in the Nations every year.
You had a bit of a deficit going into moto three, but how did you and Dylan [Ferrandis] both pull starts? It’s not supposed to work that way, but you came out 1-2.
You know, we spoke about the strategy. It was like who goes first, who goes second. And I was like, “Man, I’ll go second. I feel it. I’m going to get that start from the outside.” And I got it. It was like goosebumps coming around that first turn and seeing my teammate with the blue, red, and white shirt and I was like, “We’re going for it buddy.” Unfortunately, he lost the front. It can happen you know, it’s motocross. But I believe we gave something to cheer for, something for our fans from France and we gave it our all. We have to be honest, and USA were very strong today so we couldn’t do anything about it.
But next year you’ll have that crowd support. Are you looking forward to that?
Definitely looking forward to that. Still need to be in the team though because we have a lot of talent in France like I said but I’m definitely going to work. My first goal is going to become MXGP champion next year. So, we’re going to work hard for that and then we’ll think about the Nations looking to go get those 1-2-3 plates in France. That will be great.
