From Garbagnate Milanese to Moto2. Tony Arbolino is different from the other riders above all in this: his place of origin. He doesn't speak with a "c" that in the Rimini area becomes a crisp "z" nor with the fat and soft "s" of Emilia. He, class of 2000, came to the World Championship starting there in a camper with his father who was a gas station attendant from the hinterland of Milan, a place that is already tough in itself, and one that also becomes unlucky if in life you have realized that you want to be a motorcycle racer. As a kid, you woke up early and drove miles on the highway to get to the same kart tracks that kids on the Riviera could get to by simply opening their front door. And once there you had to ride even in the pelting rain, because you don't pay toll booths and work a day less for nothing.
Bread, apprenticeship and suburbia. That Tony has forged himself in this kind of culture you can tell by two things: the direct way he uses to express himself, nice and straight without any formality and doodling around, and the absolute conviction with which he aims high despite coming back from a season in the rear. For someone who started from the bottom and climbed with hunger, a dull year in Moto2 - only one podium and a 19th place finish - is certainly not enough to doubt his own means. The road teaches you right away: uncertainties you can't afford, losing your way is a moment's notice. Difficulties with the Pramac team's Boscoscoscuro? Well, in the sixth season in the middle class, the time to wait has gone. In 2026, it's back to the Kalex, the one from the Fantic team, to show that the course is clear:"I'm not making an appearance. I'd rather not race," he told us.
We disturb Tony on Christmas Eve morning. He answers us after a ring and is the first to ask, "How are you?" "Fine - we tell him - you?" "Eh, I'm in bed with a high fever," he answers us with a laugh. And I think "an interview in bed with fever on Christmas Eve morning. What torture." I apologize!
Then we start talking.
"Lorenzo taught me what it means to give your life for this sport."
"Two days ago I was training in Almeria with Jorge [Lorenzo] and Maverick [Vinales], in the same box. They have a really good relationship, you know. They are so close. Jorge is all fired up, confident, he says it can only go well. Maverick I saw him physically fit - remember the shoulder injury in the season finale - and with a lot of desire. Jorge is giving him everything."
You trained with Jorge in 2018 and 2019. What does being next to such a champion teach you?
"Thanks to him I understood what a rider does to get to that level. He taught me the difference between sacrificing a little bit or being willing to give your life, for that passion. Talent is not enough. You need the will to get there, the hunger, the obsession. I, for example, always had the obsession inside but struggled to channel it. Jorge helped me give it direction, cultivate it and take care of everything else. Only then do you really understand how far you can go."
Sacrifice, hunger, obsession. And fear, what place does it hold in a rider's life?
"Fear has to be there. I believe fear is the foundation for lucidity, it always keeps you on track. The important thing is to find a way to know how to handle it, because in this sport you suffer much more than you enjoy. When the moment of glory comes, though, it pays off everything. Everything."
"I come from a place that either saves you or kills you."
You weren't born right in the middle of the motor valley. Is it all the more difficult to get to the Motor Valley if you start from the Milanese hinterland, from Garbagnate?
"The apprenticeship for me was fundamental. All the RV trips to go racing in Emilia... I come from a place losing your way is easy, there are so many distractions, the road, it's hard to have a clear goal. I owe everything to my father: gas station attendant, h24 on the road. He is the person who made me keep my head on straight, who taught me to sweat things out, the one who took me everywhere to start racing. It is thanks to him that I am here. And if I have this hunger that has been growing since I was a kid, it's also thanks to where I come from, which either saves you or kills you."
Coming from the suburbs, the scrappy eye that environment gave you, can it become an advantage outside of there? In the racing world, for example.
"Places like Garbagnate are places where you can get killed but also places that when lived with the right mindset can help you, can teach you guile. This stuff in racing is needed, 100 percent. It's needed for so many things, on and off the track. I have proof of that, trust me."
"With Quartararo friends since neither of us had anything."
It also serves to pick the right friendships, the real ones, I mean. You with the other riders have always said you don't want to share much. Except for Quartararo.
