After a difficult year for the brand with the golden wing, Pol Espargaró seems to have gained momentum to fight, along with his teammate Marc Márquez, for good positions this season. The podium in Qatar placed the driver from Granollers as one of the drivers to beat in the 2022 course, and the #44 hopes to improve his locker during the arrival of the European tour.
Pol Espargaró is 30 years old and has spent half his life on a motorcycle. After taking the controls of one of the prototypes that have world titles behind them, the Catalan plans to stay in the two-wheel elite for at least five more years.
“I feel like a child, I feel perfect, in the best moment of my sports career, but injuries now cost more to recover from than when I was 18 or 20 years old and it is beginning to be a very physically demanding sport, due to the injuries that I already I accumulate”, he expressed during his participation in ‘La Caja de DAZN’.
“We see athletes, for example in football, who are extending their sports careers, or Valentino [Rossi], who at 40 years old was still competitive. Valentino is unique, I don’t want to compare myself to him, but I would like to extend my sports career 5 more years at a great level”.
In this matter, his MotoGP contract with Honda will play a major role: “I’ve been in the World Championship for fifteen years and I’ve been in this situation many times. In the premier class this happens for two years, in the official teams, but in Moto3 and in Moto2 every year it has to be renewed. It is a situation that I have experienced many times”.
“Fortunately, I have reached a point in my sports career where I can be proud of what I have achieved and I am happy and calm. That does not mean that I am not nervous about renewing, but I am at another point and I am trying, like ‘El Cholo’, go game by game and see what’s coming,” he compared during the interview.
Regardless of what fate decides for him next year, the Granollers rider was full of praise when talking about the team that opened its doors to him in 2020.
“Despite the fact that things are not in place and the factory is not at the top right now, we are achieving it, but, obviously, it is a dream, not for me, for all the riders. And whoever says Otherwise, it lies,” he assured.
“Alberto [Puig] is a person who, if he is with you, is with you to the fullest, and he is not going to let anyone or anything hurt you. And he, if he can put himself in the middle between you and a bullet, is going to put in and he’s going to prevent that bullet from damaging you for him to take on that responsibility”, concluded the Spanish rider.
