Dani Pedrosa has admitted that he suffered from chronic fatigue in the last three seasons of his MotoGP career with Honda.
The 31-time GP winner revealed he was diagnosed with the same problem that crippled the career of his former teammate Casey Stoner, who retired from MotoGP after 2012 aged just 27.
The Spaniard said it took him another three years to fully recover from the effects of the disorder and return to the track.
In an interview with Motorsport.com, Pedrosa shed light on his time in MotoGP and how his fitness contributed to his decision to hang up his helmet in 2018.
“Like Stoner, I also suffered from chronic fatigue in my last years in MotoGP. In the last two or three years of my career I had to deal with this problem,” he explains.
“I kept going until I realized I couldn’t get out of there and had to stop racing. It took me about three years to get back on track.”
Pedrosa is considered the greatest rider not to have won a premier-class championship. Signed by Honda in 2006 as a factory MotoGP rider, he finished runner-up three times in a glittering career that included 112 podiums and 31 poles in addition to his 31 race wins, but never a title.
Dani Pedrosa, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
During his 13 seasons in MotoGP as a full-time rider, Pedrosa was plagued by injuries that prevented him from consistently pushing for the top. The Spaniard ended up missing several races due to crashes, while spending a fair amount of time not being fully fit on the bike.
Now a test rider for KTM, he has again expressed his frustration at the consequences of these injuries on his time in MotoGP.
“We calculated the total time I was out of action due to injuries and all the races I was unable to attend because of that, and we concluded that I would have missed around 17 or 18 Grands Prix; basically a whole season.”
“When I retired I had serious problems with my collarbone, it was disintegrated. Part of it was very damaged; the bone would not heal on its own.”
“It wouldn’t calcify and it couldn’t handle the stress I was putting on it. It was a very long process and thanks to the stem cell doctors I was able to resolve it.”
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