There is a golden saying in sport – that a champion should retire at a time when people ask ‘why’ rather than ‘why not’. In-between the ‘why’ and the ‘why not’ is a bittersweet cusp – a time where the champion starts fading in the shadow of his former self, and the mortality of a sportsman’s competitive life becomes terrifyingly apparent. Five-time world champion Jorge Lorenzo has been stuck in that cusp for the past few months or maybe all of 2019 – so when he announced his retirement after 18 seasons in the MotoGP paddock, most were not surprised.

“I always thought there are four significant days in the career of a rider. Your first race, your first win, your first championship and then the day you retire," declared a visibly emotional Lorenzo at an extraordinary press conference at the season finale in Valencia (also his home race), "Well, as you may imagine, I’m here to tell you this day has arrived for me.”

An illustrious career

When Lorenzo made his Moto3 debut in 2002, he was barely 15-years-old – in fact, he missed the first day of his debut Grand Prix because it fell before his 15th birthday. As they say, the rest is history – after making his presence felt in Moto2 with two championship wins (2006 and 2007). He was promoted to the premier class in 2008, making his debut with Yamaha. It was the debut of a champion – as he grabbed pole and a podium finish. His first victory came in just his third MotoGP race ever in Portugal.

Lorenzo has always been a name in the championship mix – with long and fierce rivalries against some of the greatest riders of his era including Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez. He has three terrific premier class championships to show for his efforts (2010, 2012 and 2015). In addition, there are various other noteworthy records – fifth most successful race winner of all time (with 47 wins) and second highest podium positions of all time (114, only behind Rossi).

Speaking of Rossi – he and Lorenzo spent seven years together as teammates at Yamaha, and the competition was always sky-high. So much so that in 2008 Rossi asked for a wall to be built in the middle of the Yamaha garage, to stop their crews from sharing secrets. Paying tribute to Lorenzo calling him one of the ‘greatest rivals’ of his career and also ‘one of the most important MotoGP riders in the modern era’. Rossi shared, “I think we lose a very important part of our sport. He is a great champion, he impressed me a lot of times for his speed and concentration. We did some of the best races together that I remember in my history, so it's a great shame that he's finished."

Lorenzo also has an interesting history with Marquez – who has now consolidated his position as one of the greatest riders of all time. When Marquez debuted in MotoGP in 2013, Lorenzo was already a multiple-times world champion. That year, the title was fiercely fought between the two all the way down to the season finale. Marquez eventually triumphed despite being a rookie, but Lorenzo extracted his revenge in 2015. To this date, Lorenzo remains the only rider to defeat Marc Marquez to a championship in the premier class. It seems almost poetic then that as Lorenzo retires as Marquez’s teammate – with Marquez as a dominant world champion.

A terrible 2019 season

When it was announced that Lorenzo would move to Repsol Honda for the 2019 season in place of Dani Pedrosa (who retired) the paddock was full of excitement. After all, the prospect of a Marquez versus Lorenzo face-off for ultimate supremacy was tantalising, especially since they had old scores to settle. However, it was a complete anticlimax as Lorenzo had his worst-ever season in MotoGP, finishing 19th in the championship standings. His best finish all season was a lowly P11 – while Marquez finished every race in the top 2.

“Unfortunately, injuries came to play an important role in my season, being unable to ride in normal physical conditions. This, plus a bike that never felt natural to me, made my races very difficult," said Lorenzo.

The sad truth is that for all the glories of his career, the last memory that the MotoGP paddock will carry of Lorenzo is from 2019 – a defeated and displaced champion who just couldn’t bring it all together.

It was the misery of the 2019 season which actually triggered Lorenzo to retire, despite having a year left on his Honda contract. His comments at his retirement press conference shed some light on his state of mind. He explained, “I love this sport, I love to ride, but above all things, I love to win. If I’m not able to fight for something big, to fight for the title or at least to fight for victories, I cannot find the motivation to keep going – especially at this stage of my career.”

The fact is that Lorenzo had been fighting an uphill battle at Honda. The team gravitates around Marquez – and understandably so, given his contributions to the team. There was the added challenge of having a grid-full of ultra-competitive riders between him and Marquez – Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso, the rookie Fabio Quatararo, the Yamaha riders Rossi and Maverick Vinales and the dark horse Alex Rins of Suzuki, to name a few. With every passing race, Lorenzo seemed to be slipping further and further away from his world champion avatar. He was struggling for pace, he was struggling to stay on the bike – and worse yet, he was struggling to justify his racing seat. The fact is that Honda very nearly lost the Teams’ championship to Ducati due to Lorenzo’s non-performance all season. He has chosen to walk away with self-respect, instead of being fired by the team.

The other reality of Lorenzo’s 2019 season has been the crashes – the most violent one being at Assen, where he fractured two vertebrae. These crashes had a deep psychological impact on the Spaniard, who admitted that as he rolled through the gravel after the crash in Assen he wondered, “Is this really worth it, after what I’ve achieved?” Racing with fear is far worse than not racing at all – and having reached his mental breaking point, Lorenzo was ready to retire. Tellingly, his main objective in his last race was not to fight for glory one last time – rather, it was to not fall off the bike. At the finish line, he declared that he felt “free” – which is an honest description.

What next for Lorenzo?

Lorenzo joked that his future is a "one -way ticket to Bali", a well earned holiday after a lifetime of racing and competition. He emphasised that life is wide open, saying, “I am leaving this sport healthy, still young and with so many possibilities to enjoy life in so many ways.” He also kept the door slightly open for a return to professional racing, saying, “One of the things I learned in life is never to say never. At this moment it’s my final decision, but I don't know what I'll be thinking and feeling in a few months.” Lorenzo will be replaced at Repsol Honda by reigning Moto2 world champion Alex Marquez – who also happens to be Marc’s younger brother. This gives us the unique opportunity of seeing a sibling face-off in 2020.

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Updated Date: Nov 23, 2019 14:11:30 IST