As a consequence of the pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus, almost all the riders involved in the world championship are in quarantine, blocked at home and with little chance of going outside. The situation should improve in the coming weeks, but it will not be possible to return to normal habits shortly. In this scenario, we asked Niccolò Canepa, rider of the LCR E-Team in the MotoE World Cup, how he manages to train, forced between the kitchen and the balcony. In addition to MotoE, Canepa also trains in preparation for the start of the World Endurance Champinoship in which he rides the Yamaha R1 of the Yart team. For both championships, the hope is to go back on track in August.
Niccolò, how you are training in quarantine?
“In this period, I am training a lot, maybe even more than before! All riders always work with one goal in mind, and at this stage, where there are no races, my goal is to train and feed well because I want to be perfectly fit when the races resume.
Every day I cycle two hours at home, in the morning, while in the afternoon I dedicate myself to bodyweight and light weight exercises, trying to maintain a high heart rate. At the moment the training works and I feel really fit; I would like to return to the races as soon as possible."
Where do you train?
“Since I can't go out, I train at home or on the balcony. Unfortunately, there are not many alternatives! By taking good care of what I eat and training in this way, I'm also losing weight, and this will definitely help!"
How do you spend the rest of the time?
“When I'm not training I play with the Playstation 4, especially MotoGP19, but I still don't know all the tricks, my friend Andrea Saveri, who is world champion, hasn't taught me them yet! With Anet, my girlfriend, we watch Netflix every night; we liked Tiger King and Narcos but the best was Money Heist, we devoured it."
The last time the riders of the LCR E-Team were on track was in Jerez, for the MotoE pre-season tests. Here you can find Canepa's recap at the end of the three-day test:
“We have just finished the last test session here in Jerez. I am satisfied with the work that we did, and the things we found in the bike to improve. Unfortunately, I couldn’t improve my lap time at the end, because I found some slower riders while I was pushing with the battery fully charged. Except the first two sessions, where there was a big difference, the results are very close, so it is positive feeling for the next test."
“I can’t wait to have the new tyres. There was only one front tyre that we could use but its a big step for me, for my riding style. The good news is that we will have these tyres for everyone starting from the next test. I am very happy about that. I think with these tyres I can improve quite a lot. I am confident. Now, I’ll try to go back home, stay safe and wait for the next test."
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