2023 does not start under a good star for Johann Zarco. There is a breakdown within the Pramac rider’s staff.
Johann Zarco has reached the threshold of 32 years and begins to be one of the “oldest” on the starting grid of the MotoGP. The French rider of the Pramac Racing team knows he has to focus a lot on athletic training during this winter break, especially in light of the new world format which includes 21 weekends around the world and a total of 42 races after the introduction of sprint races.
Arrived in the premier class in 2017 as two world champions in Moto2, Johann Zarco he has collected around fifteen podium finishes, four in the 2022 season, but without ever managing to achieve victory. He will race his fourth championship on the saddle Ducati Desmosedici GP and this time he will have no alibi, because the Red is the world champion bike, with it Pecco Bagnaia, Jack Miller, Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini triumphed. A prototype of similar level forces you to aim high, the reconfirmation in the satellite team of Paolo Campinoti is at stake.
Johann Zarco and Jean-Michel Bayle end of collaboration
Also in 2023 he will have a bike with factory specifications at his disposal. But the year doesn’t start with good news for the Cannes pilot. Indeed the legend of motocross and supercross Jean-Michel Bayle, who was largely entrusted with his athletic training, announced the end of the collaboration on social channels. Back in 2019, Jean-Michel Bayle was briefly employed as a consultant to then Red Bull KTM factory rider Johann Zarco. Once the contract between KTM and the French rider was terminated early, Zarco and Bayle also parted ways.
Their partnership resumed in early 2022, with the 53-year-old expected to take care above all of physical and mental preparation. The goal was to improve the approach in the practice sessions and then be faster in the race. But in the last hour the legend of the motocross posted a message that seems a bit like a bolt from the blue. “This message is to announce the end of my collaboration with Johann ZarcoBayle wrote. “I had a lot of things to analyze after the 2022 season and I was counting a lot on this winter to improve it. For various reasons, it is impossible to set my schedule and training strategy for this new 2023 season“.
Without getting too specific, he reveals a few small details about the breakup. “I knew that changing habits was a difficult thing to do and it is with disappointment and a sense of unfinished challenge that this adventure ends. We are waiting for you for new challenges and new adventures“. To find out how much this decision will affect Johann Zarco’s preparation, we just have to wait for the MotoGP preseason in Malaysia and in Portimao.
