Why Motogp stars don’t blink

New research shows top riders go up to nine minutes without blinking. Eh?

Abizarre but fascinating study has shown that Motogp riders blink far less than Moto2 and Moto3 riders, who in turn blink a lot less than the rest of us. One Motogp rider tested didn’t blink for nine minutes (for normal people the average gap is four seconds), yet had no soreness afterwards.

The study was a collaboration between top privateer team LCR Honda and Italian pharmaceutical company Sifi, aimed at discovering if there’s anything odd about elite riders’ eyes.

They found there definitely is. Project spokesman Professor Stefano Barabino discovered that their tear fluid has adapted to stop irritation and inflammation caused by long blink gaps and hypothesised that Motogp riders are able to switch off the blink reflex in order to survive. Though, saying that, he acknowledged that the riders had massively extended blink gaps when off the bike too. Carmelo Chimes, co-owner of SIFI, said: ‘We want to investigate the relationship between concentration and blink rate. From these results we expect to understand whether one can develop little tricks, exercises or eye drops to counteract fatigue, dry or inflamed eyes and the deterioration of vision.’