It appears Dani Pedrosa has rejected an opportunity to continue racing on a satellite Yamaha team next year. He announced his retirement from the sport earlier today following a career spent almost exclusively aboard Honda racing machines.
Despite his failure to capture a MotoGP championship after more than a decade with the Repsol Honda Team, on the whole Pedrosa posted impressive numbers. Those include three World championships and 54 GP victories. When counting podiums achieved in GP competition, Pedrosa ranks third all-time.
Here is a brief press release on Pedrosa’s retirement:
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) has announced his retirement at the end of 2018. At 16:00 on Thursday at the German GP, the three-time World Champion ended speculation about his future and made the decision public, bringing an 18-year career to an end.
One of the most successful riders of all time, Pedrosa has the third most podiums, 54 wins and three World Championships to date before he prepares to hang up his leathers.
“Next year I won’t compete in the Championship, I’ll finish my career in MotoGP this season. It’s a decision I’ve thought about for a long time and it’s a hard decision because this is the sport I love but despite having good opportunities to keep racing, I feel like I don’t live racing with the same intensity as before and I now have different priorities in my life.
“I would like to express how fortunate I feel to have had this experience and these opportunities in my life, it’s been an amazing life to have been racing for such an important team and in front of all the fans. I achieved way more than I expected and I’m very, very proud of what I’ve done in the sport. I’ve fulfilled my dream of becoming a racer and that’s something that I didn’t expect when I was a kid watching TV, watching riders in the World Championship. I would like to take this time to say thanks to Dorna and to Honda for giving me this opportunity way back in 1999, and to all my sponsors who’ve been with me throughout my career. I would like also to say thanks to my family, and to all the fans who supported me throughout my career and through the thick and thin, who helped me sending so many messages to overcome difficult things in the past.”
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Don’t feel sorry for him–envy him and congratulate him–for he has had a career that 99% of us only dream of.
Back in the days, there were many riders that stayed their whole careers in small displacement motorcycles; Herreros, Aspar, Nieto, etc. Nowadays, it seems you have to move up regardless, and in cases like Pedrosa, due to his size, that could have increased his success. I know it’s easy to speak after the fact but he was a very
talented 125 & 250cc rider and maybe he should have stayed or come back to those bikes at some point. In any case, I wish him the best of lucks, good man, good competitor.
It’s hard to argue with the success he had on the big bikes. While it’s too bad he was never able to secure the championship, there were only a few men who did during his whole career.
Yeah, really. 31 MotoGP victories. He’s an all-timer in the big bike class.
Always a Pedrosa fan. Been a pleasure following his career for the last two decades. A class guy and a great racer. I don’t think Honda is finished with him yet. A Hall of Famer for sure.
At first I hoped to continue watching him on a Yamaha, but like VLJ said, I think this is a wise move. It would be sad to see him go to a satellite team riding non-competitive machinery to fight for 10th places.
Congrats #26 on a retirement well deserved.
Congratulations on a superb career, Dani, your contribution to the sport, and the excitement you brought us on so many Sundays.
Best wishes for your future endeavors.
I’m happy for Dani. Nothing but class, and he still has his health. It’s good that he is walking away by his own choosing, on his own terms. From the outside looking in, this sure seems to be the correct decision. There was no point in a guy like that switching this late in his career to a satellite Yamaha just to dice with the Alvaro Bautistas and Pol Espargaros of the MotoGP world for two final, forgettable seasons.
Perhaps he can win at Sepang again, and maybe even ride off into the sunset following another victory in Valencia. Marquez will have the championship long-since sewn up by then, so Marc can graciously play caddie to Dani for once, giving him a nice send-off to conclude his career.
Deep respect for his decision. Arguably the greatest rider never to win the premier championship…a tremendous example of a winning and gracious sportsman.
“It’s not a method; it’s a thought. When you wake up in the morning, you have to decide how you want to see things. The mental strength consists in choosing the positive thought. That it is usually not the easiest way. It’s easier to find an excuse or thinking that there is nothing more to do.”
– Dani Pedrosa
“It’s not a method; it’s a thought. When you wake up in the morning, you have to decide how you want to see things. The mental strength consists in choosing the positive thought. That it is usually not the easiest way. It’s easier to find an excuse or thinking that there is nothing more to do.”
– Dani Pedrosa
For those of you wondering what is going on here, I posted the post below, then the quote – but since comments don’t remember your email anymore I didn’t mean to post as Anonymous and deleted the post. This took my original post with it. Reposted the quote. This morning the other 2 came back. I dunno, this weird comment system is kind of a nuisance, but kind of quaintly enjoyable at the same time???
Yeah, not a huge shock. I kinda wish he’d done a different bike for awhile but I don’t know what that woulda been. Maybe on a Yamaha (more in their prime?) he might have been at least a one-time top-level champion? Either way, overall he’s a pretty classy guy and it’s been a good run.
One of the greats. Been fun watching Dani all these years fighting with Stoner and Rosi and Lorenzo. Those were some great races.
The greatest racer to never win the premier class championship. When he was On he was amazing to watch, smooth, technical and deliberate unlike the Marquez Smash and Bash to the front. Alas too inconsistent and having been apparently born with glass collarbones, it is a shame to see him go.
Great racer, very consistent all the time and gave a hard time to every other good racer out there on the track.
Sounds like the same reasons Casey Stoner had for retiring, good for Dani, he gets to enjoy life while he still young and healthy with no major injuries from a very dangerous sport.
Kudos to this Champion!
More power to him. He’s had an impressive career.
Despite receiving mountains of shite from American fans for crashing into Nicky (and also for being rather small) Dani has more than earned the respect of serious and more sober minded fans. With lots of wins and lots of broken bones he has nothing left to prove. Perhaps the best GP rider never to have won a championship.
I admit giving him a lot of shit for this in the 06 season but Hayden eventually won that year’s title. Still, Dani won consistently over the years despite being undersized and always injured. Sad to see we will not see him on the podium any more but congrats on his retirement.
I dont remember the race, but he was far back from the leaders, late in the race when everyone up front had worn out their tires, and were slowing, dropping lap times, Dani ran them down and won. What a professional, a winner.
I don’t think this is a surprise to anyone. You gave us some great racing Dani, thanks for the memories. Sorry you didn’t win a championship, and best to you in all your future endeavors.