There is an assuring – earned – poise to MXGP World Champion Romain Febvre. The recently turned 24 year old rarely seems in a hurry, agitated or rattled by a profession that can be as punishing and rewarding as it is demanding and draining. The Frenchman’s slender shoulders have bulked out – almost literally – through twelve months where he changed from rookie to ruler, potential to utterly potent. He has conquered almost every scenario of motocross from winning Grands Prix, beating the fastest in the world, usurping expectations, defying expert’s predictions and standing on the top of the podium at the 69th Motocross of Nations after a campaign that has rarely been matched in terms of impact. And might never be equalled.
He has been busy in the winter. Persistent at the Supercross in Lille, feted at awards ceremonies, presented in front of Japanese Yamaha bosses, rubbed shoulders with the cream of motorcycle racing and somehow found time for a short break before training and prepping all over again…but this time to play the role of sought-after target carrier instead of a young, unknown pistol waver.
Romain seems slightly weathered by his experience. He has done more interviews in 2015 than the whole of his short, supermoto-interrupted, career altogether and has become accustomed to dealing with more requests and allocations of his time. It is quite fascinating to chart the effects of a life-changing phase on a professional athlete; the fresh-faced Frenchie we used to speak with in 2013 and ‘14 coming to terms with his vastly elevated status and thus staring wide-eyed and somewhat exasperatingly at his pre-race timetable of responsibilities for the forthcoming Grand Prix of Qatar given out by Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Assistant Team Manager Giovanni Pelizza.
At one point in our visit to the Yamaha workshop south of Parma Febvre lifts his right sleeve and barely resists picking at the stitches on his elbow, the fix to a deep cut that forced him to miss two pre-season meetings. The needlework is due out the next day but you feel that ‘461’s anxiety to pluck the black threads could almost be symbolic for his need to get back on his racebike at speed and start another new story in MXGP. “I think I ripped it on a stone because the ground was very soft,” he recounts looking at his second right arm injury in successive years (in the winter of 2014 he broke his humerus). “I was on the ground and nobody hit me. It wasn’t a fast crash…but it was heavy.”
‘Heavy’ is a word many could have associated with Febvre in 2015. He was barely beatable and a blur of billowing esteem and form on the YZ450FM. He will be older, wiser and theoretically better in 2016 and Team Owner Michele Rinaldi was already late last summer that MXGP could be witnessing the start of a new era. Febvre is still evolving as an athlete and even someone acclimatising to the idea of being a champion. We wanted to know about that transition and the character that went into such an emphatic achievement.
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Assen must be a very special memory but you followed it up by winning at Glen Helen for the U.S. Grand Prix and then the Motocross of Nations Nations in a dizzying month. When you think about last year what is the first memory that pops into your head?
For sure Assen was a good memory and getting a first world title is an amazing feeling but there were many good moments and it is hard to choose just one! There were a lot of victories and good times with the team but the title, Glen Helen and then the Nations were really special. In Assen I remember talking with the team before the race and there wasn’t a build-up of pressure but more of a feeling that ‘it’ was going to happen soon and it could be that weekend. But then it could also have been Mexico or the USA. I was not worried about where it would come and chose to focus as much as I could on my riding. After the first moto I was very disappointed with myself. I didn’t make a good start and was just stuck behind [Glenn] Coldenhoff the whole race. Everyone from Yamaha and my family was there and between the races I was a bit down because of the people that had come to see me that weekend. I knew with a good start in the second race I could still make it happen…and that’d what I did.
People have talked about your ability to cope with pressure but – mentally – was that weekend the hardest of the year?
Mentally no. All year I didn’t have any pressure from the team and didn’t really put any on myself. I think the hardest part was when I was injured pre-season because I had been feeling so good on the bike and as part of the team. I knew I needed a good first year in MXGP – even as a rookie – otherwise it would be hard to find another place for 2016. So with the arm injury I was very down and quite worried because I knew I was not ready for the first Grand Prix. That was the most difficult part of the year. I did not have any pressure because I knew I was not ready and could not compete with the top guys. My speed was not the best and physically I was not 100%. When I got past the first few rounds and my results were good – in fact they were better than I expected – I knew with more racing time and preparation then it would be better.
What is ‘pressure’ for you? The bubble around you must have got bigger as the year went on…
For sure when you make results there are more fans and more sponsors get involved but I always had good people around me and the team have the experience to make it easier for me. My agent Gerard does a lot for me on the media side because to manage everything alone is not easy. We will see this year…but last year was not a big stress. The media was ‘there’ but there was much more to do after winning the title than before; that was a good point because I could concentrate on the GPs but the winter has been very different! We will see how it goes this year but I don’t think I am the only one dealing with this…the other top guys also need people to help them.
To read the rest of the interview in the OTOR MXGP Special then click HERE
