Jorge Lorenzo: My Ducati MotoGP breakthrough was “one week too late”

Six years after retiring from MotoGP, Jorge Lorenzo prefers to focus on what he has.

“I’m lucky. You have to be lucky just to be born! It’s like a miracle,” he smiled.

“And I was born into a good family, always had food to eat, and was able to achieve my dreams.

“If you focus on what you don’t have, you are unhappy.”

Jorge Lorenzo takes his 44th MotoGP win in his final Yamaha race, Valencia 2016.

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Jorge Lorenzo certainly has a lot to be happy about from his professional career.

The Spaniard won 68 grands prix and five world titles – three in the premier class – during almost twenty years in the 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP World Championships.

But no career is perfect, and part of Lorenzo’s success was his ability to identify and then work relentlessly on his weak points.

“It’s better if you can learn from the mistakes of others, but sometimes you need to make the mistakes to learn,” said Lorenzo, now involved in coaching and sports management.

One of the great ‘what ifs’ from Lorenzo’s career surrounds the timing of his debut Ducati victory.

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After nine years, 44 victories and three MotoGP titles at Yamaha, Lorenzo became Ducati’s biggest signing since Valentino Rossi when he joined the Italian manufacturer for 2017.

The timing looked perfect. Ducati was fresh from its first wins of the Gigi Dall’Igna era – with whom Lorenzo had worked at Aprilia – courtesy of Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone the previous season.

But the Desmosedici was still no match for the Japanese machines across a full championship. Honda or Yamaha had been world champions every year since 2007, with Maverick Vinales’ Suzuki also ahead of Dovizioso in the 2016 riders’ standings.

Jorge Lorenzo braking, 2018 Italian MotoGP.

“I was too slow to change my riding style”

Lorenzo had been hired to refine the Desmosedici into a title contender, aided by his knowledge of the Yamaha. But where should the line be drawn between making the Ducati more like an M1, or playing to its unique strengths?

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Adapting riding style to a bike, or modifying a bike to suit the rider, is an ongoing conundrum.

Visible early progress was made in terms of stability – the Desmosedici had previously been something of a handful – but it didn’t translate into results, at least not for Lorenzo.

The Spaniard was left to settle for occasional podiums while team-mate Dovizioso took the fight to Marc Marquez for the 2017 title.

2018 began even worse, with Lorenzo unable to claim a top-ten finish until round five. Then everything clicked spectacularly into place with a lights-to-flag victory at Mugello, by six seconds over Dovizioso.

Upon reflection, Lorenzo feels he should have adapted his riding style sooner.

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“Especially, I was probably too slow to change my riding style in Ducati,” he explained, speaking at this year’s Buriram test.

“Because I was trying to ride the Ducati like the Yamaha, and I took too long to understand that with the Ducati I needed to change completely my riding style.

“I needed to brake later, and to go to the apex of the corner very quick, don’t lean, and keep the bike straight.

“With the Yamaha, it was completely the opposite, always sacrificing the braking to have corner speed.

“But with that style, the Ducati didn’t work, and I took too long to understand.”

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Jorge Lorenzo and Ducati celebrate, 2018 Italian MotoGP.

“I could have stayed in Ducati for two or three more years”

Mugello was followed by another dominant victory, this time over Marquez at Catalunya, then a third Ducati win in Austria. A title challenge was still a possibility until he was injured at Aragon.

Unfortunately, the magnitude of the transformation was such a surprise that when Lorenzo celebrated in parc ferme at Mugello, he had already signed to join Repsol Honda the following season.

“Maybe I won the race in Mugello 2018 one week too late,” Lorenzo confirmed.

“So if I understood [earlier] that I needed to change my riding, I could have stayed in Ducati for two or three more years.”

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Instead, Lorenzo endured a nightmare season of injuries at Repsol Honda and retired from MotoGP at the end of the 2019 campaign.

With Marquez then suffering his arm injuries at the Covid-delayed opening round of 2020, leaving Honda without a clear leader, Lorenzo’s retirement decision became another of MotoGP’s great ‘what ifs’.

Jorge Lorenzo, Gigi Dall’Igna, 2018 Italian MotoGP.

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Jorge Lorenzo: My Ducati MotoGP breakthrough was “one week too late”

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