        Having travelled from the other side of the world to holiday in Athens with his wife, Casey Stoner has also stopped off in Italy to attend the Fair Play Menarini prizegiving, which opened yesterday evening in Florence: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an honour to be selected for this prize, it&rsquo;s fantastic. It&rsquo;s been very difficult to travel recently with everything going on and so it&rsquo;s wonderful to see everyone meeting up again and, like I&rsquo;ve said, it&rsquo;s an enormous privilege&rdquo; confirms the Australian who, during &ldquo;The champions tell all" talk, spoke about the current championship, one that appears balanced and unpredictable. Casey: &ldquo;I think MotoGP has lost of lot of fans&rdquo;  The two-time world champion thinks that MotoGP is no longer the same post-Rossi, the Italian having closed an important period in the history of this sport. As for Valentino, Casey opines: &ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t so strong in the final years and wasn&rsquo;t in the mix for the title, so not so much has changed without him. But MotoGP has definitely lost a lot of fans who would come to the races to see Valentino.&rdquo; An unpredictable season  The current championship is proving entertaining with its many tightly fought battles, the level of competitiveness making it hard to make predictions, even for someone who has racing in the blood: "It&rsquo;s been hard to understand MotoGP over the last year, because you see a very different list of results from race to race. The winner of one GP might finish in the top five or six the following week, or maybe worse. So it&rsquo;s very difficult to see who&rsquo;s consistently strong. I&rsquo;m not saying the bikes are easy to ride, but it looks like everyone is able to get close to maximum performance a little more easily, which makes it more difficult to understand who&rsquo;s really making the difference. I have the feeling that some riders who are up front wouldn&rsquo;t be there if the bikes weren&rsquo;t so manageable". Casey does single out Pecco Bagnaia though, who he sees as a likely successor to Valentino Rossi: "He&rsquo;s a good guy, he has my former mechanics and he&rsquo;s working hard. He&rsquo;s made too many mistakes this year, but unless you&rsquo;re in his situation you can&rsquo;t understand, and it&rsquo;s easy to judge from outside, so I prefer not to comment. But the speed is there. Maybe you just have to accept that you can&rsquo;t win every race, and then finish a few more races but, I repeat, it&rsquo;s very easy to comment on mistakes from the outside&rdquo;. Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, &Aacute;lex M&aacute;rquez: &ldquo;Honda fell asleep, we&rsquo;re all struggling&rdquo;       

The Australian champion offers his views on this first half of the season, also touching on Bagnaia&rsquo;s situation

MotoGP, Stoner: “Pecco needs to accept he can’t win every race”

        Casey Stoner&rsquo;s career came to an end in 2012 when the Australian phenomenon was just 27. His retirement came down to an unwillingness to embrace the life that the reigning class demanded, combined with various health problems that Casey has only really begun to speak about in recent years. As we know, the double world champion suffers from chronic fatigue, but also anxiety, with which he has been diagnosed only recently. In Stoner&rsquo;s words  "The anxiety was only diagnosed recently, I didn&rsquo;t really know what it was&rdquo;, Stoner told podcast Gypsy Tales. "Honestly, before the diagnosis, I though that anxiety was something people made up to justify stress. But everyone feels stressed out&rdquo;. A situation that seriously conditions the former champion&rsquo;s state of health: "Even my back locks up due to anxiety. I can actually feel it come on in situations where I don&rsquo;t feel comfortable&rdquo;. The pressure of expectation  "It would perhaps have been easier to manage my career if I&rsquo;d known sooner. I sometimes got a bad rap because I was closed off with people and the press, because I was never comfortable doing it&rdquo;, continues Casey, before talking about how he felt during his MotoGP years: "And then race day&hellip; For years, up until probably my last two years of racing MotoGP, the better my weekend went, the more I wanted to die. I would curl up on the floor of the camper, as sick as a dog and with my stomach in knots. I did not want to race. I couldn&rsquo;t feel worse, or more apprehensive&rdquo;. &ldquo;I felt the pressure from the team, from everyone who had ever helped me. I had a team of 70 people, and when you&rsquo;re the number one rider, everyone expects you to win. Only after finishing my career did I understand why I struggled so much with it&rdquo;, concludes the former Honda and Ducati rider. Translated by Heather Watson Will MotoGP see the return of Morbidelli, version 2020?       

