24MX Alestrem

The 2026 race ran from Friday 17 to Sunday 19 April. It was round 1 of the 2026 FIM Hard Enduro World Championship.

Everything ran at the Pôle Mécanique. The organiser says more than 75% of the 2026 course was new, with about 30 km per lap. These times are from the race regulations.

Day	Time	Event
Thu 16 Apr	14:00	Paddock opens
Thu 16 Apr	14:30–19:00	Admin and technical checks
Thu 16 Apr	18:00	Press conference
Thu 16 Apr	19:30	Riders' briefing
Fri 17 Apr	07:00–09:00	Admin and technical checks. Briefing at 08:30
Fri 17 Apr	10:00–11:56	Xtrem Test, first run, national riders (numbers 450 to 101)
Fri 17 Apr	14:00–15:56	Xtrem Test, second run, national riders
Fri 17 Apr	16:30–17:36	Xtrem Test, two runs, FIM riders and numbers 1 to 100
Fri 17 Apr	18:30	Xtrem Test prize-giving
Sat 18 Apr	09:00–11:35	Minerva Prologue, Second Chance: 5 heats, 2 semi-finals, final
Sat 18 Apr	14:00–16:35	Minerva Prologue, Top 100: 5 heats, 2 semi-finals, final at 16:20
Sat 18 Apr	17:45	Prologue prize-giving
Sun 19 Apr	08:00	National Race start. Finish and podium about 12:00–12:30
Sun 19 Apr	14:00	World Race start. Finish and podium about 18:00–18:30

Xtrem Test (Friday). A natural hard enduro test of about 15 minutes. Riders start one at a time, every 20 seconds. FIM riders must ride two runs, and the best time counts. The top 100 go to Saturday's Top 100 races. Places 101 to 201 go to Second Chance. Places 202 to 450 keep their place for Sunday's start.

Minerva Prologue (Saturday). A Super Enduro-style knockout. Each race has 20 riders on a motocross start grid and lasts about 15 minutes. Eight riders go through from each heat, and ten from each semi-final. The top 20 start Sunday's race in the first row.

Main race (Sunday). Three laps in the forest, with 4 hours before the time bar at 18:00. Lap 1 follows green tape. Laps 2 and 3 follow the harder blue tape. The start is "Le Mans" style: 15 waves of 10 riders, one wave every 2 minutes. Mechanics may only work in the assistance pit lane. Fuel stops get 3 minutes of neutralised time. Outside help is not allowed. The national classes ride three green-tape laps from 08:00. The top 150 after the prologue ride the World Race at 14:00, whatever class they entered.

Points. The Xtrem Test pays 3, 2 and 1 bonus points to the top three. The Minerva Prologue pays 10 down to 1 to the top ten. The main race pays 20, 17, 15, 13, 11 and then down to 1 point for 15th.

Prize money. Xtrem Test: €800, €300 and €100. Prologue: €1,000, €500 and €200. Main race: €6,000, €4,000, €2,000, €1,000 and €500 for the top five.

These are the 2026 terms.

• Entry fee: €320. Late entry: €500. Entry is online through the organiser's site.
• When: 2026 entries opened in December 2025 and closed on 1 April 2026.
• Licence: world championship riders need an FIM licence. Other riders need a French federation (FFM) licence, either NCO or LJA.
• Classes: FIM / World Championship. RED National, for riders aged 20–39. BLUE Veteran, 40 and over. PINK, for women. GREEN Junior, aged 16–19.
• What the entry includes: an event jersey and partner goodies, one vehicle pass for three days, two all-access wristbands (rider and one helper), a VDS Racing GPS tracker with an SOS button, medical cover, and the organiser's liability insurance.
• Deposit: bring €300 in cash or by cheque for the GPS tracker. You get it back when you return the tracker.
• Withdrawals: before 15 February, you get your fee back minus €50. After that, only serious medical reasons get a refund, until 15 March, minus €50. After 15 March there are no refunds. Entries cannot be transferred.

