W hile the MXGP season is still two months away , much of the circus ’ top teams and riders converged on the Italian island of Sardinia for the Internazionali D ’ Italia in Sardinia . With riders across the field suffering from a lack of seat time , the sandy and demanding Italian circuit provided the perfect setting to experience race conditions for the first time in 2021 ahead of the upcoming MXGP World Championship in May . The international event featured MXGP peers from at least four other rival factory teams , with KTM ’ s Jorge Prado defeating Glenn Coldenhoff and Thomas Kjer Olsen by less than four seconds to head the podium . In the second moto ‘ Superfinal ’, the 20-year old Spaniard rocketed to the front of the pack once more , but elected to pull into the pitlane after feeling a small bike issue halfway through the race . “ It ’ s nice to be back and doing something different from training ,” Prado said after round one . “ The GPs are still quite far away , but it ’ s nice to get up to speed and it was a good day here in Sardinia : 1st in qualifying and then a good start in the MX1 moto . It was handy to get those small nerves out of the way and those feelings that come with the first gate drop of the season . I holeshotted again and was leading the second race , but I felt something different on the bike and it was better to stop to get everything checked out . These races are good for exactly that ; checking and testing ! Overall it was a decent first race of 2021 .” In the Supercampione race , it was Kawasaki ’ s Romain Febvre who took the win after pouncing on the lead in the closing stages of the race . It was an impressive feat , with the Frenchman still feeling the weight of a Covid infection he picked up during 2020 . “ This morning I posted a good result in the timed practice session and later I got two great starts which is just what we wanted ”, Febvre said . “ In the MX1 race I had a good rhythm racing