Moto: “It went by so quickly!” Albigensian pilot Alexis Masbou retires from sport.

Is your decision to end your career new or has been in the making for some time?

To tell the truth, I’ve been thinking about it for a while because Covid has shuffled the cards. It was complicated to come back afterwards. Because I knew that I was nearing the end anyway, and that you always have to find a new motivating challenge.

And what reasons made you say that you had to withdraw?

Above all, I asked myself the question of whether I was still capable of handling a new season, the intensity of the training. At the end of the season, I thought about whether I could still re-mobilize myself and find solutions to go faster on the track. Did I really want to take on a new project and all the implications that come with it? That’s when I told myself that I wasn’t ready to make so many sacrifices. And then I didn’t want to jump into a season and do it half-heartedly. So lucidly, I chose to stop. I was also quite busy aside from my career. Between my duties at the French Motorcycle Federation (FFM), my driving school, my family, it became difficult to manage everything.

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You have 25 years of motorcycling behind you, experienced various disciplines, have you ever felt a certain weariness?

Never ! On the contrary, it happened so quickly! You always have to rethink everything every year, I’ve been lucky enough to experience a lot of Grands Prix. I’m not saying that it was always easy, certain periods were difficult, we had to bounce back. But I was also spoiled. In Moto3, I was able to have a machine to play at the front, I posted some great performances, then I arrived almost by chance in endurance and I won the Bol d’or (in the Superstock category), which was my first race.

Which is not nothing…

No, and it’s also funny how it happened. When I stopped during the Moto3 season with Peugeot, I was contacted by an amateur team (Moto Ain Racing Team). The sponsor had to take part in the race with us – in endurance, it is not uncommon for amateur and professional drivers to race together. Finally, the day before the race, he withdrew to make way for a faster driver. Then we win. To stay on endurance, I would still have this little regret of not having won a world title. I didn’t get far though (three times vice-champion).

Also read:
Motorcycle: Alexis Masbou aims for the title of world champion

The Bol d’Or is one of the great successes of your career, but if you had to remember only one thing, what would it be?

I was marked by quite a few GPs, in Moto3. It’s still one of the best motorcycles in the world! When I talk to those close to me about my career, I have many memories that come back to me. But, deep down, you never forget your first victory. I was an official Honda rider, and I won the 2014 Czech Grand Prix in Moto3. It’s my biggest memory.

What do you have planned for your post-career?

Initially, I will continue my duties at the FFM, where I am in charge of young drivers aged 12 to 14 with whom I do training courses and others. But I am also involved with the French team where I am three drivers whom I accompany on the circuits in Europe, during training courses… Afterwards I plan to devote myself as much as possible to my driving school on the Albi circuit, I want to develop it more than that. And then other things will happen, but it’s not set yet.