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Aleix Espargaro is clear-cut. He usually doesn’t mince words much, and he smiles less and is less cheerful than his brother, Pol, who he thinks is more talented. Yet, he’s a good rider, fast, even if erratic at times, but he’s doing well this year riding the Aprilia RS-GP, enough to occupy an eighth place in the championship.
However, there’s more talk lately of looking for a teammate in Aprilia for 2021 than anything else. And we went from Dovizioso’s “quasi yes” as a test rider to the arrival of Maverick Vinales, after his divorce from Yamaha. Aleix obviously has his own opinions and talked about them with Marca.
“It's difficult to evolve the bike because, when something new comes along, you have to test it. They wanted me to do a couple of tests during the summer break and get in the wind tunnel. It would be helpful to have a stronger teammate or a satellite team. Dovizioso has done a couple of tests with us, but he hasn’t been very competitive so far and doesn’t seem to want to race. I’m a big fan of his, but it’s hard to see him as my teammate.”
The eldest of the Espargaròs is no longer very young.
“I’m the second oldest rider in the championship. The first is more than ten years older than I am. Valentino’s passion for motorcycles is brutal. He knows he’s not competitive. Unfortunately, every weekend we see that he doesn’t have the youthfulness he had before. It makes me angry, because I’d like to see Valentino up front. I say it from the bottom of my heart, but it’s really difficult. I have a good couple of years left. Physically, I have nothing to envy of young riders. But I won’t come close to Valentino’s age in the championship.”
There’s no doubt for Aleix who the best rider of all time is.
“Marc is the best rider in history. My idol has been Valentino since I was a child, and Agostini and Nieto have more titles, but if you think clearly and analyze the rivals that Marquez had to beat, that’s another story. Valentino had Sete, whi put him in some difficulty, and a few other Italians (ed. Max Biaggi and Loris Capirossi). Marc is fighting with the best riders in history. If we make a list of the fifteen best riders in history, Marc had to beat eight and Valentino didn’t.”
