Jorge Lorenzo spoke to The Wild Project Podcast about his biggest rivalries while racing in the MotoGP world championship.
One of the biggest rivalries was with Dani Pedrosa, and the former rider and world champion spoke about their rivalry and compared it to the one he had with Valentino Rossi.
– I don’t want anything bad to happen to anyone, I don’t hate anyone, but more than Rossi, more than Márquez, because when you’re 17 you live everything much more intensely and, in fact, the press also fueled this rivalry because it was in their interest. Coaches Dani Amatriaín and Alberto Puig have been at loggerheads since their motorcycle racing days, so it was a four-way thing. Did you know that in 2008, in Jerez, he won the race, I came third and this enmity was so popular that the King of Spain found out and shook our hands? That famous image didn’t help because then we killed each other.
He added of a funny moment with Dani Pedrosa backstage: ‘In the press room, when we take pole position, there’s a kind of press room where you talk to the journalists, well for the Dorna camera because there are no journalists there. I finished talking and tried to shake Pedrosa’s hand and he said no. Colin Edwards was looking and saying, “What’s wrong with this guy that he won’t shake your hand?” You could hear that he hadn’t shaken my hand and they were talking more about that than the race, so I guess that’s why it reached the King’s ears.’