20 years ago Manuel Poggiali was considered a great talent, but he never made it into MotoGP – Now he is the riding coach for Enea Bastianini in the Gresini team
With his victory at the night race in Qatar, Bastianini became the 25th Italian to win a race in the premier class in the history of the World Motorcycle Championship. For the Gresini team, it was their first MotoGP win since Estoril 2006, when Toni Elias defeated Valentino Rossi in a heart-stopping final.
Part of the current Gresini team is also an Italian who was one of the greatest talents 20 years ago. Manuel Poggiali became world champion in the 125cc class in 2001. The following season, he narrowly failed to defend his title against Arnaud Vincent.
In 2003, Poggiali switched to the 250cc class and became world champion at the first attempt. But then his career came to a standstill. The Italian was unable to build on his great successes, which is why he ultimately never got a MotoGP chance.
Because of burnout syndromes, Poggiali took a one-year break and finally ended his career after a short comeback in 2008. He has been back in the paddock since 2019. In the Gresini team he looked after the riders in the Moto2 and Moto3 classes.
Now Poggiali is riding coach for the MotoGP riders Bastianini and Fabio di Giannantonio. That “La Bestia” would actually win the season opener came as a surprise even to Poggiali. But with the starting position on row one, the potential had already been hinted at.
“I liked best how Enea managed the race,” Poggiali is quoted as saying by ‘CorseDiMoto’. “We started with the medium rear tyre while Honda chose the soft tyre. When he saw that Binder was losing on Pol Espargaro, he immediately overtook him.”
“He understood the situation very well and was able to make up the gap of one and a half seconds. We expected Espargaro’s soft tyre to give way earlier, but it didn’t happen until three laps before the end of the race.”
“Enea was incredible! It was Fausto Gresini’s dream to start like that. After the years with Aprilia, he wanted to come back as an independent team. This was a unique and unrepeatable weekend. The whole team did a fantastic job. “
Poggiali trusts Bastianini to do well in the right environment
Last year Bastianini was still riding for the Esponsorama team, which now no longer exists. Now the 2020 Moto2 World Champion has had to settle into the Gresini team in just a few weeks. In principle, he knows the team, because in 2014, 2015 and 2016 he rode for Gresini Moto3.
Bastianini has a Ducati contract in his pocket. Already in the previous year, Alberto Giribuola was assigned to him as crew chief. He was runner-up three times with Andrea Dovizioso. Giribuola is also Bastianini’s crew chief at Gresini this year.
Poggiali believes that Bastianini has an optimal environment at the moment: “The atmosphere in the team is great. I think it’s the optimal conditions for a rider who works in peace. It’s the ideal situation for him to express himself in the best possible way.”
The season opener showed that the Ducati GP21 does not have to be a disadvantage. Where can the journey take Bastianini this year? “There will definitely be difficult times ahead, but I liked the way Enea handled this race,” finds Poggiali.
“He showed a lot of maturity. He has never started from the front row before and he did so well. I am very confident for the future.” Across classes, Bastianini stands at seven Grand Prix wins. Poggiali has won twelve races in his career in the small classes.
