or a razor's edge. Upon which
the elder of two racing brothers
balanced for two full decades.
It took more than 300 races,
19 years, and more than 10 dif-
ferent teams, in every grand prix
variation
except Moto3, for Aleix
Espargaro to achieve the full
respect of fans and rivals—284
starts before his first win in any
class in Argentina in 2022. That
was from pole position, and he
was a serious title contender
until it all went wrong at the
last flyaway rounds. In 2023, a
double Sprint and Sunday win in
Catalunya cemented his status.
From out of the shadows,
after ushering Aprilia to the top
step of the podium, Aleix was
finally to be taken seriously.
Why did it take so long?
For one, too many false
starts. In 2005, an undistin
-
guished year in 125s preceded
four more in 250—a
single
fourth in 42 starts. If his re-
sults were nothing special, nor
were the teams he
rode for. In
2009, it got worse: his Campe-
tella squad withdrew before the
season began. A pattern was
emerging.
So,
too, was a rider capable
of big surprises. Unemployed,
he was available as a two-race
substitute for Pramac Ducati
in MotoGP. He scored points in
both and set the fifth-fastest lap
at Misano.
It earned him the Pramac seat
for 2010, but another undistin
-
guished season masked his
promise,
and he was dropped.
P146
CN II IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
FINE MARGINS
ON THE
LONG WALK
TO STARDOM
Aleix Espargaro's
long walk to
stardom is about
to come to an
end after he
announced that
he'll be retiring
from racing at the
end of the 2024
season.
PHOTO:
GOLD & GOOSE
B
EYOND ALL THE TEARS AND HUGGING,
ALEIX ESPARGARO'S RETIREMENT LOVE-
IN AT THE BARCELONA GP REVEALED
SOMETHING ABOUT CLOSE MARGINS.
The stopwatch and on-track
action demonstrate the fine-
ness of those margins between
the motorcycles
in tenths and
hundredths of seconds.
Aleix's long walk to stardom
reveals how the same margins
separate riders. The difference
between serial success and al
-
so-ran despair is a hair's breadth
