Dani who ? Nobody will talk about him in a couple of month. He never was a rider like Casey Stoner or Carl Fogarty etc.
All the same I think he did pretty well with the tools at his disposal. Reading that article echos other things I've read about him. Namely when other riders were riding bikes with those god-awful wings a few years back, Dani didn't have any. The reason was because they make the bike even more physically demanding to ride and Dani simply didn't have the strength to keep up that level of bar input for a whole race. Hell, the guy had all of the fascia removed from his forearms because of the level of suffering with arm pump. If that's not commitment I don't know what is. From my point of view I've always liked Dani. I think that the MotoGP paddock will be a poorer place without him. As fast (if not faster) than everyone else when his bike was working right for him but simply not strong enough to muscle the heavier MotoGP bikes around when the setup wasn't absolutely perfect. I can remember a few races over the years where he's had everyone scratching their heads unable to get close.
Whilst I'm sure he's a nice guy and can certainly ride I don't think he should have been a factory rider for quite some years. Even the article says he wasn't physically capable of handling the bikes, and would never get tyres that would work for him on most if not all tracks. Sadly I believe it was a case of Spanish Team wanting a Spanish rider. If almost anyone else had been in the team they would have been replaced numerous times over.
This might be the first time I have communicated with 'God-like' status since I was ex-communicated from my church. Agreed, and I've endorsed that view previously when speaking of Repsol money. Also, if you remember back in the Doohan/Sinichi Ito days, Sete Gibernau rode a third Repsol under the guise of a development bike. Had a few successes, but seemed to be around for ages without much achievement.
Fair's fair. No one suggested Carl Fogarty excelled in Moto GP; he was named as a consistent winner and World Champion. Very few enthusiasts would not applaud Fogarty's accomplishments. (Just sayin')
I prefer Dani Pedrosa to Jorge Lorenzo and his top step jumping flag planting, rubber hammer waving, buttery sillyness ! Dani has talent, humility, team ethic and he is a good gentleman - and I can say that I saw him win at Misano in 2016 - Even though everyone wanted Rossi to win, I was still happy for him. Not sure why he was kept on for so long at Repsol Honda, maybe the Spanish connection, but it is not like there is a shortage of Spanish riders to choose from if that was the only criteria. I think he was probably a good team player, and overall added value to the Repsol Honda team effort. Took this picture of him at Aragon GP 2015
I remember seeing video of him meeting with a young disabled fan at the British GP quite a few years ago. He didn't just pop in and say hello to the lad. He spent quite a bit of the day with him. You could see how much it meant to the lad and how much Dani enjoyed being with him. Seems like a properly nice bloke. And winning at all costs isn't everything in racing, in my humble opinion. The rider is the tip of the spear but there's an army of people working in the background to make the team work and certainly, Dani seems to have fulfilled his role as team player with aplomb. I'd reckon that's why he's been kept around for so long. While walls were being erected in the Yamaha garage to make sure that Rossi and Lorenzo didn't have to look at each other etc. Dani has been the perfect teammate to plenty of riders in the HRC organisation and his numbers are perhaps not as lousy as you might think. http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2018/07/12/the-numbers-game-dani-pedrosa/264771
