Can Dani Pedrosa finally clinch a MotoGP title?

His contemporary was Paul Nash, also a sprinter, who would later equal the world record for 100 metres (ten seconds, at that time). Nash, of course, won every time they raced. Although faster than anyone before him, Price could never expect better than second.

An honourable position, of course. But in the cruel world of professional motorcycle racing, second is just the first loser.

Which brings us neatly to the reason for the reminiscence. Diminutive Dani Pedrosa. Always the bridesmaid.

Dani, now 32, was one of a trio of pre-teens picked out by a Spanish-backed scheme to develop young talent. It was backed by Telefonica Movistar, and run by GP winner Alberto Puig, now managing the factory Repsol Honda team. The first fruit, in 2001, was a trio of 125 riders: Pedrosa, Joan Olive and Toni Elias. Olive has since retired; Elias won the first Moto2 title in 2010, and now races successfully in the USA.

Little Dani, so small his feet barely touched the ground, was massively the most successful. He won eight 125 races and in 2003 also the championship. He moved straight to 250s, and won the title twice over the next two years, in 2005 defeating Casey Stoner by better than 50 points. 

It was still a bit of a surprise when Honda took him straight into their top factory team, to partner eventual 2006 champion Nicky Hayden. Dani was too small for a big 990, went the universal refrain. He’d be like a rat on a greyhound.

Well, the rat could ride that dog. He won two races that year, and at the time of writing – a constant member of Honda’s top team for 13 years now – he has put together an almost unique record. Pedrosa has won at least one premier-class race for each of the past 12 years. Agostini did the same, but Rossi not. His two Ducati years denied him.

It is the constancy that is most impressive. Rossi (89), Lorenzo (44) and Marquez (35) have all taken more premier-class wins than Dani’s 31, and all but Rossi in a shorter time frame. Dani, however, had always been there, and more than once a serious title challenger. Injury robbed him of a distant chance in 2010 (a mechanic’s error jammed his throttle open at Motegi with five races to go). In 2011 he was knocked off and injured early on at Le Mans, having won in Portugal two weeks before, by a headlong Marco Simoncelli, who crashed fatally later that year. 

His best chance was in 2012: he was just 18 points adrift of champion Lorenzo. In the first 12 races, he took three wins and finished off the podium just once, fourth in France. Then he was again an innocent victim when Hector Barbera knocked him down at Misano. He’d started from pole. Even second place there would have earned him that ever-elusive title. 

Dani has three times finished runner-up, thrice been third, and four times fourth. But recently, his hopes have been blunted by his latest team-mate, boy-genius Marc Marquez.

Alongside the four-times champion, Pedrosa appears even less obtrusive than his quiet personality already suggested. Many (myself included) admire his wryly humorous disinclination to play the superstar. Dani has a wonderful way of defusing sycophantic invitations to blow his own trumpet. Here is a typically matter-of-fact quote from the opening round at Qatar. Asked whether he thought his strong form in testing suggested a major challenge for victory, he replied: “We will have to wait until tomorrow to see what sort of condition the track will be in.”

Success in sport has much to do with one’s current competitor, whether team-mates or not.

An even more prominent permanent runner-up was Randy Mamola, back in the golden age of US riders in the early 1980s. Randy’s misfortune was to coincide with the likes of triple-champion Kenny Roberts and double-champ Freddie Spencer. Randy was four times second in the championship between 1980 and 1987, and twice third.

A bit later, Spain’s first premier-class champion Alex Criville had the misfortune to be teamed with multiple winner Mick Doohan. He had to wait until the Australian was terminally injured before he had a relatively soft ride to his sole title.

More recently, there’ve been a parade of fine riders who have been obliged (or forced through circumstance) to ride shotgun to Rossi, including Sete Gibernau, Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards.

The 2018 season opened with Dani in a familiar position, looking strong with a well-balanced factory Honda… but his team-mate Marquez looking stronger still. But with a new threat: serious doubts over whether Honda will renew his contract for yet another year. 

This may be the last outing for that bridesmaid’s bouquet.