Marco Melandri Will Miss Racing But Is At Peace With Retiring

Marco Melandri can't put it into words. The 36-year-old motorcycle racer looks toward the bright sunlight pouring into the Yamaha GRT garage after the first of three World Superbike races at Laguna Seca. He finished ninth.

There’s a slight sadness but also a weightlessness to his presence. He seems to be at peace. His dark eyes are contemplative and curious.

“I’m competitive sometimes, but I felt something inside,” he says. “It was like something strange. I don’t know what, but people tell you that you’ll feel inside when it’s time to stop. I felt it.”

Melandri will retire from professional racing at the end of this season after 22 years in the sport he loves. “Every story has a start,” he says, “and there has to be an end.”

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Melandri burst into world championship roadracing in 1997 on 125cc two-strokes. Two years later, he was second in points. In 2002, he won the 250cc title before moving to MotoGP. Melandri has a nice numbers game: In nine years racing in the top tier, he took 20 podiums with five wins. He raced for five manufacturers—Aprilia, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, and Yamaha—finishing in the top 10 overall five times, including second behind fellow Italian Valentino Rossi in 2005.

But after a lot of success and a great adaptation of riding various bikes, Melandri is ready to lay down the leathers. “It’s less difficult to say I’ll stop than to keep going and drop down until you must stop,” he says. “I still think I can be competitive sometimes, but I’m not feeling confident like I would like to be.”

The constant changes learning a new motorcycle became exhausting. “Every time I change teams, I have to start from zero. It’s very demanding,” Melandri says. “Maybe I could go one more year like that, struggling with a new team. The plan was to stay here for two years, but it’s difficult. I have no energy anymore.”

He didn’t talk to any other racers when he started to think about retiring in March of this year. “I spoke to my wife in May and my manager too,” he says. “For me, it was important to make the choice alone. I didn’t want to listen to anyone because everybody cannot understand what I feel.”

Like many riders, the speed on two wheels is what attracted the Italian to racing. “I will miss the race adrenaline and some friends,” he admits.

Heading into the second half of his final season, Melandri is more at ease. “I feel lighter. I can enjoy riding the bike. I will not give up and will do my best every race.”

As he prepared for his final US race, Melandri spoke only good about twisty, world-famous Laguna Seca. "I love this track," he says with a smile. "Everything is good here. It's very unique. Every corner is special because it's special."

Especially turn 1. “It is something amazing because, on television, it looks flat. But for real, it’s fast and the bike doesn’t touch on both wheels.”

Melandri has raced in Monterey both in World Superbike and MotoGP, with multiple podiums. In 2006, Melandri took third at Laguna Seca on his favorite bike, the Honda RC211V.

“The Honda was beautiful,” he says. “The electronics at that time were half of what they are now. From 2007 on, the electronics started to be too much.”

After the 2019 season, Melandri isn’t sure he will be around motorcycles as much. “I don’t want to spend too much time in the paddock and the garage,” he says. “I want to have more time for my family and what I like to do, like cycling.”

When asked if his daughter likes motorcycles and racing, Melandri laughed. “Oh, no. She likes skiing and dancing. I hope to bring her to do that more.”

Even though he won’t be directly involved in the sport in which he has made a living, Melandri can’t get away. “I love racing,” he says. “I watch everything from British Superbikes to MotoAmerica.”

As he looked back at his career, Melandri says he wouldn’t change many decisions he made.

“I made the right choice, but it was sometimes the wrong time,” he says. “When I went to Ducati in MotoGP, it was the right choice, but the timing was very bad. I arrived when Casey Stoner was winning and I was doing bad, so it was it only my fault. They brought me to see psychologists all over the world. After me, Nicky Hayden joined, and it was very bad. After Nicky, Valentino joined, and it was very bad.”

When Andrea Dovizioso arrived after Rossi, Melandri says it was very easy because there was nothing to prove to the people. If you performed poorly, no one expected you to win. “In 2008,” he says, “the Ducati wasn’t different, it was just very bad; only Stoner could ride it.”

But Melandri also found success in a different international class. “In Superbike, Ducati was different. The chassis for me was very good, but the power delivery was very bad. The V4 now is much better.”

Melandri can’t describe a perfect motorcycle—too many particulars like tire choice, electronics and chassis—but he simplifies it. “I like a bike that absorbs the bumps very well and has good stability.”