With a sense of inevitability, Antonio Cairoli crossed the line in moto one to seal his third MX1 Championship in a row and his fifth world title in total. Even if Steven Frossard hadn't crashed out, the Italian rider would still have done enough to walk away with the title here so it was no surprise to see celebrations well and truly underway in the KTM/Red Bull area after the racing had finished. We quickly caught up with Antonio when the press conference was over, so as to not delay his entrance too much...
This is your fifth title now Antonio, where does this one rank for you?
Last year for sure was the most important for me to win the first year with the KTM 350 so this year is nice but last year was better.
Was it a shame that it didn’t come down to Italy with all the riders getting injured?
Yes for sure it would be amazing if I could win in Italy but it’s also good like this and now I’m going to Italy with the title and a lot of people come and we have a big party and I’ll hang out with all fans, it will be nice.
Obviously the Des Nations is coming up you get to renew your rivalry with the “Ryans”, are you looking forward to that?
Yea definitely, it’s always nice to ride the Nations and last year I wasn’t really prepared for the Nations because I wasn’t selected originally to ride for Italy after all the trouble with the Italian Federation. So after the title I wasn’t training, but one and a half weeks before, they put me in again. I had a good race there, I was following Dungey in the first race just a few mistakes lost me 5-6 seconds on him but it was a good race anyway, so I’m looking forward to racing him again.
Which one would you prefer to race in MX1 class, Dungey or Villopoto?
I don’t really care. They are both top riders in America and they are big talent and it’s always nice to ride against them.
And do you like the track, is it a track you’re happy to racing against them?
Actually not so much, the track in France isn’t so great, especially for an event as big as the des Nations. There are not too many possibilities to pass and I hope they fix something better than the GP track because it wasn’t so nice if I have to be honest, but I hope they can change it.
You’ve said you want go to America, but don’t want to race the whole series, what tracks would you like to ride?
I don’t really care, I like Unadilla and Southwick, I like a lot of tracks in America, almost all because they are really cool and really wide with a lot of lines but we will see next year if I have the opportunity, I would love to go.
Like every year, the MXoN will be a fascinating battle for not just national-pride, but also individual bragging rights and we can't wait to get there and cover it.
