I wouldn’t say there are any rude riders in the MotoGP paddock. But there are definitely those who treat media duties as part of the job description. Franco Morbidelli is always the opposite. As he rocks up to the Yamaha hospitality at Le Mans, Morbidelli is keen to chat about life and his time off between the Spanish and French GPs.
He mentions how time off is necessary for all in the paddock and, unprompted, derides the current schedule and the fact nobody is getting paid enough to be doing so many races in such a tightly packed calendar.
Morbidelli is all too aware of the hard work and sacrifice that goes into racing, especially when it comes to those using their time to help your career. Taken under Valentino Rossi’s wing in 2014 through the VR46 Academy, it has helped mould Morbidelli into the Moto2 world champion he became in 2017, and then the MotoGP title runner-up in 2020.
Now, more than ever, Rossi’s help is proving vital.
“The best thing that the Academy, Vale and all the guys can do is give me battle,” Morbidelli tells Autosport. “You really grow up by the adversities that you find. The more adversities that you find, you are able to overcome them and you are a better person, and a better rider in this case.
“So, what Vale does in a great way is giving me battle in every training. Even though he has stopped, he is always so competitive with go-karts and at the ranch and with the R1 bikes, with everything he jumps on the competition is as high as in racing. So, that’s the thing that really kept me alive last year because in the difficult moments I was having here, when I was training back at the ranch and everything we did I was seeing my potential was there.”
Adversity is something Morbidelli knows about all too well, having had to deal with the sudden death of his father when he was a teenager. This threatened to derail his motorcycle racing ambitions as times became financially tough. But the Italian Federation stepped in to help, before Morbidelli ended up on Rossi’s radar.
Source: Autosport