MOTOGP

It doesn't matter that Jorge Lorenzo rides a motorcycle. He could hit, throw or kick a ball. Run, jump or swim or aim. The fact that his co-ordination, aptitude, tactility and that special hint of magic - all the things that go into the elixir that we generally refer to as talent – has fostered him to the very top of his chosen vocation means that he is quite an exceptional human being. He is MotoGP world champion and a multiple title winner at that. He has just turned twenty-nine and has waded through a career that has seen the Majorcan veer between managers, groups of friends and advisers and a tumultuous relationship with his father to moments of utter poetry on two wheels, adoration, fame and riches in a sport where it could all be over in the time it takes to lay a black strip of rubber on the asphalt.

There was plenty of emotion at the Circuit de Catalunya and the Monster Energy Grand Prix of Catalunya for round seven of MotoGP. Among the reflection and sadness surrounding the tragic accident of Luis Salom in Friday’s Moto2 practice there was also elation, relief and assurance with Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi blasting back into title contention two weeks after his mechanical ‘explosion’ at Mugello with a second triumph of 2016 and his seventh in MotoGP at the venue a short distance outside the spellbinding metropolis of Barcelona.

The table is set for the 2016 MotoGP season with the culmination of the third and final pre-season test at Losail, Qatar and at which reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo and iconic teammate Valentino Rossi – recently turned 37 – gave every indication they are ready to start gobbling up more spoils and trophies in the eighteen rounds ahead.

Jorge Lorenzo won the 2015 MotoGP FIM World Championship with a faultless and impeccable display at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia last November. Fast forward five months and the twenty-eight year old Majorcan displayed the same intensity and flawless style to own the Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Marquez with fellow Movistar Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi rounding out the top four.