Bike rules. A front strap is mandatory. Use extreme enduro tyres. Trial tyres are banned. The bike needs a front light mask. You get one set of tyres per day. In the main race you may change the rear tyre or wheel before the last lap. The sound limit is 109 dB/A plus 2 before the race and 111 dB/A plus 1 after it. Helmets must be FRHPHE-02 approved. Electric bikes are allowed if they are approved and registered.

New to hard enduro? The organiser asks for very good obstacle skills and fitness. It suggests the S3 Alestrem Xperience first. In 2026 that was an untimed two-day ride on 24–25 January, with three difficulty levels, for €300.

Sunday is three laps of rocky, technical forest riding, with up to four hours on the bike. For the rock fields, start with our logs and rocks guide.

The race base is the Pôle Mécanique Alès Cévennes, Vallon de Fontanes, 30520 Saint-Martin-de-Valgalgues. It is a purpose-built motorsport venue. The nearest town is Alès.

Getting there:

• By air: the nearest airport is Montpellier Méditerranée, at Mauguio.
• By road: about 1 hour from Montpellier, 30 minutes from Nîmes and 2 hours 30 from Marseille.

Tickets (2026): €20 a day, or €30 for a three-day pass. In 2026 the whole race was held around the Pôle Mécanique. The old section at Mercoirol was dropped, and spectators paid for access for the first time.

Best times to watch (2026 times):

• Friday 16:30–17:36: the FIM riders' Xtrem Test runs.
• Saturday 14:00–16:35: the Top 100 prologue races. The final starts at 16:20.
• Sunday from 14:00: the World Race. The finish was planned for about 18:00.

Do not help riders. Outside help is not allowed.

Online: the championship's recap of all three days is on YouTube. Official results are on the championship results page.

The Moto-Club Welcome Tout-Terrain was founded on 26 October 2011. Barely two years after that, club president Greg Florin and Jérémy Marin-Cudraz began planning an extreme race. They showed the project to members around March 2014. The first race, then called the Alès Trêm, followed in 2015. Jonny Walker won it, ahead of Graham Jarvis and Andreas Lettenbichler.

For years the prologue ran in Alès, along the banks of the Gardon river. Sunday's race ran around Alès, including a section at Mercoirol.

In 2016 Walker led from start to finish. The race was planned as four laps but ran as three, after a marking problem sent Walker back to the Pôle Mécanique at the end of lap 3. Wade Young was second and Jarvis third.

In 2017 Mario Román passed Jarvis near the finish, then made a mistake on one of the last obstacles. Jarvis took his first Alestrem win. Only four riders finished lap 3.

In 2018 Román won the prologue in town and then the race. A branch tore Jarvis's clutch hose on lap 2. He lost about 15 minutes, came back from around 10th and finished second. Eddie Karlsson was fifth in his first extreme enduro.

In 2019 Jarvis won again. Only four riders finished: Jarvis, Román, Young and Manuel Lettenbichler. In 2020 Román won by 13 minutes from Jarvis. Only three riders finished.

There was no race in 2021. The club planned a non-competitive ride, the Alestrem Expérience, for January 2021, then cancelled that too.

The 2022 race was held behind closed doors, and the prologue moved from Alès to the Pôle Mécanique. Young led near the finish but ran out of fuel. Román won for a third time, a race record. Alfredo Gómez was second and Young third.

Young won in 2023, his first Alestrem win, from Lettenbichler and Román. In 2024 he won again, on a private GASGAS. He passed Román just before the finish and won by less than five seconds, after more than seven hours of racing.

In 2025 only two riders reached all ten checkpoints before the 18:00 time bar. Teodor Kabakchiev won by 13 minutes from his Sherco teammate Román.

In 2026, the 11th edition, the race joined the world championship. Lettenbichler won after the jury ruling on the deviation.

Records:

• Most wins: Mario Román, three (2018, 2020, 2022).
• Back-to-back wins: Jonny Walker (2015, 2016) and Wade Young (2023, 2024).