Johann Zarco has teamed up with the management company of Soprano to promote MotoGP in France.

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Graham Holt / ProSports / REX / SIPA

  • Frenchman Johann Zarco has partnered with OnlyPro, Soprano's management agency in order to promote his image and that of MotoGP in France.

  • The objective is to show behind the scenes of this discipline which remains relatively unknown to the general public and not very accessible.

Promote MotoGP thanks to the entourage of Soprano.

On the track, he is aiming for a presence on the MotoGP podiums in 2021. Outside, he still wants to be motorcycle ambassador in France.

For this, Johann Zarco has joined forces with the management agency of rapper Soprano.

The objective of this image contract with the Marseille-based company OnlyPro, specializing in music and which is diversifying into sport, "is to be able to make my name even better known in France and also to bring non-motorcycle partners to know. what we do both in terms of "competition" and the mentality we can have, "explained the 30-year-old pilot during a virtual press conference in January.

“Because we are not hotheads.

We show that we are a real sport and that everything makes sense.

There is a way to communicate strongly around that ”, wants to believe the one who wants to be the“ standard bearer ”of his sport in France since his first MotoGP podiums in 2017.

"Show the man behind the scenes"

The first part of this collaboration which is limited to his image (Zarco manages his sports career himself since his separation from his trainer and manager Laurent Fellon at the end of 2018): a series of short, neat videos, published on his social networks, which discuss his equipment (helmet, suit, motorcycle), mental or even physical preparation.

"That way, we can start the season (Sunday in Qatar, editor's note) by having seen how Johann is preparing, how he sees 2021 and, above all, why he got into the motorcycle and how he sees his sport" , explains Fabrice Necas, general manager of OnlyPro and partner of Soprano, to AFP.

“Before the athlete, the important thing is to show the man behind the scenes because the world of motorcycles rarely gives pride of place to this part,” continues Fabrice Necas.

“Then to work over time to convey the values ​​it defends.

"

In this case, "to break a little the inaccessible, almost caste image of the motorcycle and tell everyone that it is possible to do it".

Like l'Avignonnais, "a product of the South of France, passionate, emotional, very family" and atypical personality of the paddock, who plays the piano, the guitar and sings in his free time.

"Artist in life and warrior on the track"

Good thing, this desire coincides with that of the French Motorcycling Federation (FFM) to "get out of its midst", in the words of its new president Sébastien Poirier.

"For that, we have a lot of faith in our champions, Johann Zarco and Fabio Quartararo", in particular thanks to their media presence, he said.

And to add that “with Johann, we are lucky to have a champion who wants to give back to his sport what he has given him.

Its presence in the project in one way or another, without polluting its season, is natural because it is its fiber.

"

"Artist in life and warrior on the track" according to Paolo Ciabatti, the sporting director of his employer Ducati, Zarco hopes "to go for the podiums or even a victory" this year, under the colors of the Pramac satellite team but with the same motorcycle than the official riders.

"The opportunity for a rebirth"

"Last year, there were a lot of different winners (nine, editor's note), it gives me to think that it will be my turn this year", said the person concerned at the launch of the season of his team at the end of February.

“When you think about the last few years, it's like the opportunity for a rebirth” for the one whose 2019 financial year, started with KTM, had abruptly stopped at mid-season for lack of results and who then had battled to find a handlebars.

Thirteenth in the championship in 2020 with a pole position and a third place with the modest Avintia team (also a Ducati satellite), Zarco now wants to firmly renew the thread of his titles in Moto2 in 2015 and 2016 and the following two years in MotoGP on a Yamaha from the French team Tech3, which had seen him sign four poles and six podiums.

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