The Australian champion has revealed he suffers with anxiety, which went undiagnosed when he was racing: "It would have been easier to manage my career had I known sooner"

MotoGP, Stoner’s revelation: “The better my weekend, the more I wanted to die”

        Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi shook hands at the Algarve GP, exchanging pleasantries in front of the cameras. But a rivalry as strong as theirs doesn&rsquo;t just fade away, in fact it returns whenever there&rsquo;s an opportunity. And this is clear to see as Stoner is interviewed by DAZN, a segment that features in the &lsquo;RIVale&rsquo; documentary which retraces the Doctor&rsquo;s career through the eyes of his rivals. Stoner: "He wanted to improve the Ducati, but he only made things worse"  &ldquo;I was one of his greatest rivals when he was at his peak. Rossi was the best rider in the early 2000s, on another level. But when Jorge Lorenzo, Daniel Pedrosa and I arrived in MotoGP, we realised he wasn&rsquo;t better than us&rdquo; recalls Stoner, who landed in the top class in 2006 and then exploded the following year with Ducati. It was Casey who won the world title in 2007, beating Rossi himself. And the relationship between the pair was never the same again: &ldquo;Rossi was nice until I became his rival. He always tried to play mind games but when that doesn&rsquo;t work, all you gain is another rival. He made sure that I was seen as the enemy. And he did the same with Marquez too. From then on, I didn&rsquo;t want to be his friend or play fairly&rdquo;. The Australian stayed with the Borgo Panigale team until 2010, before moving to Honda in 2011 and leaving the Desmosedici to Valentino. &ldquo;At HRC I had a bike that was sensational to ride. And, I admit, I enjoyed seeing Valentino struggle with the Ducati &ndash; explains the two-time champion &ndash; He&rsquo;d talked so much about how he&rsquo;d be able to improve that bike for the better. But in reality, he was only making things worse&rdquo;. Stoner has more to say about the Italian: &ldquo;He was good in the head-to-head battles, but also at catching a tow. He could never make a fast lap on his own, only by using the slipstream, and that&rsquo;s a limitation&rdquo;. Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, official: KTM and Mike Leitner part ways       

The former Australian rider has once again spoke about his rivalry with Valentino Rossi: "When Pedrosa, Lorenzo and I arrived, we realised he wasn&rsquo;t better than us"

MotoGP, Casey Stoner: “I enjoyed seeing Rossi struggle at Ducati”

        Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi as team-mates? Perhaps we might have seen this once upon a time, at least according to the Australian. Interviewed by DAZN for the RiVale documentary, Stoner admitted that he may have once had the chance to share a garage with the nine-time champion, but a deal was never made for some reason. A dream that remained just that  The two-time champ admits: &ldquo;I tried to become Valentino&rsquo;s team-mate, on two occasions. But someone at Yamaha stopped it&hellip; I think you know who that might have been&rdquo;. Maybe yes, but maybe no. To whom precisely is he referring? The Australian gives nothing more away, before continuing: &ldquo;I would have really liked to have the same bike as a rider like Rossi, to be able to learn from him&rdquo;. A dream that remained just that, and one that would have had so much meaning in race terms too. After winning the title with two manufacturers and two such different bikes, the Yamaha challenge would have been a very interesting one for Stoner, even more so alongside Rossi. But this remains a utopia today. Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, Rossi: &ldquo;My relationship with Marquez? It will stay the same&rdquo;       

World champion with Ducati and Honda, the Australian would have liked a chance with Yamaha too, alongside the Doctor, but this was not to be...

