“Bagnaia is the new Rossi? I don’t think so, maybe one from Valentino every 50 years”
“This world is unpredictable and that’s also the beauty of racing, but on paper I think Bagnaia is the favouritebecause apart from everything it seems to me the most complete. Bezzecchi is very strong but at a distance I think Bagnaia will emerge and Ducati too will certainly work to ensure that the factory team manages to prevail”. This is the analysis of this year’s MotoGP world championship by the former rider Marco Melandri at Adnkronos and on the chances of success of the Italian pilots with Pecco Bagnaia e Marco Bezzecchi at the top of the drivers standings separated by only one point. Melandri was World Champion of the 250cc class in 2002, he is the Italian record holder of victories in the Superbike World Championship, with 22 successes.
“Could Pecco Bagnaia be the new Valentino Rossi? I don’t think he can be, of Valentino there is one every 50 years maybe. Even if Bagnaia were to win as much as Valentino, for me he will never be able to reach Rossi’s charisma, personality and following”, added the ex-rider who was guest of a b2b event organized by Sks365 for the presentation of the new concept store of the network of shops in Rome. “Do I bet every now and then? Yes sometimes with friends. I like to do it on what I think can be the outsider, truly as a game and only through legal and responsible gaming,” Melandri stressed.
“The return of Marquez? The body does not forget and the last three years have been really tough for him. We also saw the bike’s weaknesses when he missed out. With him not 100% Honda is unable to make up for the bike’s shortcomings. He tries to do his best and always manages to entertain, with him the race is always unpredictable. Then let’s hope he doesn’t do any more bullshit like in Portugal. I hope it left a mark on him to calm down on those types of events, but the fact that he always tries leaves you wondering what will happen, otherwise the races risk being too predictable. Vinales and Bagnaia? I don’t think it was either of them to blame. They both found themselves at the wrong time in the wrong place. I haven’t seen any malice or mistakes from either of them, just bad luck.”
Melandri also talked about the new formula, F1 style, with sprint races. “I like watching races and therefore I prefer to watch a race rather than a practice session. The nice thing is that in a shorter race you sometimes see different values, because they don’t have to save fuel and therefore some bikes manage to be faster and some riders, who are very fast over 4-5 laps, are able to express themselves better than in Sunday’s race.So in my opinion it’s positive, I don’t think the race itself is dangerous either, but it’s the attitude of the riders to stay ahead immediately to create difficulties. Now the pilots are starting to get to know it and to take measures”. Once he stopped racing, Melandri devoted himself to various interests. “Now I’m always in the motorcycle business, I work with technical companies, one for helmets and one for brakes, I do enduro races with electric bikes and mountain bikes for fun and I have other activities outside of motorcycles”, he concluded the former pilot.
Source-www.adnkronos.com