There was a big party in Milan in a downtown club for the presentation of the new MV Agusta team and the 2020 bike. It was Stefano Manzi and Simone Corsi, the riders who have the job of making this year’s Moto2 championship extra special as it is the 75th anniversary of the birth of MV, who unveiled the bike.
After the presentation, we spoke with Manzi, the rider responsible for the team's massive improvement last season, which culminated with a finish just off the podium at Valencia.
“It was a nice presentation. It made quite an impression and puts a lot of pressure on me because we have not yet ridden the new bike, we will get our hands on it from Monday at Jerez and there we will do a back-to-back comparison between the 2019 and 2020 bikes to see what the differences are. I’m expecting a lot."
Last year saw MV's return to the world championship. Does riding a motorcycle with that name make a difference?
“It was a great emotion to take that name onto the track; it made me very proud but was also a liability when we didn’t get results. Then we did well in the second part of the season, developing the bike as much as possible and landing the big shot in the last few races of the year."
The MV technicians told us that there are a lot of changes, in particular aerodynamic, on the new bike. Before testing it for the first time, are you able to set an objective?
“One aim could be to improve on what we did last year. This comes even before we start comparing ourselves with the others; I’ll have to look at my data as I will start with a more competitive bike".
In 2020 Simone Corsi will be at your side, how will his experience help you?
“He’s very nice to me off the track, and it is added value. Also last year with Aegerter we had a good start but then I had to take charge of the development and the team followed me and my indications. Let’s see if we can do something together but sometimes the teams decide to separate the two riders, we'll see."