MotoGP, Stoner and Rossi as team-mates? “Somebody at Yamaha didn't want me”

        There was a lot of talk about Casey Stoner&rsquo;s visit to the MotoGP paddock at Portim&atilde;o last weekend, and many people were pleased to see him of course, particularly the Ducati team. Bagnaia: &ldquo;Casey would be fundamental"  In fact, Pecco Bagnaia spoke outright about the respect he has for the two-time world champion: &ldquo;We're talking about Casey Stoner, the most successful Ducati rider, able to win with the red bike, one of the world&rsquo;s best. It would be fundamental to have him as coach. He helped me understand how to tackle the last turn this weekend, I like his approach&rdquo;, stated the winner of the Algarve GP after scoring pole on Saturday. Ciabatti talks  But the dream of having Stoner in the garage may remain just that, as Paolo Ciabatti explains while talking to MotoGP.com. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s been a lot of talk about Casey and he clearly helped many of our riders with his analysis, giving them some great advice &ndash; comments the Sporting Director &ndash; it&rsquo;s always nice to have a champion and friend like Stoner in the garage, but the results came down to Pecco and Jack and their talent&rdquo;. &ldquo;Having him with us in 2022? We&rsquo;d like it, but I don&rsquo;t think he plans to move back to Europe. Casey has a family and two small kids, and they are his priority. He&rsquo;ll be with us at Valencia and we hope he brings us luck there too&rdquo;, concludes Ciabatti, essentially dashing the Ducati fans&rsquo; hopes. Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP: Marc Marquez to miss the Valencia GP and the Jerez test       

The guys at Borgo Panigale, not least Francesco Bagnaia, would like the Australian to be permanent fixture in the garage in 2022. The Ducati Corse Sporting Director explains why this might be difficult &nbsp;

MotoGP, Stoner as Ducati coach? Ciabatti: “We’d like that, but...”

        One of the most memorable (and bizarre) scenes at the Barcelona GP saw Fabio Quartararo completing the final laps of the race with his leathers fully unzipped and with no chest protector. An episode that failed to escape attention, various names quick to voice their opinion on the matter. Not least Casey Stoner, who often comments on issues of this kind and who does not agree with the decision made in light of the episode involving the young Frenchman. Stoner: &ldquo;Should have been a black flag&rdquo;  &ldquo;Whether or not it was Quartararo taking his zipper down on purpose, I believe that should have been a black flag. At this level you can&rsquo;t be allowed to race at 350km + with your leathers open.&rdquo; The two-time MotoGP world champion takes a clear stance, believing that Quartararo should have been disqualified so as to immediately deal with what was clearly a dangerous situation. Who is in the right? It&rsquo;s hard to say, but what went down will no doubt lead to drawn-out debate. Translated by Heather Watson Moto3 and open suits: steady (and quick) hands are required       

The Australian said his piece about the Frenchman on Twitter, clearly condemning race direction&rsquo;s behaviour: "It can&rsquo;t be allowed to happen"

MotoGP, Stoner has harsh words for Quartararo: “He deserved the black flag”

Are you a collector or perhaps fancy having some race memorabilia in your home? Well, we have just the thing for you.  We&rsquo;re talking about the fairing from the Ducati Desmosedici used by Australian Casey Stoner during the 2009 season, put up for auction on specialist site Halmo. The fairing, which you can admire here, will start from a base offer of 5900 euro. Not an insignificant figure in the current climate, but it won&rsquo;t pose a problem to real fans of the Borgo Panigale brand and the Aussie champ.  MotoGP but that&rsquo;s not all   The same site also offers other precious items that have contributed to the history of motorsport, such as the Ferrari F1 F300 nosecone or other parts of the Benetton B193. As for bikes, there is a tank from the Ducati GP5 or the fairing of the Desmosedici GP3, as shown below. All you have to do is choose!    Translated by Heather Watson  MotoGP Ducati, Miller and Bagnaia the right pair for the title? 

