It’s been a long and successful career for veteran Spanish rider Dani Pedrosa, and after 18 seasons racing in the World Championship, the little “Samurai”, as he’s also known, decided to end his career as a MotoGP rider. But his time racing left some marks on his body, with Pedrosa revealing that he’s got more than 200 stitches!
290 races have left a painful reminder on Dani Pedrosa’s body, with the 1,50m high and 50 kg Spanish rider suffering many serious injuries throughout his career in 125 cc, 250 cc and then in MotoGP. Injuries that didn’t allow Pedrosa to completely fulfill what everyone said he would be capable of achieving, the MotoGP riders title.
Now retired from racing and embracing a new role as KTM Factory MotoGP test rider, Dani Pedrosa entered in a documentary called “The Silence of the Samurai”, which depicts his life in the racing world and also at a personal level.
In this documentary, the former Repsol Honda rider and longtime Honda rider, spoke about the injuries he had, and one aspect that stands out is the amount of marks he has on his body due to the many surgeries he had along the way and how those injuries affected him
“One, two, three, or four injuries… that doesn’t affect too much. But many, simultaneously, yes. The injuries in key moments leave a deeper scar, they’re harder to erase. Moments that leave a mark on you. It changes your perspective and character. I don’t really know exactly how many stitches I have, but I’m sure I’ve got more than 200 stitches in me. It’s an experience in which you need to get the best out of it”, says Dani Pedrosa.
Being the smallest rider in MotoGP, besides the advantages like having a lower weight combined with the bike compared to other riders, which allowed for better acceleration, also had its downside.
Dani Pedrosa broke his collarbones several times (7 surgeries), broke his ankles badly in an accident in Phillip Island in 2003, almost every bone in his hands have been broken at one time, his forearms have been subject to surgery three times to allow him to have strength in his arms to ride a MotoGP bike, and he also had, besides many other smaller surgical interventions, 16 surgeries on his back.
Dani Pedrosa might not have a MotoGP title to his name, but the scars he’s taking with him for the rest of his life, are a great testimonial that your dreams don’t come without sacrifices.
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