I bet most of you are thinking who the hell is Alessio Salucci? You’ve seen him hundreds of times at the parc ferme with a yellow towel and cap in his hands, he’s better know by his nickname “Uccio.”

Salucci has been interviewed in the October issue of Riders, here’s a few Q&A’s that let’s us in on some of the aspects of his life.

Uccio and Valentino Rossi have been best friends since they were four years old, but he also works as his personal assistant and drives the Monaco Dynasty motorhome around all the European circuits and get’s his paycheck from Rossi’s management company VR46, along with four other people: Albi, the press officer, Carlo, the accountant, Carlo, his personal trainer and Rossi’s dad, Graziano who’s the CEO.

Do you feel more like a friend, a psychologist or a driver?

A real friend, someone you can talk to and to take a load off your chest if you need to. Valentino is always under a lot of pressure, at the racetrack and even at home, he needs someone like me.

And your paycheck?

If I tell you, Valentino will kick my ass. I can’t complain though, he pays me well, very well.

Continue reading: Alessio Salucci: Out of the Shadow, Into the limelight

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In this month’s issue of Riders Italian Magazine, the cover story reads “Jorge Lorenzo, Programmed to Win” which has an exclusive interview and some very interesting photos with Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo.

Here’s a preview excerpt from the interview and ‘Por Fuera’ Lorenzo wants to set the record straight, wall or no wall.

“My truth is that Valentino has developed the Yamaha from 2004, but if we’re talking about setting up the bike during race weekends, it’s absolutely not true that I copy his settings.”

“I have my crewchief (Ramon Forçada), he sets my bike up. To tell the truth in some races, it’s Valentino’s team that copy my settings. It’s normal. I can see Valentino’s telemetry data and he can see mine, we can look at his settings and he look’s at ours.”

The rising, but so far civil rivalry between Rossi and Lorenzo is well known and it makes for some interesting racing but will probably skyrocket in the next three races, if the championship goes to the wire.

“I’d like to say that from one race to another, I change very few things, and I’m almost sure that in some races, Valentino’s team has changed his set-up to follow our indications. Each weekend I’m fast from Friday. If I copy his, I’d be fast only on Saturday or Sunday.”

Continue reading: Jorge Lorenzo on Riders: Rossi copies my settings

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Colin Edwards, MotoGP’s Last Rockstar, is the title of the interview with the Texas Tornado in this month’s issue of Riders Italian Magazine. Everyone who has followed the Texan’s career knows he’s outspoken, never politically correct, a very colorful character and a favourite with journalists.

Some of the questions that they asked Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider, were pretty hard core and Edwards talked about the size of his dick, la “figa” (he uses the Italian slang word for female genitals) the way he likes his sex, his favourite porn star, his position on homosexuality, his passion for guns and his views on politics.

Here are a few of the more calmer questions:

Guido Meda (Italy’s MotoGP commentator) accused you of being pretty accomodating when Valentino passes you, do you confirm this?

That’s right. It’s something that I picked up when we were teammates. Everyone at Yamaha knew – me, the team and Valentino what was my position was. If I saw Valentino passing me I let him do it and if I was behind him and wanted to pass, I’d do it but kept it clean.

Continue reading: Colin Edwards: MotoGP's Last Rockstar

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Andrea Dovizioso is not exactly the stereotyped Italian rider that lets it all hang out or vents his frustrations, except for couple occasions last year when he publicly cried with happiness after coming 4th in the Qatar season opener after battling with Valentino Rossi or when he was dissing James Toseland for riding too aggressively or too defensively; he wisely and usually keeps a low profile in the MotoGP circus of primadonnas.

However in the March issue of Riders Italian Magazine, Dovi let out a little steam and out came a somewhat revealing and provocative Dovizioso.

Here’s a couple of the Q’s and A’s:

Continue reading: Andrea Dovizioso talks about Pedrosa, Melandri and others

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