A well-known Italian site will auction off the used fairing. The price? Find out here

MotoGP: Casey Stoner&rsquo;s Ducati GP9 fairing up for auction

        Casey Stoner has never been one to hold back, and he continues in the same vein even now racing is a part of his past. In an interview with Road Racing World, Casey has - once again - criticised the way Ducati manages its riders.&nbsp; The dig  "I think Ducati continues to get worse in the way in relates to its riders. They show zero loyalty to the riders, convinced they have the best bike. Today&rsquo;s Desmosedici is really an eyesore too", said the two-time MotoGP world champion. The Australian also touched on a key moment in his career, when he left the Italian manufacturer and moved to Honda, the constructor with which he then won the 2011 MotoGP title. "The deal offered to me was better in every respect compared to Ducati's. Why should I have continued with them if they didn&rsquo;t respect me?" In 2012 he then made the decision to retire:"Perhaps I was stupid to turn down Honda&rsquo;s renewal offer, but in life you do things for love or money. And I&rsquo;d made more money than I ever could have imagined&nbsp;and so I&rsquo;m pleased with the decision I made". "The current bikes are all similar"  The legendary number 27 concludes by commenting on today&rsquo;s MotoGP, which fails to meet with his approval: "I don&rsquo;t like the direction it&rsquo;s gone in. I&rsquo;d like to see the purity come back, rather than electronics controlling the bike at full throttle and the wings controlling the front. All the bikes are basically clones of each other, and this is why the racing is now so close". "The bikes are practically identical and the riders want everything adapted to them. But it needs to be the opposite. You have to forget everything you think you know. You have to ride the bike how it wants to be ridden. You have to surrender to the bike. I didn&rsquo;t have just one style. I was more adaptable than most of my colleagues, so different conditions and tracks weren&rsquo;t important. During practice, I&rsquo;d try to get the bike doing exactly what I wanted, but in the end I&rsquo;d adapt to what I had and make the difference. I think many riders have just one style and want to do the same thing every week, but every track is different, every turn is different. So you have to react differently". Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, Marc Marquez criticises the holeshot: &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t add to the show&rdquo;       

The former Australian rider criticises the Borgo Panigale manufacturer and speaks in a less than flattering way about the current MotoGP

MotoGP, Casey Stoner: “Ducati is not loyal to its riders”

New Ducati factory rider Jack Miller&nbsp;turns 26 today. As he awaits the first winter tests in Qatar, he&rsquo;s taken part in a dirt track race, the North Brisbane Cup, in his native Australia. But the question everyone is asking is&hellip; might another Australian rider prove lucky for the Borgo Panigale manufacturer?  Miller like Stoner?   Back in 2007, Casey Stoner secured the world championship title for Ducati. Since then, various riders have climbed aboard the red bike, but no one has been able to repeat the feat, not Valentino Rossi, nor Jorge Lorenzo, and not even Andrea Dovizioso, despite the Italian having fought hard in 2017, 2018 and 2019, only to finish second each time.  So might Ducati need another Australian rider in order to return to winning ways? Maybe so. The decision to go with Jack Miller, already in the Ducati Pramac orbit since 2018, could well prove to be the right one&hellip; he&rsquo;s young, aggressive in his riding and already has good experience. Despite having a very different character to Stoner, Jack does have that same determination and touch of &lsquo;madness&rsquo; that could prevent him from being overpowered by the Desmosedici, a bike he already knows very well of course.  MotoGP: (only) one title for Ducati in 18 years, how come?  Fun in Australia      &nbsp;   &nbsp;  &nbsp;    &nbsp;     Visualizza questo post su Instagram   Un post condiviso da Jack Miller (@jackmilleraus)      In the meantime, though, at home in Australia, Miller celebrated his 26th birthday by competing in the North Brisbane Cup, which ran at the Mick Doohan Raceway, a dirt track dedicated to the five-time world champion. Miller posted a video of the race on social media: &ldquo;Good fun, before the rain. Thanks for having us!&rdquo;  Despite the time difference, many have already wished Miller a happy birthday and we echo this sentiment of course, while also hoping that Jack can in fact bring Borgo Panigale that long-awaited, all-important result in 2021.  Translated by Heather Watson  MotoGP, Ducati: will Bagnaia be able to legitimise his win over Zarco? 

Until now, only Australian Casey Stoner has been able to secure the MotoGP title for Ducati... Can Jack Miller, who turns 26 today, repeat the feat?

