MotoGP star Jorge Lorenzo makes wild Rocky movies comparison with Maverick Vinales

por admin · 28 noviembre 2025

Three-time MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo has likened his new relationship with Maverick Vinales to that of Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed in the Rocky films.

Jorge Lorenzo recently announced that he had become Maverick Vinales’ rider coach ahead of the 2026 MotoGP season.

Lorenzo, who retired from racing at the end of 2019, was replaced at Yamaha by Vinales when he signed for Ducati in 2017.

Speaking about their new partnership on his Dura la Vita podcast, Lorenzo went into more detail on what he hopes to achieve as Vinales’ rider coach.

“Let’s see if we can help him,” he said of the current Tech3 KTM rider.

“I don’t know if he’ll become champion, but I want him to win many races and achieve many podium finishes.

“I live in Dubai, so I won’t be able to attend every race. But the early tests are very important.

“We’ll see how I can help him, especially on the technical level.”

Lorenzo noted that discussions between himself and Vinales began last year when the latter was still with Aprilia, though “for one reason or another it didn’t work out”.

Their new working relationship has raised some eyebrows, but Lorenzo says it reminds him of Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed in the Rocky movies, starring Sylvester Stallone.

“I always compare this situation to the movie Rocky, with Apollo Creed and Rocky,” he explained.

“Because, in the end, that’s a movie, that’s fantasy, but that’s sport, that’s life.

“When athletes achieve important things – fame, money – they start to get scared, and they start to get complacent.

“Apollo Creed, who was bigger than Rocky when he retired, as is the case, suggested they train together because he had lost the ‘eye of the tiger’.

“That’s not the case with Maverick. But there is a similarity: Creed and Rockey were on the couch, watching Mr T on TV, who was talking too much, and they were saying, ‘You guys talk, we’ll get there’.