It’s November 21st – Álvaro’s 27th birthday, you can still congratulate him via Twitter – and eleven days have passed since the MotoGP season has officially finished, but regardless of that Álvaro still was rather busy in the meantime.
Firstly he travelled to Milan right after he jumped off the 800cc Gresini Honda, to attend the motorcycle fair EICMA for his sponsor Rev’It! and sign autographs, pose for photos and chat with fans.
Finally returned to his hometown Talavera de la Reina he visited the headquarters of another personal sponsor – OID – and stayed for an interview about the 2011 season and his expectations for the new year with a new team and a new bike.
Having only the weekend to relax and train a bit with Supermoto, he was again busy the next week, giving a few interviews to local radio stations before being back with his sponsor OID for the fair IFEMA in Madrid to spend some time with his fans. His visit at the fair in Madrid was also an opportunity for Europa Press and several other journalists to have a longer interview with Álvaro after his signing with the San Carlo Honda Gresini team and many of these video interviews can be watched online, like here, here, here and here.
On Friday Álvaro was again back in Madrid, joining his friends Dani Martínez, Florentino Fernandez and Anna Simon for their television show Otra Movida which included a hilarious Minimoto race that Álvaro finally won after his last “rival” crashed out twice.
And after celebrating his birthday today, Álvaro will be leaving Spain again this week for a very special adventure, joining the Riders for Health Experience Africa tour where he’ll ride through Zambia with Randy Mamola and several lucky participants to raise awareness and support Riders for Health. The trip will take place from 23rd November until 1st December.
Once he’s back home from Africa he has the annual fanclub end-of-season dinner to look forward to, which will take place on Saturday, 10th December, in Talavera de la Reina. Further information on the dinner and booking can be found on his website.
Since the Valencia test several magazines also published interviews with Álvaro. Translations of those will be posted shortly in separate articles. Below you can find the translation of some of his statements when interviewed by Europa Press. .
“It’s been a tough year. I did not start as expected with the crash in Qatar. The fracture of the left femur ruined the beginning of the year, I needed to regain confidence after that. But by mid-season everything fell into place, I rode with enthusiasm and confidence and could take small steps forward and make the bike more competitive”, he said in an interview with Europa Press.
But once he had recovered from the injury he showed a constant pace. “In practice I’ve been around sixth and seventh and I had a couple of second row starts. We lacked luck in the races, we missed opportunities to finish with good results. But we must be satisfied, we have done the maximum.”
The Castilian-La Mancha native has already made “first contact” with the Gresini team, although with the 800cc bike of Hiroshi Aoyama. “I wanted to see how the feeling is, because it is different from the Suzuki and I have to get used to another way of riding. It is the world champion bike, but I can adapt.”
However, until the end of next January he won’t be able to ride with the 1000cc bike. “I’m looking forward to see how this new category works”, he said while explaining that the new machines are “faster. They have more power. You’ll have to control the power when you touch the throttle out of corners, but I have not tested it yet and don’t know how it’s going to be.”
On the withdrawal of Suzuki he stated that it’s “a shame and frustrating” after he competed for two years with the brand. “The team was fantastic, with great professionals. Everyone knew what they had to do. I feel bad, because those are people who I have a lot of affection for; it seems that lately we’ve seen more [of the potential] and I hate that it stops suddenly, we had found a path which was tough to get to and this is now gone, it’s a shame and frustrating.”
Asked about his predictions for next season, he believes the favourites will still be same, despite the new formula and knows that for him it will be “difficult to fight with the first”, but at the same time he’ll have “much room for improvement.”
“Stoner must defend the title as he takes the number 1 plate, Lorenzo must return to fight again for that number 1 and Pedrosa has been a candidate for many years. Everybody says that ‘This year he will win’ and he has to be one of the candidates. But let’s see the level of the others. On paper those are the three who will fight for the championship next year.”
For him personally, he finds it a little more difficult to set goals. “A change of bike and team, I have to start working with them, get used to the bike, change the way I ride… it will be important to adapt to this bike, it is difficult to set goals. I don’t know what I can achieve, I want to go step by step, feel comfortable and work well with the team and do my best. There is a good basis to start from and gives me assurance to start the year.”
From the finished 2011 season his favourite race he likes to remember is the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring: “The fight in Germany with Valentino [Rossi] and [Nicky] Hayden was spectacular and fantastic for the spectators, with many great passses and I beat them both. I’ll stick with that race, it was special, a head-to-head battle where I could beat them; I have good memories of this Grand Prix.”
Speaking of Valentino Rossi, although he had a very difficult season with Ducati, Álvaro does not count him out: “He’s a great rider, to me the best ever, I doubt anyone can repeat his success. This year he had it rough, the Ducati is not as easy to ride as the Yamaha or Honda, it was more difficult. Also the level is higher than when he joined Yamaha, when nobody bet on him.” He is convinced that with a Ducati to the taste of Valentino he will win again. “I don’t know if [he can win] the championship, but I’m sure he’ll get back to win races, he has a lot of experience under his belt and never gives up. Although he is one of the oldest riders, he is as eager as a youngster who just arrived.”
Looking at the new regulations for 2012, he is convinced that CRT machines are the future of the class, but also admits that they are not entirely to his liking. “They are less made for racing than what we have. Those of us who ride with MotoGP do not like it, but when everyone has it, it is what it is. In the future there will be more equality and it’ll be more in the hands of the rider than in the technology.”
Even though the Spanish “Armada” has taken “only” one title this season, Nico Terol in 125cc, Álvaro believes that nationally there is “a good level. Last year we got used to it with so many Spaniards winning and this year it’s only the title for Nico, but if Marquez had not had the problem in Malaysia he could’ve also been champion.” However, it’s clear that “you can’t always win everything. Marquez and Lorenzo are each runner-up. We have been in the fight, because the level is high and we should be proud of it”, he added while recognizing that another season in Moto2 is a good choice for Marc Marquez.
Finally, the former 125cc world champion felt nostalgic after the Goodbye of the 125cc class: “The two-strokes are very special bikes, those of all my life. Since I came to MotoGP, the preseason is separate. When in the first race the 125s go out on track it’s a distinct smell, that of life, it makes me nostalgic and it’s a shame they are gone, but the future are the four-strokes and Moto3 is a good base because it is the future.”
Source Interview: Europa Press
Photos: Rizla Suzuki, Twitter Alvaro Bautista, Twitter Inma Rodriguez
