The 2024 championship is now winding down, and in the context of his You Tube Duralavita column Jorge Lorenzo dwelt on a moment that particularly excited him, Marquez's return to victory and the ensuing celebration in the Gresini Racing box.
"When I started racing in the World Championship I would win and get on the podium, but I never celebrated because I was thinking about the next race. Only since 2015 did I start doing that and sometimes Marc came too," he said also involving the man who would become his teammate at Honda HRC in his final year.
With time and experience every moment became precious. "I realized that I had to enjoy the results I was getting because it could have been the last top 3 or the last success. And indeed it was. The last time I celebrated in my motorhome was in Austria in 2018 - he recalled what would later turn out to be the conclusion of a positive period for his career - Later in the Netherlands I crashed and it was all over."
It was precisely that injury that would convince him to retire from competition. A well-considered decision that never triggered doubts in him, at least until now.
"This is the first year in which I feel a bit of nostalgia for my racing past. In the previous four or five I was very happy and proud to live without racing, but now I miss it," he said honestly.
Triggering this feeling in the soul of the penta-world champion would be the very first place obtained by the Ducati rider at Motorland. "I was there and seeing people going after my younger colleagues and Marc celebrating the victory with his team, I realized that I won't have this anymore," he then shared regretfully about what has now been left behind.