Dani Pedrosa To Retire at the End of the 2018 MotoGP Season
After 16 years of battling at the top, the Spanish rider will hang up his leathers
Honda Repsol rider Dani Pedrosa announced his retirement early thursday morning ahead of the ninth round of the 2018 MotoGP season at the Sachsenring. The announcement comes on the heels of a flurry of news in the MotoGP paddock with Jorge Lorenzo joining Marc Marquez next year at HRC and the proposed Yamaha Petronas team. Not to mention Pedrosa’s own scheduled press conference at the last round in Assen where the HRC rider was unable to make his announcement for whatever reason, as he had planned.
“Always the bridesmaid and never the bride”, a favorite line of MotoGP commentators. The Spaniard is a three-time world champion with a win in the 125cc class in 2003 and back-to-back wins in the now defunct 250cc in 2004 and 2005. Although Pedrosa has been able to clinch the world title in his previous two classes, the MotoGP title has managed to elude him over the past 12 seasons. Fraught with injuries, and what at times simply seems to be bad luck, Dani Pedrosa has still managed his share of records, podiums, and accolades. Since the MotoGP commentators are also good at throwing together obscure statistics, let’s take a look at some of the more impressive accomplishments of the Catalan rider.
Dani Pedrosa landed on the top step of the podium five times in 2003, and despite ending the season with a crash which caused two broken ankles, took the title that year for the 125cc class.
Pedrosa then went on to secure the title in 2004 in his rookie year racing the 250cc class which also saw him, aged 18 years and 202 days old, as the youngest title winner in the class. Dani also took home the title the following year.
Despite never holding a world title in MotoGP, Pedrosa would establish himself as a podium contender for the past 12 seasons, 13 including 2018, and has been a title contender many times throughout his career in fact, behind Giacomo Agostini and Valentino Rossi, Dani Pedrosa holds the third most podiums of all time.
Fighting for podium and title contention for 16 years is no easy task, yet Pedrosa has managed to do so, which sees Dani as the only rider in history to win at least one Grand Prix per season, for 16 years. The only other stat that rivals this is the 17 various injuries that have also plagued the Spanish rider during the last 16 seasons. Dani Pedrosa may be small in stature but he has absolutely shown over the years that his dedication and determination has remained resolute.
We will absolutely miss your underdog performances, level-headedness, world-class abilities, and “tiny samurai” references. Thank you for all that you have given to the sport and for everyone at MO, we wish you all the best in your future endeavors.
Ryan’s time in the motorcycle industry has revolved around sales and marketing prior to landing a gig at Motorcycle.com. An avid motorcyclist, interested in all shapes, sizes, and colors of motorized two-wheeled vehicles, Ryan brings a young, passionate enthusiasm to the digital pages of MO.
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Good move Dani. There were no championships to be had at this point on second tier M1's.
You were great and will be missed, although you will likely become a brand ambassador for Honda.
Besides your track skill, I'm going to miss the fun videos you did with MM, which I doubt will continue.
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
Too bad he didn't get at least one 'big bike' championship for all his efforts. Flashes of brilliance in between too many injuries and some of the worst luck in a career. Thanks for giving us some awesome entertainment over the many years Dani!