Rider response to Stoner retirement

On May 17, Stoner stated at the pree conference for the French MotoGP round: "After a long time thinking, a lot of time talking with my family and my wife, this has been coming for a couple of years now but at the end of this 2012 season I will be not racing in the 2013 Championship. I will be finishing my career at the end of this season in MotoGP, and go forward in different things in my life."

Also in attendance at the press conference was Yamaha Factory Racing's Jorge Lorenzo, Ducati's Valentino Rossi, Monster Yamaha's Tech 3's Cal Crutchlow, and Power Electronics Aspar's Randy de Puniet, who had differing responses to the announcement.

Lorenzo, who lies just one point behind the reigning world champion was shocked by the Australian's announcement: "It's a surprise for me, for everyone. I didn't expect it. I heard the rumours and I thought there was a possibility, but I thought he would continue next year. Now he has told us, it's not good news for MotoGP I think, but his decision is to live quietly with his family and we must respect his decision."

Lorenzo will be looking to snatch back the lead in the championship this Sunday at a track he really enjoys: "Le Mans is one of my favourite tracks. Since my first ever-front row in 2003 I have always had good results, so I'm happy to be here."

Monster Yamaha Tech 3's Cal Crutchlow saw the lighter side of Stoner's announcement: "With Casey making that announcement, maybe he can slow down and let me have a place in the top three. They [the aliens] don't make many mistakes. Maybe they need to change what they have for dinner the night before or something."

Valentino Rossi had some big news of his own, though not as surprising as Stoner's, when he announced he would continue racing a further two years in MotoGP past 2012. No doubt some are wondering if at least one of those years may be back with Honda. On Stoner's retirement, the seven time 500cc/MotoGP champion was just as taken aback as everyone else.
"Yes, it's a big surprise. I think it's bad news for all the MotoGP world because at the end of the season maybe we're losing one of the great riders and a great rival," Rossi said.
"Is negative, but it's his own decision. For me it's very difficult to understand where my retirement news started from, as I never spoke about my retirement. I want to race in MotoGP for the next two years for sure."

Last year's Le Mans race was where Rossi scored his sole podium with Ducati to date, which he is taking confidence from: "I have had some bad results in Le Mans, but also good memories from the past. We had a not so bad weekend in Portugal and we'll try and continue on that way and try to improve our performance to try and get closer to the guys in front of us. Last year was the best result with the Ducati, so we are optimistic."

Rounding out the pre-event press conference was CRT rider Randy de Puniet, who is looking forward to putting in a good performance at his home track.
"It's a very important race for me, even if this year I don't have the bike to be at the top. But top CRT. I think for the CRTs it will be a difficult track because you have two or three big accelerations, like on the back straight, but you never know what happens with the weather conditions. I hope to be 100% on the bike after my crash at Estoril, because I still have a lot of pain in my ribs. I really hope to be the first CRT this weekend in front of my home crowd."

Image: motogp.com