Gibernau comment on "not winning" still unchallenged?

 I keep going back to the Autosport MotoGP site,
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72295 , and re-reading the
Gibernau comment that he is NOT returning to MotoGP "to try and win
races".

He didn't say the usual "maybe not win the championship this year", or
similar.  He said publicly (and presumably his Onde Ducati team can
read) that he is not there to try and win races.

Has he been struck by lightning yet?  Does he still have a job?

I know we all roll our eyes whenever a sports star or team trots out
the old cliche "I came here to win", but it is really weird to hear
someone say they're not even going to TRY!!!!

Maybe his Catalan dialect translates badly.  maybe he actually
muttered "I won't try to win over Rossi's dead and broken body, at
least in the first couple of races" -----?

 
Wow, that IS pretty strange that a racer would make a comment like
that... AND STILL HAVE A JOB!! haha. I'd hope that the translation was
butchered a bit which may explain some of it.

I think what Gibernau may have been eluding to is that he is not going
to start the season with the goal of winning races. As he mentions in
the article, he needs to become familiar with the bike and the new
technologies that have been developed since 2006. He needs to trust
the bike to do things that he is used to doing himself. This is where
he may have a huge problem. The old saying, "You can't teach an old
dog new tricks" would probably apply well here.

I truly believe that the reason Stoner has had such different results
with the same bike as Melandri and even Capirossi to an extent is not
only that he is comfortable with the bike being 'out of shape', but
also that he can trust the bike, and engineers. They tell him to open
the throttle 100% at mid-corner and the bike will do the work, and he
says OK!

I don't think Gibernau will ever reach that point with the Ducati. He
needs to be comfortable and have fun riding to go fast. I don't think
he will ever be comfortable on that bike, therefore it will never be
fun, therefore he'll never be fast. I am a big Gibernau fan, so I hope
that I am proven wrong!

 On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:17:07 -0800 (PST), hackleton


My take is he means that he doesn't expect to win races in the context
of believing himself to be good enough to justify the ride and
providing sponsor value.
A professional journeyman in other words.

 

In the real world that sort of comment is usually dealt with by the
'breach of contract' clause.

 
i am somewhat amazed he made it back. iy seems some sort of "something
to prove" thing after getting dumped by miss big-lips canadas. i mean,
how predictable is that, retire when you get married and declare a
comeback when you get divorced? i am not sure if gibernau has much to
offer. he may have brought some serious money (face it, he has always
been rich, kind of in the old gentleman racer school) but other than
that, he has a lot to prove, and will have to do better than any
newcomer to prove his coming back wasn't just a mistake drive by
nostalgia.