Preparing for his fifth season in the premier class, Toni Elias has been working as hard as ever on his physical fitness ahead of the Official MotoGP Night Test in Qatar.
Making his final preparations for the 2009 FIM MotoGP World Championship Toni Elias this week invited motogp.com to join him for some cycling and motocross training sessions close to his home town of Manresa, on the outskirts of Barcelona.
In his fifth year in the MotoGP class, Elias this year returns to the Honda Gresini team he rode for in 2006 and 2007 having spent last season on Ducati satellite machinery. He has been given a factory RC212V for 2009 and started the preseason as the fastest Honda rider at the Malaysia test having worked hard on his fitness over the winter – following an operation in December.
He has kept the pace up since then with various forms of training and explained his regime saying, “I try to vary my fitness work as much as possible and do something different every day so that it doesn’t get boring. I go to the gym and go cycling and running and do motocross.”
“This year the Championship will be as intense as ever and we won’t have much time to come home and train,” continued the Catalan. “The most important training sessions are the races themselves so between the GPs it is just keep fit, whereas now we are really working hard to increase fitness levels. I’m actually still coming back from my operation, so I haven’t reached 100% yet.”
Summarising the winter scene for the MotoGP riders as a whole he added, “During the break all the riders take maximum advantage to get over old injuries and have any surgery required like Dani Pedrosa, Casey Stoner and myself have done this time. It’s tough to be back at 100% for the first test, but I think everyone will be totally ready for the first race of the year.”
The San Carlo Honda Gresini Team rider also made reference to the recent cost reduction moves in MotoGP which have seen testing and practice sessions reduced, saying of the three preseason tests at Sepang, Losail and Jerez, “As there are less tests we have to plan things differently, almost treating them like Grands Prix weekends. You have to be completely organised in order to get things done properly in the three days. With these three tests we have to be ready for the first race. If it helps to make things less expensive then it is a good thing.”
Elias, who has one GP win to his name at Estoril in 2006, previewed the 2009 season, revealing, “I don’t want to get ahead of myself but I realise I have a big chance this year. I have set myself certain goals to aim for and I only have myself to answer to.”
