{"id":484347,"date":"2026-02-16T21:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T21:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/484347\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T21:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T21:04:14","slug":"todd-kellet-takes-victory-and-fim-world-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/484347\/","title":{"rendered":"Todd Kellet Takes Victory and FIM World Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tTodd Kellett has taken a fourth-straight victory at the historic 50th edition of the Enduropale du Touquet Pas-de-Calais and clinched the inaugural 2026 FIM Sand Races World Championship \u2013 Mathilde Denis Women\u2019s Champ.<\/p>\n

With the Moto class upgraded to full FIM World Championship status for the first time, Drag\u2019On Yamaha rider Todd Kellett \u2013 winner of the two previous FIM World Cup competitions in 2023 and 2024 \u2013 has produced an almost faultless season again this year. \u00a0The British ride is also on a run of three consecutive Le Touquet victories and aiming for a fourth at the 50th edition of this historic French beach race.<\/p>\n

At round five of the \u201926 championship, Portugal\u2019s Monte Gordo Sand Experience, in November Kellet suffered a technical problem which meant he started the final round on the Atlantic coast of northern France with a 14-point advantage over his French team-mate Milko Potisek.<\/p>\n

But in cold and challenging weather conditions Kellett hardly put a wheel wrong, dominating the three-hour race from virtually the get-go to nail his fourth consecutive victory in the world\u2019s biggest event of its kind.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing into this weekend I had a lot of pressure,\u201d said Kellett, \u201cbut I believe in myself, I believe in the bike, and I believe in the team and we went to work. I feel emotional, it\u2019s pretty crazy. It was a challenge with the weather, but I warmed up well. We had a good strategy and we trained for this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"todd_kellett_le_touquet_2026\"<\/p>\n

Ticking off the achievments<\/p>\n

To put his achievement into context, Kellett\u2019s fourth Enduropale du Touquet Pas-de-Calais win in a row moves him above the hat-tricks achieved by the great Eric Geboers between 1988 and 1990 and Adrien Van Beveren who was unbeaten from 2014-2016. Only Dutch racer Kees van der Ven can claim a longer win-streak with his five victories coming between 1982 and 1986 \u2013 although France\u2019s Arnaud Demeester still holds the record for most wins with seven achieved between 1995 and 2008.<\/p>\n

How the race unfolded<\/p>\n

Completing the opening lap of the imposing 15-kilometre course in second, less than a second behind 2024 series runner-up Jeremy Hauquier \u2013 Yamaha, Kellett turned this deficit into a 14-second lead on lap two as he pulled clear of the chasing pack.<\/p>\n

Completing his fifth lap around the one-hour mark, Kellett had extended the gap to Hauquier to over a minute with Potisek the third of the registered riders, but almost two minutes adrift of the leader. Another two laps later, with the race around half-distance, Hauquier had dropped out of contention leaving his compatriot Potisek as the second of the registered riders \u2013 more than three minutes behind \u2013 chased by the distant Tias Callens \u2013 Yamaha and Joey Nuques \u2013 Yamaha.<\/p>\n

\"enduropale_du_touquet_2026_start\"<\/p>\n

By the end of lap 11 with just over 30 minutes remaining, Hauquier had regrouped and was running fourth out of the registered riders, although by this point Kellett \u2013 who had already lapped fifth-placed Nuques \u2013 was more than six-and-a-half minutes clear of Potisek and he kept pushing in the closing stages.<\/p>\n

When the clock hit zero, Kellett was already well into his 14 and final lap and he took the chequered flag almost 11-and-a-half minutes clear of Potisek. Callens was a lap down in third with Hauquier\u2019s fourth-placed finish good enough for the series bronze.<\/p>\n

Drama in Women\u2019s category<\/p>\n

Having started the race with a slim seven-point lead, defending Moto Women champion Amandine Verstappen started well and quickly settled into a strong rhythm that saw her finish the opening lap in a fighting 45 position overall.<\/p>\n

With Denis over 100 positions further back, the early advantage was with the Belgian and Verstappen continued to post fast times as she appeared to be cruising to her second World Cup title.<\/p>\n

However, on lap five she disappeared from the leaderboard after suffering a technical problem that resulted in her second no-score of the campaign and ensured that Denis only had to finish to reclaim the crown.<\/p>\n

In the closing stages, a strong push by rising French star Camille Viaud \u2013 Yamaha carried her past Denis as the pair both recorded a total of 10 laps, though the 20 points for second ensured that the title was heading home to Calais with the 30-year-old, now a two-time champion.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThe race was really difficult this year with the weather conditions,\u201d explained Denis. \u201cThe rain was very, very cold and three or four laps before the end I was suffering and I struggled to finish, but the most important thing is that I\u2019m super-happy to win the World Cup again!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"enduropale_du_touquet_2026_mathilde_denis\"<\/p>\n

With the Moto Veteran title already secured, Uruguay\u2019s Fernando Rubio \u2013 Honda came home third in class behind the French pairing of Alexis Van De Woestine \u2013 GASGAS and Nicolas Lavenant \u2013 Yamaha who, respectively, ended the campaign in the bronze and silver medal positions.<\/p>\n

2026 Enduropale du Touquet results (main race):<\/p>\n

\"2026_enduropale_du_touquet_results_moto\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Enduropale du Touquet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Todd Kellett has taken a fourth-straight victory at the historic 50th edition of the Enduropale du Touquet Pas-de-Calais…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,245278,245279,806,805,803,804,85,245277],"class_list":["post-484347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-enduropale-du-touquet","tag-fim-sand-races-world-championship","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports","tag-todd-kellett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}