‘When I was in Honda nobody complained about the weight; it’s just an excuse’ – Álvaro Bautista

‘When I was in Honda nobody complained about the weight; it’s just an excuse’ – Álvaro Bautista

This year, the World Superbike Championship has a mandatory minimum weight for the rider/bike combination. A rule that particularly affects two-time champion Álvaro Bautista, who is one of the lightest and shortest riders in the field, and feels targeted by his competitors.

In an interview with Crash.net, the Spanish rider stated: ‘When I was riding for Honda nobody complained about the weight. But when we started winning a lot they began complaining about the bike’s performance and saying it was too high, that Ducati is too good a bike and that it was impossible to fight against Ducati, they have to cut their RPMs. Then they said, «OK but the only Ducati winning is Álvaro» and that I’m too light. But it’s just an excuse. It’s like they don’t think I can be a good rider as well. So not because of the weight or the bike, but maybe I can win because I’m a good rider’.

Bautista recalled his successes in the 125cc World Championship and the fact that he has contested MotoGP podiums, admitting that he feels like his opponents are trying to make excuses: ‘It’s like they try to find an excuse instead of me maybe being a better rider than them’.

Regarding the issue of stature, the rider said: ‘If you see, more-or-less the average weight and height for every rider is not too big, not too strong. There are strange cases like Valentino [Rossi] who is tall but in the normal rider configuration we are not too big or too strong. The problem in WorldSBK is that there are a lot of tall riders who are very strong. If you want to be a rider you have to work to be a rider. For example, Aleix Espargaro in MotoGP is a tall rider but he works to be a rider and does a lot of training to be fit’.

O conteúdo ‘When I was in Honda nobody complained about the weight; it’s just an excuse’ – Álvaro Bautista aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.