Prime Contenders | Motocross of Nations Previews 2

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The 2023 Monster Energy Motocross of Nations has the potential to be one of the most competitive. The home team, France, will enter as the favorites, but that does not mean that it is ludicrous to consider the fact that they could be beaten. Teams from Australia, The Netherlands and the United States have a chance to stop France from executing excellence. Consider them 'the contenders' – they are broken down in this installment of our preview series. Is there a team that has a better shot at success than those listed below?

The editorial piece published prior to this put a spotlight on Team France's position of favorites, but quite the case could be made for Team Australia deserving that role. A squad of Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence and Dean Ferris is incredibly capable. The potential for Australia to finally squash their demons and clinch the Chamberlain Trophy is huge: The Lawrence brothers are more than capable of winning their respective classes or at least matching their French counterparts. Romain and Jett will be a competitive duel, as will Tom and Hunter. This leads us to the obvious question mark on the team.

Dean Ferris has been brilliant in Australia's ProMX series, and his achievement should not be understated. It would obviously be beneficial to have an on-form Mitch Evans on the squad rather than someone who's been removed from international competition though. Ferris will be competitive and float around the top ten in each moto, one would imagine, but Renaux's ceiling is undoubtedly much greater. That means that Jett and Hunter will have to be particularly effective to counteract that inevitable loss. The recent form of Renaux is an obvious glimmer of hope though.

Whenever The Netherlands enter a squad that does not include Jeffrey Herlings, an automatic reflex is to ignore their title chances. The capabilities of Calvin Vlaanderen, Kay de Wolf and Glenn Coldenhoff should be acknowledged. Each rider has the potential to challenge for a podium in their respective class and, in the same breath, consistency will be their greatest strength. It is so unlikely that Vlaanderen will beat his counterparts from France and Australia – the same should be said about de Wolf in the MX2 division. It's not that they will be far adrift, but a couple of points here and there make all the difference.

It should come as no shock that Coldenhoff is The Netherlands' biggest hope of individual stardom. There is no doubt that Jorge Prado will be the favorite to win the Open division, but Coldenhoff is arguably the next best man based on current form. It would be remise of us to ignore the fact that he has won four of his last eight motos at the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations. Although it is unlikely to happen again, it is relevant. The plan of attack should be obvious: Stay consistent and as close to the 'popular picks' as possible to ensure that it is possible to pick up pieces whenever some sort of mistake is made.

In the opinion of this humble scribe, the publicized struggles that were encountered when gathering stars for Team USA have caused people to subconsciously discredit the squad that has been assembled. Aaron Plessinger is a capable captain and was in the running to compete when everyone was 'on the table' – he was not a last resort nor is he a seat filler. Will Plessinger win the MXGP class? No. One would think that Febvre and Lawrence will be far ahead of anyone else in the class, but Plessinger could be in the mix with Seewer and Vlaanderen.

Similarly, RJ Hampshire was one of two contenders for the MX2 berth and is no slouch. Hampshire is the squad's greatest hope of individual success – there is absolutely no reason why he cannot take the overall in the MX2 division and significantly increase the USA's chance of success. Christian Craig is the weak link given his lack of seat time but posting a solid result (think seventh or eighth) in the second moto will not be an issue and that is all that is required from the third rider. Expectations of Craig are so low that there is potential for him to be the most pleasant surprise across the weekend.