JOHN McGUINNESS ‘Here’s the leathers, you have a go!’
It’s the pinnacle of short circuit bike racing, but being a rider in MotoGP is not an easy existence. Take a rider such as Pol Espargaro. He has his absolute dream factory Honda ride, but right now all he’ll want is for the ground to open up and swallow him. He’ll just want to disappear for a week while all the trolls and the arseholes have their say. It must be so hard for him, you get everything you dream of and then it doesn’t work out.
It just shows how finiky these MotoGP bikes are and that it takes clever people to figure them out. Everything is so technical and so professional and so competitive. Yes, in MotoGP you get someone carrying your helmet and wiping your arse at times but there will be times you’ll just want to shut your eyes and be at home. You can imagine what it would have been like for Miller to walk into the Ducati garage after the first three races where he struggled. Ducati will expect exactly what he did when he won in Jerez weekin, week-out – and when you can’t deliver it’s hard to look people in the eye. Saying that you are trying your best doesn’t really cut it. Two weeks ago they’d have been asking big questions, the next week they’re patting him on the back saying they knew he could do it. Everyone is a critic or an expert. I’ve been there and that’s when you feel like saying ‘here’s the leathers, you have a go!’
The problem now is that MotoGP is so competitive. Take Jerez as an example: You’re one of the best riders in the world, you’re less than a second off on a 1m36s lap and you’re on the back row of the grid and you’re looking at yourself in the mirror thinking ‘what have I got to do?’
The fact that Dorna barely show Valentino on TV anymore shows what a brutal sport it is. When you’re in, you’re in – and when you’re out, you’re out.
From my own experience I can tell you that life is a lot more difficult when you’re not winning. It’s a case of ‘remember me?’. Everyone is living for the day, which I get. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but I get it. It’s not personal, it’s just sport. You get to a stage where all the eyes are on somebody else – it just happens – sometimes without you even knowing or realising it…
‘Pol will want the ground to open up’