María Herrera, the only woman on the starting grid: "Don't let that girl beat you"

• Ona Carbonell: "I would have been a mother before if I had not been afraid of what is going to happen"

'Slowly you go far'. It is the tattoo that

wears

on her wrist and that seems to be the engine of her life. One of them because the other, the first, like her in most of her races, rides on both wheels of her motorcycle. María, who has just turned 25, is currently the only girl on the grid for

and next weekend, if everything goes as she wants, she will be the Spanish

in the 600 cc women's category.

We meet her in Oropesa (Toledo), on the circuit where she trains every day, a

made by her father on the family farm, sharing space with her "cow friends." There he meets on Saturdays that he does not compete with other pilots in the area to do

; it's his way of keeping the pulse of the bike. "We are far from the circuits and this track gives us a feeling similar to

when it rains, it has a similar grip," he tells us when he gets off the bike.

"If it weren't for the hair, for the ponytail, would you have thought when you saw me that I drive differently from a man?" He asks me when he stops the motorcycle next to me and takes off his helmet. No, impossible to think about it. That is why it does not surprise us when he explains with some modesty that he has surpassed most of the riders on the track who are now number one in

including

and the current leader, the Frenchman

Do you feel like being the only girl in a men's competition? Do they treat you differently? It is something that I keep more and more in mind. When you are little you do not think about it, you are just one more, you are in a sport that you like. But when you grow up and hear 'don't let that girl beat you' ... Why? We are all the same, we do the same thing. I do not feel different, although it is true that when it comes to finding a sponsor or team, I do notice that they do not have the same confidence. It's the only thing different.

What does weigh is the

with which she now competes: 260 kilos, 120 more than a GP motorcycle, although she, who does not reach 60, handles it as if it did not cost.

To carry it, he has had to gain muscle mass because his body is smaller than that of a man, adding hours of the gym to his daily routine;

the motorcycle knows no holidays or weekends.

"I

least four and a half hours a day. I get up between six and seven in the morning and start with a short workout before breakfast. Then I rest and do a longer and more intense one, from 9 to 12. In the afternoon, play

", he explains.

A motorcycle with history

His passion for motorcycles runs in his

. His father, from whom he claims to have learned everything he knows, also ran when he was young, in amateur categories, "he is very

, if they had supported him he would have gone very far," he says of him with admiration. It's mutual, her father's face changes in every curve she burns. "Who was going to say to me then that I would be in a

with my daughter," he says.

Maria is the second of three siblings. They all got on the bike at the same time, but only she got hooked; He was 4 years old. "I was very small and very competitive, I don't know how my mother left me. I wanted to beat everyone, my brothers, my friends, my father's ...", she laughs when she remembers. That is why they signed her up for a

, and that is why her sports career began: she was fifth among 200 children.

He also inherited his first

racing

from

his father

.

"He gave me his, the one he had when he was little," he says.

Now he exhibits it along with other of his trophies.

"Years later we repainted it to replicate the bike that I rode in the

."

At only 6 years old, she was already the only girl competing with 30 boys.

And when he was 17, in his

of the World Championship, he was also the only driver that the King, then Juan Carlos I, called to the box: 'Let the girl come, I want to greet her'.

The pink helmet

Besides competing, Maria likes to draw. His are the numbers and logos on their motorcycles and also the design of all their helmets. One of them, the most supportive, completely

. It is an initiative together with Openbank to support the fight against

"There are many female fighters in the world going through this," she explains, "at the end of the year I will raffle the helmet among all the people who have collaborated by buying one of the plates that I draw, of which one euro is also donated."

The motorcycle has given you many things, but what has it taken away from you? Have you ever missed having a 'normal' life like the rest of the girls your age? It is true that my life is not normal, I come and go and I am always away from home, I travel a lot. From a very young age, I wanted to dedicate my life to the motorcycle, to be close to the best, and since the circuits were in Barcelona, ​​I went to the high-performance center. I left my group of friends and my people behind ... but it doesn't weigh me down, because I've met many others, I can go to Finland, for example, and have friends. That fills up, although it is true that I would like to have a more closed group in my area. In the end is the life we ​​choose. If you achieve what you fight for, you are happy, you are a professional pilot and you compete at the highest level,But can you make a living from the motorcycle or do you need a plan b? Currently I am only dedicated to being a professional rider, because I don't have time for anything else. But it is true that I could not live on this. Every year I have to find my life, to start looking for a team, a sponsor ..., and it shouldn't be like that, we are at a very high level on the circuits, all drivers should get paid, as happens in other sports. I plan to continue studying, finishing my training is essential. How do you see yourself in the future, the day you have to stop racing? With my own driving school. I would like to help other girls, and boys too, but to get a female quarry. And, above all, although it is very ambitious, to set up a training, nutrition, physio center ... to launch the pilots towards the World Championship; be the one to help them grow.I hope that will be many years away because being without competing is very boring. Who is your reference on the circuits? Who do you pay more attention to, men or women? In all, of each one thing. But Laia Sanz has always been my reference, because she is a girl who is in the toughest test in the world, the Paris-Dakar, and fights face to face with men, who in the end have more strength than us. She is a person who inspires me ... if she can do it, so can I. Yours is a risky sport, sometimes with fatal consequences. Have you ever been scared on the bike? Not scared, but respect yes. When you've broken down and things don't go your way, you don't want to hurt yourself again. The pilots are people, and we have felt the pain many times ... But in the end, it passes you, everything falls into place and the adrenaline makes you forget.No matter how much pain there is, you surpass yourself. What goes through a driver's head when he is on the starting grid, just before the start of the race? It is an inexplicable feeling. Between nerves and the desire to do it right, I respect that it goes wrong. You just want to go out, for the traffic light to go off ... At that moment, none of us like the grid, what we want is to pass the first corner, the adrenaline is at full blast. What is your goal, the dream you are pursuing? Get to moto GP. It is what every pilot wants, and to be as high as possible within that category. We always fight for it, no matter how much it costs, if you had a daughter, would you like her to follow in your footsteps and see her fly on a motorcycle? Would you take it with the same calm as your mother? I talk about that a lot with the mechanics ...They do not want their daughters to get into this world, because it is so self-sacrificing. But I would like to. It is a very beautiful sport, you travel a lot and meet new people, other cultures ... I would encourage her to share the same sport as I. What do you miss in this world, what can be changed to improve it? I don't want support, someone noticing that I am the only woman in the world who manages to be with the best pilots. I dedicate my life to this, but I am having a hard time making a living from it.Someone notice that I am the only woman in the world who manages to be with the best pilots. I dedicate my life to this, but I am having a hard time making a living from it.Someone notice that I am the only woman in the world who manages to be with the best pilots. I dedicate my life to this, but I am having a hard time making a living from it.

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