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MotoGP, From Espargaro cyclist, to Biaggi ski instructor: this is love for the sport

There are several car and motorcycle racers who started their careers from another discipline. Some, on the other hand, converted to something else after retirement putting themselves equally in the spotlight

MotoGP: From Espargaro cyclist, to Biaggi ski instructor: this is love for the sport

Sportsmen are born, not made. Measuring oneself against others competitively, or simply immersing oneself in a discipline and being in contact with those who practice it, for some is a real source of life. It is no coincidence that many high-level sportsmen, once they stopped with their own discipline, have dedicated themselves to other sports precisely because of their inability to stay away from the thrill and adrenaline, and there are those who even in the world of motorsports started from a decidedly different terrain.

One example above all is Sébastien Loeb. The son of a physical education teacher, throughout his youth he followed the path dictated to him by his father, becoming a promising gymnast, until an encounter with a Peugeot 103 led him to the turning point. Tiptoeing into rallying, he immediately distinguished himself by his lack of inclination to make mistakes, which would lead him to mature rapidly to become the most successful ever with nine world titles.

Like him, his great "enemy" Sébastien Ogier also came onto the rallying scene late. A proven ski instructor in Gap, a region of the High Alps, as well as French flying champion, a specialty of the sport of bowls, inspired by his studies in mechanics, he debuted behind the wheel in late 2005 and from there he never got out of the cockpit.

Alex Zanardi, on the other hand, found himself reluctantly exploring an alternative world. An outright star in Indy Car and generally popular single-seater racer in America with a few forays into F1, after the terrible accident at the Lausitzring in 2001 that left him legless, he decided to convert to the challenging sport of handbikes. An eight-time gold medalist at the World Championships, he was also successful in four Paralympics.

Going back to the 1970s we could see the unforgettable Gilles Villeneuve who, before realizing that his true path was car racing and F1 specifically, tried to indulge his hunger for speed by squeezing snowmobiles to the max in the company of his brother Jacques until becoming world champion in 1974.

Turning to more recent history, a few weeks ago Aleix Espargaro, fresh from retirement from MotoGP, announced the signing of a contract with LidlTrek, one of the best-known professional cycling teams on the international scene, for which he will take on the role of ambassador but also rider on a par with the other veterans already in the group. Very often on his bike as witnessed by the photos he posts on various social media networks, in 2025 we will see him in this new capacity in addition to his role as a test rider for Honda.

Finally, it is news of the last few hours that Max Biaggi has entered a dimension rather different from that of the circuits. Passionate about skiing after retiring from motorcycle racing in 2012, the Roman has taken more or less the reverse route from Ogier, obtaining in recent days a license to serve as an assistant ski instructor.

 

Translated by Julian Thomas

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