When the Enduropale du Touquet Pas-de-Calais blasts off this coming weekend (8-9 February) on the coast of northern France it signals the start of the 2025 FIM Sand Races World Cup / Women and the beginning of Amandine Verstappen’s latest quest for success at the highest level.
The twenty-five-year-old Belgian dominated the Moto Women category last year, winning six times from six starts to maintain an impressive one-hundred per cent record, but with the main category now elevated from World Cup status to become a full FIM World Championship the overall prize that will now be contested by male and female riders is even bigger this season.
“Yes, it was nice to take my first FIM World Cup title,” she said. “The goal for sure was the title, but I did not expect to win every round. You know, the races are long and we have to be careful with the bike and finish every race to take points.”
While she is the world’s undisputed number-one female sand racer, Verstappen’s background is rooted firmly in Motocross and she feels she still has unfinished business in this discipline. A competitor in the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship (WMX) since 2015, she will once again line up for a full season as she attempts to improve on her best-ever ranking of fourth achieved in 2015 and again in 2019.
Among her WMX rivals could be six-time FIM World Champion Kiara Fontanesi who Verstappen twice defeated last year when the Italian contested her home round of the 2024 Sand Races World Cup, the Bibione Sand Storm. It was a performance that she rates as one of the high points of her season and a brilliant confidence-booster heading into 2025.
“I had a great battle in Italy with Kiara. I honestly didn’t expect this result because I know Kiara is faster than me in Motocross. I was happy about this performance and it showed me that I have the potential to battle with the top five in WMX which is one of my goals this season.”
With a coveted FIM gold medal potentially now on the line in the newly upgraded FIM Sand Races World Championship, the stakes have undeniably been raised in 2025, although Verstappen is keeping a cool head.
“There is no extra pressure as for me it already felt like a world championship last year because we had six rounds, almost the same as in the WMX, and my main aim remains to retain the FIM Women’s Sand Races World Cup title.”
Having only contested selected WMX rounds over the last two seasons, Verstappen will alter her training programme so she can raise her intensity for the shorter Motocross races, although her Sand Races rivals would be mistaken if they think she has taken her eye off the big prize.
“For 2025 I will train for Motocross more than endurance, and for sure I want to defend my title in Sand Races and the French Motocross Championship and top five in every WMX race would be nice.”
For more information on the 2025 FIM Sand Races World Championship click here.