“I know what team I am coming to, and what wearing these colours entails”

Pol, we’ve already heard your first thoughts on joining the Repsol Honda Team but how did it feel to wear the leathers for the first time?

“Exciting, so exciting. I’ve been thinking a lot of times about this opportunity and now when you dress up for the first time in these leathers, you see it as real. The excitement is super high, it’s in the clouds.”

You are new to the Repsol Honda Team Pol, tell us a bit about yourself. What is important to you?

“For me it’s important to be calm, to have everything more or less under control. I know in this motorsport world, having everything under control is more or less impossible. But I like to have as much control as possible and my life, especially my private life, in a calm mood and like that I can be super focused on my job. It’s the way where I perform best.”

What are your goals for 2021?

“Actually, I can’t answer this question yet because I do not know what to expect about this season. First of all, because we saw the past season was super tricky because of the Covid situation and we don’t know exactly where we need to race, how many times we need to race there, and the bike is new. I’m not going to have a lot of days of testing so it’s going to be hard in the beginning of the year, but I am really focused on achieving my dreams here.”

You have raced against Marc for almost all your career, what’s your first memory of him and what is the moment that stands out the most?

“The first time I saw Marc was in the very, very, very young categories with the Conti. It was the first time I think he was jumping on the road bike. It was more or less the first time I was jumping too but I was a little bit older, so I had a little bit more experience than him. But we were very, very, very small and I really remember that they were great moments where you are just enjoying it. And then I have enjoyed with Marc some great, great battles, especially in Moto2. One in Estoril where I lost the battle, I finished second, but I really enjoyed that one.”

Who do you think will be your biggest competitor in 2021?

“Well 100% if Marc gets a good start in Qatar, he’s going to be the one to beat. He’s the number one even if he hasn’t been racing last year. Sure, he’s going to be a tough guy to beat and the fastest guy on the grid. He’s been like that for a lot of years in the past and is a reference for me and for the whole MotoGP category. We will see, but for sure we can’t forget about the Suzukis, the Ducatis, the young guys on those bikes with a lot of talent. It’s going to be an interesting season but also a tricky one.”