Misano Adriatico (Italy) (AFP)

"It's not normal for me to be sad" when I ride a motorcycle, says Johann Zarco to explain his decision to leave the KTM MotoGP team in the first year of a two-year contract with no assured future.

Arrived in the Austrian team full of hope at the beginning of the year, the French preferred to end the experience six months later after collecting falls and disappointing results.

"I told myself that all the time pull the mouth, that's not what I want.Running on a bike is great and it's not normal that I'm sad, both the sadness and not sleep at night, for me it was enough to tell me that's enough, "he says in an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the San Marino Grand Prix.

At 29, the double world champion Moto2 (2015 and 2016), twice 6th in the MotoGP championship in 2017 and 2018 on Yamaha, is only in 18th place after 12 events.

In deciding to leave KTM at the end of the year, "I untied a big knot in the stomach," adds the Cannois. Paradoxically "it could help me better finish the season", while there are still 7 races to run.

For the rest, Zarco has nothing concrete yet, but that does not worry him.

"I'm talking to a lot of people" on different options, including a return to Moto2 where the machines are now more powerful with the Triumph engine that replaced the Honda.

- "back against the wall" -

"You have to know how to take a step back and ask yourself what life is like, I live for the bike, but we also want to have joy and to be happy and when we have more that it is the a sign that we should not continue in this direction, but it is a big challenge, "he admits, confessing to find himself" back to the wall "and returning to October for any announcement.

Just thirty, he is no longer a young paddock rider even though the legendary Valentino Rossi, seven-time MotoGP world champion, has ten more than him. The other Frenchman in MotoGP, Fabio Quartararo, is 20 years old and also makes poles and podiums.

But Johann Zarco recalls that Fabio has also had some ups and downs in his career: "at 15 he exploded everything, at 16-17 he did not do anything, then at 18/19 he took the level again and at 20/21 it explodes with madness ".

"But we do not have the same type of course, he was fast much faster than me, it's good that everything is going well for him because it makes me happy and only for France, it's good ", he welcomes.

The last victory of a French driver in Grand Prix motorcycle dates back to 1999 and if France has two MotoGP riders this year, there are none in Moto2 or Moto3, the promotion categories.

But that does not worry Johann Zarco: "There are already two top-drivers (French) in MotoGP and it will motivate more young people, but it is certain that we need structures to frame them, especially in Moto3" .

He warns, however, against putting pressure on too soon. "If a youngster is not good in Moto3 at 15 or 16, do not consider that he is dead, he can perform at 18/20 years."

Do not worry, "If you're not 20 years old in MotoGP, you've missed your career, and the 20 years of MotoGP performance are the exception".

"It takes people like me to prove the opposite and explain it," he says as a challenge.

© 2019 AFP