MotoGP – Le Mans – Marco Melandri: "Arriving second equals a victory"

An incredulous Marco Melandri comments on the French GP, the fourth round of the 2009 world championship. The Hayate Racing Team rider in fact achieved a great second place behind Jorge Lorenzo and ahead of Dani Pedrosa. The man from Ravenna had already said that doing better than fifth place in Jerez would have been very difficult but with a wonderful race he even managed to get onto the second step of the podium. Thinking about the very difficult winter spent between rumors of retirement (due to the announcement of Kawasaki's withdrawal) and hopes, it is a result worth remembering. Here are his words

“It's amazing to be here and I think I'm dreaming now. He's crazy and I'm still not sure what I did. I am very happy and I have to say thanks to my team. It was a very tough race. I couldn't believe I was getting a better result than Jerez but the weather gave me a great opportunity. At the beginning when the track was very, very wet I passed many riders and I was very fast. When the track then dried out or I had a lot of engine control problems when braking. I changed the bike maybe a lap earlier than I would have liked and when I went out with the slicks my only goal was to not make any mistakes. I started pushing hard and I realized how fast I was going when I saw the riders in front of me. In the end I also hoped that Jorge (Lorenzo, ed.) might have a problem with his rain tyre. Then he changed bikes and although he initially slowed down his pace it was not possible to catch him. Coming second today is like a victory for me. I thank all the people who supported me and also Kawasaki who still made a good bike."