Marco Bezzecchi
Despite being the more experienced rider at Honda, Dani Pedrosa has revealed that he learned an ‘unthinkable’ lesson from Marc Marquez in how to keep going 100% after crashing multiple times.
To many, Pedrosa is regarded as one of the greatest MotoGP riders never to win the title. Having finished runner-up in 2007, 2010 and 2012, he would come up against an almighty opponent in 2013, in the form of his rookie teammate, Marquez.
Fresh off winning the Moto2 title, the Ant of Cervera was immediately on the pace, winning the MotoGP crown over established names like Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and his Honda teammate.
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Rossi told Pedrosa that he should have won in 2013, but instead, he would finish third behind Marquez and Lorenzo. The 40-year-old never beat his fellow countryman at Honda, eventually retiring without a title at the end of 2018.
Pedrosa likened Marquez to a ‘chameleon’, and wished that he had been the same as him during his career. While he was the younger rider, he admits that he learned a valuable lesson from him at Honda.
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Dani Pedrosa thought crashing multiple times and then winning was ‘unthinkable’ – Marc Marquez did it
Marquez was, and still is, renowned for riding on the limit, braking late into corners and leaving everything on the track.
Naturally, this led to a multitude of accidents and injuries – in fact, Pedrosa felt he could have won the title during Marquez’s lay-off with injury in 2020. But the Spaniard would get back up and continue fighting for victories.
This was something that Pedrosa thought was inconceivable, but he admits that he learned something from Marquez. Speaking via Fast & Curious, he found out that he could view weekends in a different way, and still extract the maximum after crashing several times.
Asked if Marquez learned anything from him, Pedrosa replied: “Oh dear, I don’t know what he’s learnt from me. I haven’t had that conversation yet… deep conversation because with rivals that tough, you don’t reveal many secrets.
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“For example, with Stoner. Yes, now, sure, we’ve already been able to sit down and talk about when he was with me on the team. But anyway, I’ve learnt from Marc.
“What I learnt is that sometimes it’s worth it, because my approach to the race was always to build up gradually, OK? To try and minimise the risk, obviously, because every time I crashed, I hurt myself.
“I couldn’t afford to crash five times in a weekend and still end up on the podium. That was just unthinkable for me. Well, Marc did it, you know?
“He’d wreck five bikes, but on Sunday, he’d either win the race or finish second or third. So what I’d say I learnt from him is that different way of looking at the weekend.
“He’d go 100%, and when he went over the top, he’d ease off a bit whenever he needed to, to be in the sweet spot, but his approach was always to give 100% or a bit more.”
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