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It seems almost incredible, but Dani Pedrosa, with just 2 Grands Prix raced this season, is one point ahead of Marc Marquez in the World Championship standings. In the wildcards of Jerez and Misano the Spaniard had nothing to prove, but he impressed all the same. Especially in Italy, where he came close to the podium in both the sprint and Sunday's race and, above all, he was always the best KTM rider at the finish line.
His crew chief Esteban Garcia commented in an interview with AS over the Misano weekend: “Dani is very much a perfectionist, but so am I. I like being on the same level as him and it's an interesting challenge. With Dani you learn a lot and it's a great responsibility to be with him in the garage, because you have to be at his level as a rider and also as a person, but I like it."
There are those who are wondering if Pedrosa, at almost 38 years of age, would be able to race an entire season. “He won't, but he has the level of riding to race for an entire season – was the response of his crew chief – He demonstrated it at Jerez and Misano, where the podium was within our reach in both races.”
Speaking of podiums, the third step would have been within his reach on Saturday and Sunday, but it seemed that Pedrosa didn't want to take too many risks in trying to overtake Bagnaia.
"Dani is a rider who doesn't like being famous for making mistakes - explained Garcia - We were at Misano to test some material and ending up in the spotlight for causing a rider to crash is not the best thing to do and it's not nice. To overtake someone in MotoGP, especially Pecco, who brakes very late, you simply had to lean on him, and we weren't there for that."
