The Spaniard and the Australian, who were born 17 days apart, had almost parallel careers in the World Cup. Although both debuted in 2001 in 125cc , Pedrosa rode the full season while Stoner only rode two wild cards . The one from Southport achieved a fixed place in 2002, but in 250cc. A course later it dropped to the eighth of a litre, when the one from Castellar del Vallés (Barcelona), won the title.
Pedrosa made the jump to 250cc in 2004, while Stoner had to repeat in the small class. In 2005, already in the quarter of a liter, both fought for the title, which fell on the Catalan side, and that earned them the chance to move up to MotoGP.
While the #26 went to the official Repsol Honda team in 2006, Stoner ended up in the LCR satellite after everything was agreed to do it with Pons. Pedrosa completed his entire career until retirement with the signing of the gold wing, but the #27 went to Ducati in 2007 to make history by becoming the only Borgo Panigale-branded MotoGP world champion to date and staying there until 2010.
In 2011 their paths crossed, but they only lasted two years as partners. The oceanic, who won his second title with the colors of the Spanish oil company, coincided with an unforgettable generation in his years in MotoGP, but the one he learned the most from was Pedrosa.
“Jorge (Lorenzo) had many things that I would have wanted, Valentino’s (Rossi) fighting ability and the way he read the races, especially when he started to get a little charged. But the person I learned the most from in my career, because I raced with him my whole career, it was Dani Pedrosa. The way he was able to find the speed and things that sometimes blew your mind, you were like ‘how the hell is he doing this?'” Stoner in an interview on the official MotoGP website.
“When I became his teammate in 2011, it was the best thing that ever happened to me, because the previous years at Ducati, although I don’t want to be misunderstood, I was never able to look at my teammate’s data to know how to go faster. With Dani, again without pride, I could see what he was capable of doing in some parts of the track, with the same bike, he was able to absolutely destroy me. And you’re like ‘okay, what is he doing? What’s he doing differently?’ I wasn’t copying the setup because I follow my own direction and things like that, but sometimes I would attack things a little differently and I was able to learn a lot from it, and that gave me a lot more strength, knowing that I had someone so fast with whom to polish some of my weaknesses,” he settled.
Photos: all Repsol Honda bikes and riders in 500/MotoGP
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