The off-season is now less than a month from its end, so the drivers are already actively preparing for the start of the season which will take place at the beginning of February in Sepang. A Malaysian track which will host the first tests of this year 2020 at the end of which the MotoGP field will undoubtedly be different from the one which opened the season. Contracts will indeed have to be renewed or negotiated. Among these, we obviously think of that of Valentino Rossi, as well as that of Cal Crutchlow, who has not hidden his thoughts on retirement. But the Englishman warns that there will be a third thief in this logic. And it’s Andrea Dovizioso…
It's apparently to be expected: at the end of the 2020 campaign, some top MotoGP riders will retire, like Dani Pedrosa did it in 2018 and Jorge Lorenzo in 2019. At 40 years old, Valentino Rossi has all the legitimacy to assert his pension rights. For his part, with a worn and painful body, Cal Crutchlow, as a good father, also has every reason, at 34, to hang up his leathers.
The LCR Honda driver takes stock of his situation, while providing information: “ I'm going to see what the start of the 2020 season will be like. Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi will do exactly the same ", said Crutchlow at MCN. “ There are drivers who will watch the start of the 2020 season before making a decision. »
The Englishman therefore also announces Dovizioso at the dawn of a change in his career… He nevertheless continues about his own fate: “ I did not impose a certain number of races before making a decision. If you talk to Lucio Cecchinello now, I can extend at LCR as long as I want. And I'm sure Honda would also be interested in keeping me. I have a great connection with them ».
But if he speaks of the end, Crutchlow also remembers his debut in MotoGP, paying tribute to the one who spotted him, Hervé Poncharal : " I was the best British driver in 2010. It was me who just took the risk. I could have made myself comfortable in the World Superbike Championship. But my life is now more than comfortable. After the first half of 2011, I told Hervé Poncharal that I wanted to return to superbikes. But he said, “No, we’ll continue to do it together.” » In the last race of 2011, I was fourth. I also started 2012 with a fourth place and have always felt comfortable in MotoGP ever since. »
