The Fiat Yamaha team have been surrounded by hype this past few weeks. Not, as an outsider might expect, caused by a battle to re-sign the reigning champion: Rossi?s contract ends at the end of the 2010 championship, and he looks settled, happy, and at one with the bike he helped shape and tune into the best bike in the paddock. The hubbub has been around Rossi?s team mate, The Janitor. He would probably fume at such a moniker but, whether he admits it or not, that is what Jorge Lorenzo?s role is in the Yamaha master plan for now. To learn from Rossi and, eventually, take over his mantle when the GOAT finally retires.
It is not a role which Jorge relishes. It is a necessary part of any racer?s psyche to believe they are the best and can win on any given Sunday. For most of the pack though, there is one truth that is inescapable. That is that Rossi is better than them. For any of the pack to beat him, as Rick Broadbent says in his interview with MGPB, requires his form to dip and the other to be at the peak of their performance.
Lorenzo is unique in the paddock in that he believes he is better than Rossi. It is an unshakable belief, and one which has led us to witness some of the best racing for some time in MotoGP as Lorenzo, along with Pedrosa and Stoner, has pushed Rossi further and faster than he has been pushed before.
This has caused Jorge to head down a couple of paths in the recent weeks. Firstly, he has stood up to Yamaha over his contract negotiations and secondly he has pushed his riding to and over the limit.
The Contract
He has not just rolled over and taken what was first offered by his current employers. He feels Yamaha are not paying him what he is worth and no doubt points to his successes in 2008 even with the injuries sustained early on, and this year his ability to compete with Rossi on the track.
What he has forgotten is that he has not actually become MotoGP champion as yet, and demanding parity with Rossi, who put him in his place by pointing out the stark differences between their roles in the Yamaha garage, is simply daft. He, or more likely his agent, have also made some rather transparent attempts to up his salary. First the threat of a Repsol ride was hanging over the negotiations as Honda appeared to be considering their rider options for 2010. Never a company to make knee-jerk decisions, Honda chose to retain both riders and took the wind out of the Lorenzo argument. Not a week later and leaked salary offers from Ducati for Lorenzo were swirling about the paddock and the Internet. One could almost hear Lorenzo shouting ?See! I have options!?
In fact, he is already on the best bike in the paddock (thanks to his team mate) and were he on the Ducati or the Honda, he knows he would be on inferior machinery to Rossi. That would be enough to start the doubt that he could win, and the first cracks in his until-now unshakable belief in himself and his talent. He does not want that.
The Riding
The second path his convictions have led him down relates to his riding. Frequently topping the timing charts in free practice qualifying, he has proven himself fast. He can ride a bike, he believes, better than anyone. ?Look,? he might say, ?I had half a second on Rossi in FP1 in Brno. I can beat him.?
What he does not allow himself to see is that riding fast is only one part of winning a motorcycle race. A rider also needs race craft. Rossi gave him a lesson in race craft in Barcelona at the final turn. It is a lesson Lorenzo has tried to give back to Rossi on two occasions since. Donington saw him take the lead, only to make a silly error on a wet white line, and crash out. In the lottery that was that race, Rossi himself fell but somehow his luck held out to allow him to remount and score points. In Brno, Jorge passed Rossi again for the lead, at the very limit of the adhesion of his front tyre. Just a few laps later, trying to out-think and out-brake Rossi while still in the lead, he would run wide on the same corner to low side out of the race. Rossi continued on his line, to the line.
Jorge is great for the sport, great entertainment, and is pushing Rossi harder than ever. Make no mistake, he is brilliant. So far he has proven immune to Rossi?s mind-games, and if anything has become stronger more determined though his struggles against him. Whether he likes it or not though, he is still the Champion?s Apprentice and given Rossi?s form at the moment and wiles on the track, he is likely to remain so until Rossi chooses to retire.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/motogpblog/postfeed/~3/PNl7Srzdr9I/1189
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