“Okay, so… where to begin? This was a race weekend that had me questioning everything. Is it my bike? Is it the track? Is it that I have somehow been replaced by a less-talented, slightly wobbly version of myself who gets lost on the grid and forgets how to turn left?
The sprint race, for example. I started from 21st, which is a new and exciting experience. It’s like being in a Moto3 race, but with bigger bikes and more expensive carbon fiber parts to break. I was so far back, I was practically giving a post-race interview to the concession stand guy before the race had even finished.
I was the ‘Pecco‘ everyone knows, but if that Pecco had been replaced by a Pecco who just woke up from a three-day nap and was given a Ducati. I was ‘Pecco Unplugged,’ ‘Pecco 2.0 (with bugs),’ ‘Pecco.exe has stopped working.’
My pace was so off, I think the telemetry data just gave up and started drawing a picture of a sad face. I saw some of the other riders go by, and I swear they had time to wave and ask me for directions to the podium. ‘Is it this way, Pecco?’ they yelled. ‘I don’t know, Jorge! I’m still trying to find the pit lane!’
And then there’s the whole ‘mental component’ that the team says is a problem. Of course, it’s a mental component! My brain is currently running on the same software as a 1990s Nokia. My bike’s front-end feels like it’s made of Jell-O. I’m a two-time world champion and I’m getting passed by riders who haven’t even had their first espresso yet. If I wasn’t so frustrated, I’d probably be a therapist’s most interesting case study.
I want to change this. I want to go back to being the old Pecco. The one who wins races, not the one who makes a highlight reel of ‘What Not to Do in a MotoGP Race.
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