English
Italiano
There's been a change of plans for Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo who, on paper, were supposed to compete in a boxing match. It is not known for what reason, but on Thursday, the date chosen for the bout, the two decided to abandon their gloves in favor of a microphone. By now both accustomed to the cameras by acting as commentators for DAZN, the two, straight from the Gran Price gym in Barcelona, said all kinds of things to each other, bringing up everything that had fueled their rivalry in the past.
Asked by the Catalan about who he really was, the former rider from Palma de Mallorca replied, "I'm a curious person, very competitive, definitely a perfectionist and that makes it difficult to work with me, because I'm very ambitious."
For his part, the Majorcan could not avoid the thorniest of questions, namely whether in their period of clashes on the track he had ever come to hate him. Leaving everyone surprised, the Sabadell rider admitted:" Of course, there is no doubt. I can't deny that at certain stages you were my motivation. Wanting to beat you at all costs turned into this feeling."
At that point the 37-year-old felt like talking about himself, "As a boy I was shy and insecure, but then I was transformed helped by books and more. This also led to a change in my character and so I became brash and arrogant. I have always admired sportsmen with that style, such as Muhammad Ali, Cantona, Cristiano Ronaldo or Mourinho."
The explosion of antipathy between the two MotoGP stars took place in the context of the 2008 Spanish GP. Back then, the King of Spain himself had even stepped in, calling for a handshake between the two, which, however, would never come.
"As soon as you arrived in the top class, you said negative things about me, so as a person who is not false and did not appreciate you, I did not want to give you a piece of me," Dani confessed without qualms.
"Personally, many times I wanted to punch my opponents, but I knew I couldn't. If there were no rules I would have done it ," Jorge then argued, going on to explain his approach to racing, "I would get very frustrated when things did not go as I hoped or the team did not give me what I asked for. I experienced a lot of difficulties in life and that led me to want to take the bull by the horns, turn it around and kill it. I like to repeat that the only unconditional love is from mom, if you're lucky from dad, but for friendships it's different."
Finally, the last confession came from the three-time world championship winner. "I came very close to signing with Yamaha in 2017 when you went to Ducati."
