It’s safe to say Max Biaggi is one of the household names when it comes to discussing some of the greatest motorcycle racers. Gracing both Grand Prix and WorldSBK, the Italian claimed six World titles across 250cc and his time on a superbike and on this week’s MotoGP™ Podcast, the team chat to the ‘Roman Emperor’ about a wide range of topics.
Biaggi won his four consecutive 250cc World Championships between 1994-1997 and the 2010 and 2012 WorldSBK Champion discusses the change of view the fans have between motorcycle racers between then – the 90s era – and now.
“They feel like you’re a kind of superhero. A guy who does crazy stuff. Most of the people who are not motorcycle fans were looking at us as crazy guys, doing something amazing but ‘how can you do this?!’ There was not so much thinking about that behind all this there is a proper team, preparation, proper factory, all people involved. So before it was not so much knowledge also about people, watching television,” explains Biaggi.
“Now TV really go inside details to show you different things you can’t even imagine if you aren’t a part of the motorcycle world. Now there is much more details, telling this to the audience and to the normal people who don’t even know about motorcycles.”
Biaggi also chats about his emotions when standing on his final podium in Malaysia at the end of 2012, the 44-year-old mixing it with two current WorldSBK stars – Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies. “When I finally did my last race in Sepang, and got the podium, again I had a strange feeling.
“I was 44 years old, still on the podium in World Superbike and I watched on the podium, Jonathan Rea was winning at 26 years old, and 27 was Chaz Davies in 2nd, and me 44. What I mean is, something is wrong here, I shouldn’t be here. So I said Ok, this is my last one, but I was happy.”
As always with the Last On The Brakes podcast in 2020, you can listen on a variety of platforms. Head over to Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Acast to give this week’s must-hear edition a listen!