“Here we are, the 2014 season has just started but without a real break! December was packed with commitments, nice commitments, starting with the FIM Gala in Montecarlo and then the Prize giving ceremonies of Caschi D’Oro and Assoluti d’Italia. I just had one week holidays with my girlfriend Michela at the Canaria Island and then I was back to work ”, comments Alex Salvini, who tackles the coming season to defend the world title in the E2 Enduro class, a title that Italy was missing from 13 longs years.
WORLD CHAMPION
“The feeling of having met this important target, becoming World Champion, will always accompany me, but with the new season we all start from zero. I’m not afraid of the pressure, last year I was the first one to put pressure on me, because I wanted to win and this year because I want to repeat myself, so this feeling gives me an extra motivation to work hard and improve every single aspect of my preparation”.
Alex is aware that a winning season is the result of a team work and he can count on the team run by Franco Mayr and Alessandro Tramelli with the support of Honda. But it’s also something that you achieve day after day and for this reason Alex has improved all single aspects of his training in order to be ready for the coming season that will start at the beginning of March with the Assoluti and the 5th of April with the first round of the World Championship in Spain.
CHECK UP
The coming season started mid December in London with a complete check up, when he took part in an Assessment Day at the English Institute of Sport with other Honda riders from various disciplines, such as Superbike, Supersport, Motocross, TT, Endurance and Enduro.
“Can you imagine 12 riders – who have 8 world championship titles between them – together in the same gym? Honda Europe invited me to take part in a series of physio and isometric testing, strength and conditioning assessments and a fitness analysis. We were divided into three groups and I was with Max Nagl, Leon Haslam, Conor Cummins and the TT legend John McGuinness. It was very interesting and great fun. According to the test, I was one of the strongest regarding the strength assessments especially for the test related to the legs while I need to improve the upper body. I have learned a lot and it will be interesting to see how we will progress during the season”.
TRAINING
“After almost one month without training, it was hard to start in January with a new programme and a new coach, David Morelli. Last year I trained alone but this year I want to make a step forward, training with the support of a professional trainer”.
BIKE
Besides the gym, Alex trained a lot with his Honda machine. In January he went with the team to test in Sardinia and then he went to Chile for a ten-day training session followed by the participation to an international race, the sixth “Copa ESEmar” at Las Palmas de Ritoque (Quintero) on February 16th .
“It’s a great opportunity to train in Chile where the team has an office. We can take fully advantage of the good weather and also the terrain is similar to what we will find in Spain and Portugal, the first rounds of the championship. We tested a lot and then I took part in the Copa ESEmar” at Las Palmas de Ritoquea race that saw almost 300 riders from Chile, South America and Europe competing. we won and it was great fun!”.
EXPECTATIONS
“It’s soon to speak about the season but it’s sure that with Antoine Meo joining the E2, the level will be even higher. I’m really for the challenge and I’m training to face this new challenge among the protagonists”.