{"id":379799,"date":"2025-12-31T17:20:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T17:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/379799\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T17:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T17:20:10","slug":"aleix-espargaro-quits-pro-cycling-after-injuries-hinders-2025-honda-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/379799\/","title":{"rendered":"Aleix Espargaro quits pro cycling after injuries hinders 2025 Honda role"},"content":{"rendered":"

Honda development rider Aleix Espargaro<\/a> has put his parallel cycling career on hold in order to focus on his MotoGP test work.<\/p>\n

Espargaro retired from full-time racing at the conclusion of 2024, signing off as an Aprilia factory rider at the season-ending Solidarity Grand Prix. He then took up a development role with Honda \u2013 as well as a role with the\u00a0Lidl-Trek professional bicycle racing team<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Espargaro has made four wildcard appearances alongside test duties during 2025, but would have raced more without cycling injuries getting in the way. He was scheduled to stand in for Somkiat Chantra<\/a> when the Thai rider was injured mid-season, but two successive injuries ruled him out of doing so<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking to media at the Valencia Grand Prix, the Spaniard admitted that Honda team manager Alberto Puig had intervened after Espargaro was unable to take part in the Hungarian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Aleix Espargaro, Honda HRC\"Aleix<\/p>\n

Aleix Espargaro, Honda HRC<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was really a turning point in Barcelona [the race following the Hungarian round],\u201d said Espargaro. \u201cI arrived completely exhausted with three broken vertebrae from the bike.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAlberto sat me down and told me he understood my passion for bicycles, but that this was Honda and I needed to be more focused. He was absolutely right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was probably wrong. I didn\u2019t know how to calibrate my role as a test rider. It was all a bit new to me, and I thought I could handle both [cycling and motorcycling], but that\u2019s not the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext year, I\u2019ll stay with the [cycling] team, but I won\u2019t be racing professionally. I\u2019ll just be training with them and will remain more focused on Honda.\u201d<\/p>\n

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With Honda having moved from concessions Group D to Group C following a strong second half to 2025, its race riders will not be permitted to take part in private tests for the foreseeable future. That will make Espargaro\u2019s role even more critical in 2026 \u2013 particularly as Honda plans for the new MotoGP technical regulations, which take effect in 2027.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rain spoils debut of Honda\u2019s 850cc engine in Sepang test <\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Honda wouldn\u2019t even be in top 10 without mid-year engine upgrades – Aleix Espargaro <\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cBoth Alberto and the Japanese [side of the] team have asked me to do a double development next year, with the 2026 bike and the new 2027 bike with Pirelli tyres, so I\u2019ll have to dedicate myself much more to my work as a Honda test rider,” Espargaro added.<\/p>\n

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Honda development rider Aleix Espargaro has put his parallel cycling career on hold in order to focus on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[161971,131307,49,48,635,161973,3827,161972,27858,82],"class_list":["post-379799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-alberto-puig","tag-aleix-espargaro","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-development-role","tag-honda","tag-honda-hrc","tag-hungarian-grand-prix","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}