"I don't become friends easily. Fabio, however, has been there since day one of my career. He and I met in 2011 in Modena at the RMU team presentation. He was racing for the 70cc category in Spain and I was racing for the 50cc category in Italy. Everything started from there. We became friends when neither of us had anything yet, there were no other interests. Next year we will also have the same manager, who is also our friend Thomas."
Do you give him any advice about the future? Yamaha, non-Yamaha...
"He asks me for it, I always tell him, 'I am not you.' Only he can know what he feels, also because an accurate picture can only have the one who tests the bike and the bike tests him. He has to trust his instincts."
"I didn't travel millions of miles in an RV to be an extra."
And instead from your 2026 season what do you expect? Has the Kalex changed so much from the bike you left in 2024?
"Very clear goals: you aim high and you will go high. The bike has changed so much, yes. It turns better and has much more grip in all phases of riding. In the Jerez tests I only did one run with the 2026 because we only had one in the box and that's what I did my fastest lap with. We shifted to the exact same setup I used on the 2025 the rest of the day and it went well right away. This is the first time in my career that I haven't touched anything on the bike. This makes you realize that in the past I never had a base, instead this year the base is there. But the first goal is to get back to having fun."
What kept you from doing that this year with the Bosco?
"The Bosco is a bike with so much potential. You feel it right away, even if you don't go fast. It has very pronounced strengths and equally pronounced weaknesses. For example, it has so much grip at the rear, but sometimes it's even too much. But, in my opinion, the main problem is that it has a very narrow window of use, it is very sensitive to changes in circuit or temperature. Finally, my team was in its first year in the category and as is normal it lacked some experience."
And so you decided to change teams a year in advance of your contract expiry.
"It was a difficult season, there was never a moment when things were going well. With the bike you have to have fun, you have to go dancing with it. I didn't even have fun coming out of the pits this year. I didn't see myself having another year like that. I felt that in that team, with the Boscoscuro, I wasn't fulfilling my potential. I didn't drive millions of miles in an RV to go to races to be an extra or get two euros. Rather I don't race. I know that after a year and a half without results it's not a given to find a competitive team, but this year I think I didn't express myself at 100 percent because of a whole range of factors. I deserve another opportunity. With Fantic everything came very naturally. It was like coming home. With Stefano [Bedon] we did well for many years in Moto3."
"Acosta the strongest. Pirelli in MotoGP? Great advantage for those who will come up from Moto2."
Looking at your results, it looks like the downturn started in 2024. Pirelli's year of arrival.
"In Moto2 it takes very little to go from the podiums to the bottom of the pack. It is very difficult to emerge. I struggled a bit with Pirellis to find the bike-set-up compromise that I really liked. Compared to Dunlop they are different in everything from the way you extract potential at the maximum angle, to the way you build the fast lap, to the degradation. There are so many details that you understand little by little. During testing I was saying to myself, 'now I understand them well,' but instead I'm still finishing getting to know them."
In 2027, Pirelli will also arrive in MotoGP. Are you thinking about the big leap or is your focus for now only Moto2?
"Yes, MotoGP is something that is always there. Then, precisely, from 2027 everything will change. Pirelli will come, and in my opinion the experience that the Moto2 riders will already have with those tyres will be a huge advantage. I tell you I'm sure of one thing: whoever will be in the top3 of Moto2 this year will be able to go to MotoGP and do well. No doubt. The level in Moto2 is really high and tyre knowledge is so important."
In the past, who have been the strongest riders you have faced?
"Acosta and Ogura. Pedro is very strong mentally. In 2023, when we were fighting for the world championship, he crashed at Le Mans, I won and recovered points. The next race, Mugello and Germany, he won them. To respond like that, after a mistake, is like a real racer. There I realized how strong he was."
Instead, who will be the toughest rivals in 2026?
"I will have to watch out for my teammate Barry Baltus, then Dani Holgado and David Alonso. These are going well. But the first goal, I repeat, is to get back to having fun on the bike."