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After months of waiting, MotoGP is ready to start its engines up again for the first race of the year. It's an unmissable event also for Max Biaggi, who from the TV studios of "Stasera c'è Cattelan" spoke about his expectations for the season that will start from Portimao.
“Pecco is the reigning World Champion with Ducati, he will defend this title and I see him in good shape. He is again the favourite. I hope that Aprilia can fight for the World Championship with Ducati until the end. The Japanese manufacturers, Yamaha and Honda, are struggling a bit more, but an all-Italian derby would be nice,” admitted the Roman Emperor in the episode aired on Wednesday 22 March.
Among the symbolic faces of the World Championship, the former rider from Rome spoke to the presenter Alessandro Cattelan, to whom he revealed the background related to the beginning of his career and his relationship with historic rival Valentino Rossi.
“My father has always been a football fan. He coached a team and I went through the whole process, chicks, rookies, and then I realized that football wasn't really my sport and that bikes were better - explained Biaggi - By chance, I followed a friend to Vallelunga, I saw this circuit for the first time and was blown away. It was like entering Disneyland. It took me a while to do my first lap on the track and after a bit of sacrifice, and a bit of help, someone noticed me. I've been lucky".
One of the aspects that contributed to making the career of the four-time 250 world champion legendary were the battles with Rossi, the Roman Emperor's great rival. Now that both have retired, how is the relationship between the two champions? “Same as before - admitted Max - We lived through the moment of the great rivalry and it was obviously epic, because it gave prominence to both me and him. But once that was over, each one returned to his role. It's not like we have a social life together or that we call each other."
“Let's say that Vale isn't among the top five people you exchange Christmas greetings with” commented Cattelan. “Not even among the top 50, but if necessary I'll put him in” said Biaggi, adding: “It can happen that we don't even say hello to each other. It was just a rivalry. Of course it's over now, but we were really two factions. Against each other. It was nice".
During the programme, the Roman could not fail to address the subject of electric, speaking of the speed record of 470 km/h established on the Voxan Wattman electric bike.
“It was crazy. It took us 14 days to be able to make that launch and reach that speed, because the wind was the main problem. All you needed was for the wind to be lateral to make everything dangerous. The strange thing is that we started in the morning at 5 am, because as soon as the sun came up, the wind picked up. We used those 10 minutes, as well as at sunset, to have as little wind as possible" said Max, who added, speaking of the electric turning point of motorsport: "The bike is starting. There is the MotoE world championship, but there is only one manufacturer involved."