MotoGP: happy birthday Jack Miller, Ducati&rsquo;s latest (Australian) hope

        Every year the manufacturers line up at the first race of the GP season with the aim of beating the competition and finishing the year on the top of the world with the riders&rsquo; title all sewn up. Something Ducati hasn&rsquo;t experienced since 2007, the only time it was able to make the difference during the eighteen championships in which it has competed. The Australian era   The 2007 title bears the name of Casey Stoner, who was immediately able to understand how to exploit the potential of the Desmosedici GP7. He even won the very first race of the year, in Qatar, before going on to repeat the feat nine times during the course of what was a season to remember. He was the only rider able to clock up wins with the red bike over the following three years. Neither Marco Melandri nor Nicky were as competitive as the Aussie who, come 2010, moved to Honda and left Ducati on the brink of crisis. Casey Stoner and his love for the TM and flat track Dark times   From that moment on, Ducati really began to struggle and the numbers speak for themselves. Over the following two years, riders Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden scored just four podiums, and soon after there was a radical change at the top. Filippo Preziosi left the company and, in 2014, Gigi Dall&rsquo;Igna took over the role of General Manager in Ducati Corse. He initiated a technical revolution that brought radical change, not only to the bike's engine and frame, but also in terms of its aerodynamics. The comeback   And it was thanks to these innovations that Borgo Panigale history continued. Thanks to a partnership with Andrea Dovizioso and tireless work behind the scenes, the Italian finished as runner-up to Marc Marquez in 2017, 2018 and 2019, experiencing amazing wins, extraordinary emotions and exciting performance. Three very important and positive results, which also came as a defeat though, still one step behind the &lsquo;Martian&rsquo;. MotoGP: without Marc Marquez, Honda needs Dovizioso They can do it!  There is one thing to consider when evaluating Ducati performance in MotoGP and comparing it to that of the competition. Namely, the Borgo Panigale firm&rsquo;s size and possibilities (also economically speaking), as well as its history, which all differ significant to those of its rivals, particularly the two Japanese giants Honda and Yamaha. Beating them is not exactly as easy as the fans might expect. But this mitigating circumstance should actually give the company further reason to want to get back to the very place history has shown it can reach, or rather the top of the world. A goal that top management has always kept in its sights. Despite Covid-19 and the subsequent cuts, the aim remains the same this year, the team fielding young riders &ldquo;Pecco&rdquo; Bagnaia and Jack Miller, both more than ready to fly the Ducati flag. Who knows, might 2021 be the right year for a second riders&rsquo; title? Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, Ducati: will Bagnaia be able to legitimise his win over Zarco?       

In 2007 the Borgo Panigale manufacturer secured the riders&rsquo; title with Casey Stoner but despite coming close in recent years with Andrea Dovizioso, a second title is still to come

MotoGP: (only) one title for Ducati in 18 years, how come?

        We all know Casey Stoner as the two-time MotoGP world champion and legendary Ducati rider, but before coming to Europe, the Australian was a young flat track star, the discipline allowing him to develop the riding style that would make him famous the world over. Starting out with the TM              Visualizza questo post su Instagram  Un post condiviso da Casey Stoner (@official_cs27)      Casey remembered the good old days by publishing a photo of his newly purchased TM 300: "John Hall sponsored me with a TM in the 90s. I raced enduro and a little motocross for TM Australia&rdquo;, writes Casey. &ldquo;The TMs have always had a special place in my heart, and I have dreamt of owning one of my own since. Finally took delivery of the new TM 300enfi!&rdquo;. After debuting in the world championship in 2001, Casey Stoner lined up in 176 races, winning 45 of them. Having retired from racing in 2012, Stoner continued to work as a test rider for Honda and Ducati for a period of time, before turning his attentions to his private life. As stated in a recent interview, the Southport native is battling chronic fatigue syndrome, a condition that continues to debilitate him. Translated by Heather Watson MotoGP, Rossi: &ldquo;Welkom 2004, my masterpiece&rdquo;       

The former Ducati and Honda rider remembers the good old days, posting his latest gem, a TM 300, on social media

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