Aleix Espargaró is 32 years old and has never won a race in the 20 seasons that have passed since he made his world championship debut.
Father of twins, a boy and a girl, he spends more hours on the bike than on the motorcycle.
Although that has not prevented him from continuing to work day after day, despite severe injuries and days in which he thought it would be best to leave, to achieve his goal: to succeed in MotoGP.
It's never too late.
The eldest of the Espargaró brothers knows this, who this Saturday gave Aprilia great joy, the most modest factory of all those that make up the queen category grid.
He took
pole position
in stratospheric time and will start from the first position this Sunday in the Argentine GP race (at 8:00 p.m., on DAZN).
It will be a splendid day for the rider from Granollers (Barcelona) and also for his team.
Never in the history of MotoGP has an Aprilia achieved a
pole
.
Yes, Espargaró did it before, with a satellite Yamaha, in 2014, and with a Suzuki, in 2015. However, he never managed to finish the job with a victory.
Although last year he came close at Silverstone, where he finished third after a great display.
He believes the Catalan athlete that things are different this time.
His bike, very stable, much more powerful than the previous year's, has made an obvious leap in quality.
In Termas del Río Hondo, in addition, both he and his teammate Maverick Viñales exhibited a magnificent pace during the last free practice sessions.
“Normally, we are all very even, but here I think we are a little ahead”, he affirmed at the end.
And he riveted: "The bike is going very well."
Fourth in the first race in Qatar, ninth in the very complicated test, passed through water, in Indonesia,
He will have tough rivals this Sunday.
For example, Jorge Martín, a Ducati rider, who finished second and confessed to feeling better than in either of the two previous race weekends.
It will not be difficult for him to improve on the results of the two previous rounds, unable as he was to finish in Losail and Mandalika.
The front row of the grid will be completed by Luca Marini, brother of the now retired Valentino Rossi.
Fourth, after being the fastest in Q1, will start Pol Espargaró, who seeks to confirm the good feelings of the start of the season in Argentine lands.
With another Aprilia, Maverick Viñales qualified fifth, while world champion Fabio Quartararo finished sixth.
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