Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE A photo posted of 1999 FIM 500cc Motorcycle Grand Prix Champion Alex Criville on Face- book generated a lot of reaction. Criville is one of those past GP champions who are often over- looked. Crammed between the domination of Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi (along with Ameri- can Kenny Roberts Jr. in 2000) Criville's accomplishment of win- ning the premier GP class is often discounted because his came, some say, as a result of Doohan's crash at Jerez early in the '99 sea- son that brought about the Aussie legend's retirement. Another factor may be the timing of Criville's world title in terms of GP overall popularity. It's hard to imagine now, but GP racing was at a low point in worldwide popularity, as the two-stroke era had seem- ingly stagnated. Meanwhile, world superbike was flying high and chal- lenging the premier series in terms of attendance and TV ratings. So that fact may further erode the prestige in some people's eyes of the riders who won GP titles in this quiet era of the championship. Yet, looked at in a different light, Criville comes away with a massive legacy as not only the first Span- iard to win a premier-class GP race, but the first from his country P114 CRIVILLE'S PLACE IN MOTOGP HISTORY The 1992 season saw Alex Criville work alongside another great Spanish rider, Sito Pons, in his 500cc team. It was during this season that Criville took Spain's first premier-class victory by win- ning the Dutch TT. By 1994, Criville was in the factory Honda team alongside fellow MotoGP legend Mick Doohan. From 1995 to 1998, Criville would take seven wins and finish no lower than fourth overall. In 1999, the planets aligned and Criville took Spain's first premier class title, winning six races in the process. He would eventually re- tire at the end of 2001. Criville was made a MotoGP Legend in 2016 and now works with young riders and alongside Movistar TV during to win the 500cc Grand Prix World Championship. Undoubtedly, Criville was an inspiration to young Spanish riders and arguably set in motion the dominance that country would exhibit a decade later with world champs like Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez and a host of other leading road racers. Criville was a wunderkind in Spain, so much so that his birth records were altered so he could start racing at age 14. His world championship career got off to an incredible start, taking second place on his debut in the old 80cc class in 1987. In 1989, he won his first 125cc World Champi- onship on his first attempt, winning five races. Alex Criville's lone World Championship title came in 1999 as a member of the Repsol Honda squad.