Antonio Cairoli: Legends Talk

While Antonio Cairoli didn’t get his 10^th World Motocross Championship in 2020, he still added to his legacy, running with riders more than a decade younger than him, and pushing to win that 10^th title right up until the final round at Trentino.

Tim Gajser who did get that 2020 MXGP Championship, knows that racing with Cairoli is something that will always be enjoyable, and he has had more than the odd occasions battling with the Italian legend.

“Tony is an amazing guy,” Gajser said. “Being 35 and still on top of the game and fighting for a title, even with nine world titles he is still so motivated. I always enjoy our battles, because it is nice racing, clean racing and it always reminds me of Arco last year or Mantova in 2016. We just go wide open the whole race and when we pass, we don’t touch. He is a big champion of course and it is a pleasure to battle with him. As a kid, you know he is so many years in the GP. When I was watching I was dreaming one day to be battle with these guys, with Tony and the others. Now I am here with them fighting for the championships”.

The greatest Grand Prix rider of all-time, Stefan Everts has a lot of time for his Italian friend and can even see things that Cairoli had better than his own legendary career.

“I have a lot of respect for Tony,” Everts said. “He is a completely different personality to me, how he takes care and handles things. For me, he has always been a fantastic ambassador for the motocross and for some riders or kids, they don’t want to spend the time with the press or media and that is sad. I think it is important and we need to promote our sport, and take the maximum out of it. What I noticed, when we brought him to KTM, his game, what he had sorted it out, how he worked and dealt with everything. It took me so many more years to get to that point, but I saw Tony had that organized much earlier and for me it took a long time. When I won my fourth championship, I still didn’t have my system figured out, but the last years I had figured out the system, how to prepare, how to ride and also mentally, but Tony had that very quickly organized. That is also one of the reasons he got so many championships.”

And three-time World 500cc champion, Dave Thorpe, clearly loves watching the Italian racing, and as a former champion, now retired, he can see things that many of us can’t see. Watching Cairoli struggle at times, the British motocross legend feels for the veteran.

“I mean,” Thorpe said. “I probably think whilst you see him off form, you generally feel, they are professionals out there and they don’t talk about problems, and I imagine he is carrying injuries. As a racer, you do pick up things in the season and you hope it isn’t at the end, because the end is the critical point. I feel sad for him he has probably picked something up that can’t make him push.”

So now, with a season to rest, recover from this minor injuries he picked up throughout the season, you can be sure Antonio Cairoli will be working harder than ever, to try and give it another shot at that 10^th World title, and maybe a handful of GP victories. In what will be nearly two decades of racing the Sicilian is long from finished in this sport.