On the starting grid after five seasons
Following the serious injury suffered by Johann Zarco in Barcelona, LCR Honda called veteran Cal Crutchlow while waiting for the French rider’s recovery. A return, that of the 40-year-old Briton (winner of his three MotoGP races precisely with the Japanese manufacturer), which materialized after his retirement from competition in 2020, with his career continuing as a Yamaha test rider until 2024. Consequently, Crutchlow had not been on track for two years, but the opportunity that arose to race again was not something he hoped for, quite the opposite.
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MotoGP: something that was not missing
Interviewed by Crash.net, Zarco’s replacement was very honest about it: “It’s not easy to be off for two years and then come back after not having ridden a bike before doing 30 laps at Misano just before Mugello – he commented – it’s not a game to be taken lightly. I love this sport. I came back only because Honda and LCR asked me to. I wouldn’t have done it for anyone else. So, I don’t miss the sport itself, I miss the competition, I miss racing, let’s say. But I was fine at home watching the races on TV, so I don’t see this as if I wanted to come back to race, because I don’t want it 100%. I’m 40, I’ll be 41 in a couple of months, I’m not stupid. It’s nice to come back and know I’ll only do a certain number of races and then go back home.”
The pressure
On this, Crutchlow focused on the pressures arising from the return to competition, generated more by himself than by external expectations: “Actually, the pressure comes from myself – he added – at first I thought ‘I’ll just race, greet the crowd and take it as it comes’, and then suddenly I started getting angry and wanting to be competitive. It’s a good thing because it means I’m doing it for the right reasons“.
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