Fast and furious at home

By YK Hong

Spanish motorcycle racer Xavi Vierge continues to train in the safe confines of his house.

For sports personalities, how do they keep fit – and sane – during the social distancing period due to the Covid-19 pandemic? For Spanish motorcycle racer Xavi Vierge, the 22-year-old continues to train with friends from his Barcelona home during the lockdown.

In the following Q&A, the PETRONAS Sprinta Racing Moto2 rider talks about keeping fit at home.

How are you dealing with the quarantine where you are?

I’m good, just waiting and checking every day to see if and how the situation is improving. In Spain the lockdown started a while ago … they may make it longer, depending on how things are progressing.

How are you training and keeping fit for when the season resumes?

I’m training as much as I can here at home. Normally in the morning I wake up, have breakfast, some gym exercises and then two hours of cycling on the turbo trainer.

Are you competing online against other riders?

Before this, I was already training a lot with my bicycle because weight in Moto2 is really important. For me, the best way to have power with less weight is to train in the gym, motocross and cycling. I am using the programme Zwift where you can also ride with people you know online. I’m training with [Marco] Melandri, [Marcel] Schrotter, [Dennis] Foggia and [Jaume] Masia]. It’s really nice to be able to do this.

Apart from training, what have you been doing?

I have started to cook a bit with my girlfriend and we’ve been experimenting with TikTok. We are trying to make things and do things to help make the day pass faster. Also, I have cleaned the house, taken out all the things we don’t use and do things we don’t normally have the time for.

Have you been playing the MotoGP virtual game?

I have tried to play the MotoGP game but I am much better on a real bike!

Have you been keeping in contact with the team?

We have a WhatsApp group and we speak on a daily basis to know what the situation is with each person in the team, to know that everyone is fine and speak about the situation.

Do you have a message for people in a similar quarantine situation?

It’s an exceptional situation and we need to be focused on keeping to the quarantine, washing our hands every time we touch something and making the best of the situation for ourselves. Hopefully then we can try to resolve this as soon as possible.

And for the MotoGP fans?

The same message applies to them. Everyone was really looking forward to the start of this season but safety has to come first and so we just need to keep calm, focus on making through this quarantine and everything will be better once we’ve rested. Then we can enjoy everything even more when we start racing again.

 

Subscribe and get top news delivered to your Inbox everyday for FREE