Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 16, 2014 P187 This season, people like me, and others, thought of you as a possible World Champion, but maybe not the first or second choice. The timing of your very best performances was perfect, kept to the end, but this cannot have been a plan all along? I think it was a subconscious plan. I have been riding in World Championships since 2001. A long time. When I signed for Aprilia two years ago that was the first time I had a big opportunity to score. Because of the team, because of the knowledge they have and because of the bike. I had won races before that, in the wet or whatever, and had podiums before, so for me the next step was to be World Champion. I did not want to make a fool out of myself by going too hard and having an attitude, that means I would have fallen off. I knew that was not the way to win a championship. And it is not. So I wanted to build on the confidence I had because I had a bike and a team to win. The results were coming in 2013 and then I had the injury to my shoulder [mountain bike accident]… This year the approach was the same. I want- ed to be on the podium and even though during the season I did not clinch as many wins as Tom [Sykes], for example, I was still riding really hard. Because this was my real opportunity I was just concerned that making a mistake would take all this away from me again. You spoke quite often in private last year about how bad your shoul- der injury was. So that drawback in 2013 must have been a massive mo- tivation for you this year, even after lots of surgery in the winter? When we started the 2014 season I was not right with the shoulder. I held on in Phillip Island, in round one, but the winter was a nightmare because I couldn't train and I could hardly ride. I think I did one day of testing in Jerez and fell off. We did not have a happy winter to be honest. I had to just get on with the shoulder and build up during the year. I suppose it was really only when I was cor- nered, after Laguna, with six races left to go and being 44 points back… I just felt cornered, and I knew I could not have that attitude any more. So I had to change and it became about how to beat Tom. I knew that every single race I would have to be in front. If I was not, I may as well have crashed. In Jerez it looked like a real change, one we could see from outside. Sliding more, running up the rumple strips, the bike moving around more. Was that a correct impression? The attitude changed. In Jerez, that was the piv- oting point. Last year I did not go very well there, and Tom beat me twice. It was really about risking it all after being 44 points down. I just had that at- titude and it worked well. My starts became better and my whole riding became better. I found some- thing I did not know I had. In Qatar it was another step really. It felt really different. How satisfying was it for you to beat your teammate Marco Melandri? Everybody in Italy, and maybe half the people in the paddock, thought he would just dominate on the Aprilia this year, did they not? This was really satisfying. At the start of the year it was not easy. I had a bad shoulder, Marco was coming into the team… he is Italian, and with Aprilia they have history together because he was World An emotional moment for the Guintoli clan.

• Cover