What to do for three weeks without racing?

With the exception of the first race, it is possibly one of the most eagerly-awaited moments of the season: the summer break. For the riders it is an opportunity to recharge their batteries, without dropping their preparations for the remainder of the season. So, three weeks with no obligations or appointments until the next round in Austria… what do the riders get up to?

The raison d’etre for any professional motorcycle racer is to get on his bike and to battle; to battle for the best possible finish – a win, a podium, or as many points as possible – on any given Sunday. Or at least, that is the case for the majority of the season, on the eighteen weekends that make up the MotoGP World Championship calendar and the countless days of testing in preseason. So what do they do for the rest of the time, when they are not focusing on the next race, the next session, the next challenge? What exactly do they do for three weeks during the summer break when there is no racing to look forward to?

Pecco Bagnaia ended the first half of the Moto3 World Championship on a run of form that made him reluctant to take any kind of break at all. Four podiums, including a win at the Dutch TT, from the first nine races of the season have given him a firm foundation to build from in the second half of the season and the possibility to fight for third place in the championship. The Italian is determined to stay focused on the target.

“Over these few weeks I will spend some time by the beach with my family but I don’t really feel like taking a holiday,” explained Pecco at the end of the German Grand Prix. “I will head to Pesaro to rest for a week but I will continue to train hard.” The break is a chance, for many, to sharpen their competitive edge in the gym or on a motorcycle that helps them to not miss quite so much their Mahindra MGP30 or the Ducati GP14.2.

With that in mind, Jorge Martín will spend two of the three weeks between the German and Austrian rounds riding motocross or supermoto. In between, he will have time to visit his friends, train in the gym and even take a little rest.

The MotoGP riders Eugene Laverty and Yonny Hernández have contrasting plans. For the Colombian it will be a period of “Training, training and more training. I will be in Madrid, I don’t have any travel plans. I want to concentrate on maintaining the progress we have been making. Before Germany I was on a tough training programme and I felt the difference so I am going to continue in the same way so that the results come back,” added Hernández, who is combining sessions of cycling with motocross and gym work.

Laverty, meanwhile, will travel home to Ireland to visit his family for the first time since May. The intense schedule of a MotoGP rider obliges them to spend long periods away from home, so the Irishman will take the opportunity “to catch up with everybody, especially my nieces and nephews and spend some time at home, riding mountain bikes with my friends.”