The decision that ended Jorge Lorenzo's career

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• Anecdotes. "I remember when he threw himself into Lake Jerez and couldn't get out of the water"

That spring day in Jerez, just over three years ago, Jorge Lorenzo still did not know if he was heading for success or failure, but it was clear that he had taken the path that would define the last part of his sports career. In the end, as it became clear in Cheste, the coin came out cross, but threw it with such impetus ... Then, just a few months after celebrating his third MotoGP World Championship, Lorenzo jumped into the void with his march to Ducati and left nine behind seasons of victories in Yamaha, the brand that promoted him, already two-time, from Moto2.

It was a risky bet with an ambitious goal: to be the first champion of the Italian brand since Casey Stoner in 2007, but above all it was a risky bet with a doubtful motive, to abandon the shadow of Valentino Rossi . With 32 years, five World Cups (three of MotoGP and two of 250cc) and 68 victories, one of the best riders in history announced his retirement with a bittersweet aroma: a fantastic medal winners, an improper end of his greatness, punishing the entire championship with the same Honda as Marc Márquez . An ending that began to be written that day in Jerez three years ago.

Despite his titles with Yamaha , Lorenzo always felt that the factory did not value him enough, that he did not let him impose his criteria on the development of the motorcycle, and with another championship in his windows he forced the negotiations until they broke. «All riders receive the same material, but there are differences in the development of the motorcycle. Ducati has signed me to win the World Cup and for that it will be important that there I have a motorcycle that suits my driving style, ”Lorenzo said that spring day in Jerez and, without him knowing it, there began his sunset.

His aspiration, that Ducati adapted to him and not vice versa, was utopian and got into a dead end. His riding style, the most elegant of MotoGP, always precise, always after the perfect layout, was far from what the Desmosedici demanded and, thus, in two years he only added three victories . Lorenzo celebrated them greatly, considered them a sign of adaptability, but the Italian factory did not consider them sufficient and last year he decided not to renew it - he made a very low offer that his team considered "humiliating" - and thus save his billionaire salary .

The call to Alberto Puig

Then Lorenzo was already one step away from saying goodbye. With many contracts closed and without the possibility of returning to Yamaha, he could only venture into a growing brand like Suzuki or KTM or do what he did. He picked up the phone, spoke with Honda's boss, Alberto Puig , and quickly agreed to his arrival at Marc Márquez's team. Then, for the second time in three years, for the second consecutive move, Lorenzo believed that the factory would adapt to him and this time, even more than in Ducati, it was radically the opposite. Obviously, Honda in recent years works for and for Márquez and his aggressive driving and Lorenzo suddenly found a motorcycle impossible to tame. He tried, he left his health in it, but in the end he only precipitated the withdrawal. The fear of harming himself that he had already shown long ago in the wet races intensified until he was annulled, as happened a month ago in Phillip Island , the worst day in his life. Then he finished last, 20 seconds after the penultimate, and it became clear that early retirement, at 32, was already the only possible option.

Somehow the last era of Lorenzo's sports career responded like no other to his character: always brave, always brave, always his. His motives had. When he was just a child, his boom in the World Cup coincided with the battle between his father, Chicho , and his then representative, Dani Amatriain , and in a very hard decision he ended up moving away from his father for a long time. Then, when he arrived at MotoGP in 2008, he also broke up with Amatriain and the best years he lived with a very small trust group. During the happy seasons, with the titles of 2010, 2012 and 2015, Lorenzo only responded to himself and, if he needed advice, he looked for him in the mirror or, at most, in Juan Llansá , his trusted mechanic since he arrived at the World Cup in 2002.

«I have always been my first critic, I am very self-demanding. I work hard to get to know myself, ”he acknowledged in 2016 in an interview with EL MUNDO in which he also blamed his reputation as an unfriendly one, a rogue during his career, to his shyness since childhood. After all that, being a child prodigy with a Chupa-Chups helmet, dividing Spain in his duel of Dani Pedrosa and becoming the great national champion before Marc Márquez, Lorenzo retires after living the glory and failure in MotoGP always by its own decisions, always in its own way.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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• Jorge Lorenzo

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