Why a MotoGP legend needs to ditch social media and enjoy retirement

If you had earned millions of euros, could go anywhere, do anything you wanted and surround yourself with anyone you wanted, what would you do? If you’re Jorge Lorenzo, apparently you’d spend your time glued to social media, reminding all your haters just how brilliant you are and getting into spats with other MotoGP riders.

The latest ugly episode took place during Qatar pre-season testing, sparked by a picture of Cal Crutchlow picking bits of gravel out of his crash helmet after sliding off his Yamaha at Turn 2. Since the Losail International Circuit came onto the MotoGP calendar in 2004, you’d be hard-pressed to find any rider who hasn’t been caught out by the Turn 2 left-hander. You’ve just blasted along a one-kilometre straight, which you enter by turning right and end doing the same thing. In that time the left-hand side of the front tyre has cooled off considerably.

But to Lorenzo, this was seemingly proof of a rhetoric he’s been spouting since last November, when Yamaha elected to dump him as test rider for Crutchlow. At the time, he said this decision was like “exchanging gold for bronze”. Crutchlow brushed off the comment in his usual manner, noting that Lorenzo’s talent – which, make no mistake, is considerable – didn’t necessarily mean he was a good test rider.

"I fully respect him as a racer, five-times world champion," Crutchlow said at the time. "He will tell you a lot he's five-times world champion, but he's incredible as a racer and he's very, very special on the bike. But that doesn't mean he's a great test rider. It's as simple as that.

"I think you have to take some things he says with a pinch of salt and get on, so I'm sure it's affected him more than it's affected me. What he said, I can take it, but taking things with a pinch of salt with what he says because it comes from a guy that walks around telling people things all the time."

And, given Lorenzo’s final test on the Yamaha last October ended with him four seconds off an Aprilia (albeit not having ridden since February and having scaled back his training, as Yamaha hadn't made any plans for him to test again), Crutchlow’s words weren’t exactly wide of the mark.

But the sight of Crutchlow crashing in Qatar was enough to prompt Lorenzo to comment on social media with a snarky “I told you”. Crutchlow’s best mate Jack Miller chimed in, telling Lorenzo to stop behaving like a child, to which the triple MotoGP world champion replied by (somewhat ironically) telling him to get off his phone and “start winning races”.

Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Test Team, Qatar MotoGP test 2021

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro commented on the whole thing, noting “I prefer to be a good human than a champion”. That's when Lorenzo stooped to a low, entirely unbecoming of a multiple world title winner. In response to this admittedly stinging swipe from Espargaro, Lorenzo said: “0 victories in 18 years really!!?? I knew your manager is a beast [both share a manager] but the fact that you are still in MotoGP can be just magic.”

Asked for his view on this last week, Espargaro preferred not to dwell on it, stating: "I don't like this guy, I don't want to talk about him. I'm sorry. Sincerely, I don't like anything about Jorge - nothing. So, I don't want to talk about him."

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Social media lapped this up, the ‘damn the snowflakes’ brigade quick to wrongly pass it off as ‘just banter’. But there’s something about a MotoGP legend completely devaluing a fellow rider’s career for no reason other than petty spite that doesn’t sit well.

For starters, sub-standard machinery seems to have followed Espargaro through his career. Even still, he managed a pole position on an Open-spec Forward Yamaha at Assen in 2014 and dragged it to a third-place finish at Aragon in that same year - the only rider during the CRT [Claiming Rule Teams] and Open class era to score a podium.

There’s no doubting that Lorenzo still had more to give. After three world championships in the premier class, 47 victories and 114 podiums, Lorenzo’s talent wasn’t spent at the end of 2019 – it was just his desire

And let’s not forget, his efforts in developing the Suzuki in 2015 and 2016 had a big hand in the success it has enjoyed in recent years. And as the 2021 season nears, that same effort looks like it’s steered Aprilia into a position where it can close the gap to the front with its new RS-GP. Lorenzo’s judgement was uninformed as much as it was unnecessary.

But the most concerning thing about this unfathomable fall from grace displayed by Lorenzo is that it shouldn’t be happening in the first place. I think it must be stressed that, as much he hasn’t helped himself at points in his career, Lorenzo isn’t a bad guy.

He’s a hugely charitable individual, getting involved in all sorts of causes to help improve people’s lives. And he knows how to not take himself too seriously – he reached the final of Spain’s version of The Masked Singer earlier this year.

Jorge Lorenzo, Repsol Honda Team, Valencia MotoGP 2019

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

So, you have to wonder whether Lorenzo is actually happy with life. By the end of his MotoGP career, he’d had enough of putting his body at risk after a bruising and difficult sole campaign on the factory Honda in 2019. And even when the opportunity of a Ducati return for 2021 came fairly close, the parts of the game he didn’t enjoy came flooding back into his mind, too strong for him to brush aside to race again.

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But there’s no doubting that Lorenzo still had more to give. After three world championships in the premier class, 47 victories and 114 podiums, Lorenzo’s talent wasn’t spent at the end of 2019 – it was just his desire. But many an athlete has had a hard time adjusting to life outside of the thing that consumed their entire existence for so long, regardless of how wealthy it made them.

Social media only gives a snapshot of a life, and often it’s just the highlights reel. Just because someone’s life looks wonderful through an Instagram filter, it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the reality.

Of course, if Lorenzo wants to continue to remind people of his career statistics on social media, then that’s his prerogative. But I sincerely hope he decides to put his phone down and enjoy whatever sun-kissed part of the world he’s spending his retirement in, because he’s earned it.

More importantly, the more he continues with incidents like these, it steadily chips away at his legacy. And that is tragic, because the guy was a monster motorcycle racer…

Jorge Lorenzo, Ducati, MotoGP Italian Grand Prix 2018

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images