To nobody’s surprise, MotoGP rider Dani Pedrosa has announced his retirement at the end of the 2018 season.
Pedrosa rode for the Repsol Honda team, and was a faithful soldier for many years, even though teammates were almost always given the spotlight. He was a podium threat almost any weekend of his 18-year career, and would have been a top bet to win a MotoGP championship if he hadn’t always managed to injure himself when the prize was close. He did win two 250 GP championships, though, as well as a 125 championship.
Pedrosa retires with 4086 points accumulated through the various series he raced, second only all-time to Valentino Rossi; he currently has 285 GP starts, third behind first-place Rossi and second-place Loris Capirossi. He won 153 podiums between all three classes he raced in, earning 112 of those podiums in the premier class. He earned 54 GP wins and 49 poles.
For most riders, those stats would earn them consideration as an all-time great, but Pedrosa’s quiet personality kept him out of the spotlight. His results this year haven’t been as strong as previous years, and when Honda announced it had signed Jorge Lorenzo to the top squad for next season, it was obvious Pedrosa was on the way out; there was talk of him going to a satellite team for Yamaha, but that seems to have fizzled.
