Dani Pedrosa returns to the track in Jerez for his second wildcard after his farewell to MotoGP. The KTM rider remembers his physical fragility.
Dani Pedrosa recalls his career injuries, the many challenges with Jorge Lorenzo and compares his physique with that of Marc Marquez.
The Pedrosa-Lorenzo challenge
There will be an old star on the track during the MotoGP weekend in Jerez: Dani Pedrosa. After his farewell to racing in 2018, this will be his second wild card astride the KTM of which he is the top test rider. After two decades in MotoGPtoday the Sabadell rider is also a commentator for Dazn and can boast a career of successes, but also defeats, and above all of having crossed paths with the most prestigious names in history, such as Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo.
With the latter he will share his new television experience and, in an appearance on “La Caja de DAZN”, he recalls his rivalry with the Majorcan, at the time riding a Yamaha. With him he has woven many clashes on the track, which have marked the MotoGP and divided the Spanish fans. A rivalry that already began in the 250 class, perhaps marking the golden age of the “middle class”. After so many years the hatred is extinguished, the hatchet is laid down. “After a long time fighting with the same person… you say ‘he’s as good as me’, and you take off your hat“.
Dani Pedrosa’s injuries
In the end of his career he shared the Honda garage with Marc Marquez, also in this case tensions were not lacking, especially in the early years. Injuries are part of a rider’s career and Dani Pedrosa has suffered several, some of them important: the left humerus, both collarbones, both wrists fractured, most of the fingers on both hands. A physical fragility that certainly didn’t stop him from stopping, at least until he realized that aiming for the podium wouldn’t have been easier, also because of his age.
Yet Pedrosa was not a two-wheeled athlete who crashed many times. “I fell at most five or six times a year, counting the trials. I counted them because in that period I was racing with Marc in the team, he crashed 30 times. I fell four times and went to the hospital twice. Maybe Marc only had surgery once after 30 crashes… Maybe I was more fragile than the others“.
