Cycle News

VOL. 55 ISSUE 28 JULY 17, 2018 P103 losing Jorge Lorenzo, then up- dated for the forthcoming 2019- '20 spell by signing Maverick Vinales for two more years, way back in January. This followed a below-par finish to last year, and preceded an equally below-par first half of 2018. It's good of Yamaha to have faith in his undoubted talent, but just at present they don't look that clever to have shackled themselves to this hope for three more years. They could have waited. And then it was only a couple of months later that they closed the other door into the factory team by signing Rossi, also until the end of 2020. At that time, I was foolish enough to suggest he was a bed-blocker. I should have known better, for, of course, the Doctor has proved my predictions premature, with a string of podiums, and second overall. But at 39, the clock is ticking. So Yamaha lost Zarco, who, following two second places in the first four races, has gone off the boil a bit himself. By fall- ing off after qualifying on pole in France he dropped narrowly behind Vinales in the title stand- ings. But the truth is that he and KTM had reached agreement way back at pre-season tests in Thailand. So while it looked like signing Rossi was slam- ming the door to Zarco, in fact, it was slamming the door from the inside, to at least be sure of keeping Valentino on board. Confused? Please read on. Then came Ducati's own goal, gleefully encouraging over- priced Lorenzo to jump ship at exactly the same time as finally giving him a Desmodeci that suited his particular style to a tee. Dominant victories in Italy and Catalunya made sure every- body could see the egg all over their faces. Jorge, of course, has switched to the Repsol team, which also looks like a poten- tially bad mistake, given that he likes to ride smooth and sweet, while the Honda prefers to be manhandled like a naughty monkey. The obvious conclusion is that the whole farrago was triggered by the original Yamaha mistake, in ever letting him leave his natural home. Which brings us back to the departing Dani, after 13 years, 31 wins, plus three seconds and three thirds in the championship. At first it appeared as though he had been dispossessed—that Honda had finally broken faith with their long-term ally. Team manager Alberto Puig put a dif- ferent complexion on the affair the day after Dani's announce- ment, saying that in fact Pe- drosa's thoughts about making this his last season predated Lorenzo's offer to replace him. Puig was, in fact, Pedrosa's first ally: the man behind the Movistar junior talent series in Spain where he was picked for grand prix glory. Puig was his manager for many years, nowadays former GP winner Sete Gibernau is acting as his "rider coach". Dani lost many chances by being unlucky and prone to be- ing knocked down, which was then compounded by injury, because he is so fragile. While teammate Marquez can fall as often as he likes, it is seldom that Dani hits the deck without breaking something. It's been the same this year. In the Argentine round, he was punted off on the first lap by Zarco, and fractured his wrist, and then at Jerez he was innocently mixed up with the two factory Ducatis, this time hurting his shoulder. Bravely, he hasn't missed a race. His post-Honda redemp- tion seemed to be a place in Yamaha's new satellite team, well-sponsored by cash-rich Petronas, with admittedly a rather vague promise of a factory-spec bike. Not good enough to keep him on. A pity, because apart from anything else Dani has long been a source of unpreten- tious straight talking in a world increasingly consumed by bling and bullshit. Then again, nothing lasts forever. Except maybe Valen- tino. CN

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