Xavi Cardelús he has spent practically his entire life on a motorcycle and, therefore, deciding to get off it for good – and in such a sudden way – could not be another decision. A out of playthe Diari TV programthe pilot explains with an assumed calm how he reached a point where what had always made him happy stopped doing so. “When you stop enjoying what you’ve done all your life is when you may have to change things”, he sums up. The retirement at the age of 28, announced only a few months ago, surprised everyone, but he says that the seed had been there for a long time. Cardelús he had built an ambitious project to take a step forward again. He was coming off a solid first year a super sporthad been reunited with Promoracingthe team with which he had been runner-up ineuropeand had one Yamaha which, on paper, should allow him to fight very high. But the results were not coming. “I was making an effort, I went karting more, I trained more than before, but he got on the motorcycle and didn’t go“, he explains. The frustration grew until it became weariness.
Stop enjoying motorcycles was the definitive signal to decide to put an end to it.
The breaking point was reached at MotorLand Aragona circuit he knew well and where he had always been fast. If things didn’t work out there either, I knew that something wasn’t working. And so it was. “I was fighting with people to do the 20th time when last year I was fighting to do the 10th. This was not my situation and I was not enjoying it at all”, he admits. He still had the option to end the season with one Triumph and check if the problem was the bike or himself, but he understood that not even a good result would change how he felt.
More difficult than making the decision was explaining it. Especially to his father, central figure of his entire career and who introduced him to the motor world. European Champion in 1987the last name Cardelús has always been linked to motorcycles, but the Xavi ensures that this inheritance it has not conditioned it as much as it might seem. Yes, there has been pressure, advice, discussions and complicated stages, but also gratitude. “I will be eternally grateful to my father for everything”, he says.
A la carte
His childhood was also different. He started competing at the age of six and grew up between circuits, trips and resignations. “I wouldn’t say better or worse, I would say different”, he points out. Over the years came the World Moto2, MotoE, Supersport and the European sub-championship. Of all those moments, Montmeló continues to occupy a special place. Remembering that victory, he says, still gives him “goosebumps”.
The falls, on the other hand, were never the hardest part. “Without a doubt, the worst thing is to start doubting yourself,” he says. Injuries heal, but when the results don’t come out and a rider stops recognizing himself on the bike, the blow is deeper. it’s this one wear, rather than fear or painwhich finally pushed him aside. He also sees retirement as an opportunity to discover a life he barely knew until now, after two decades in which calendar, training and circuits had always set the daily rhythm. Now the door to compete again is “closed”, although he does not rule out remaining linked to the engine in another way. He would like to help young speed racers a Andorra and even try other disciplines, but take your time. The six-year-old boy who dreamed of being a pilot, he says, would be proud. “I was able to represent Andorra and carry the flag around the world. Not everyone has done this.”
Xavi Cardelús
‘XUXES’, COOKING AND ‘PRISON BREAK’
In the final test of out of play, Cardelús he confesses that he has seen Prison Break several times and that cravings are his great weakness after years of strict dieting. He also explains that he likes to cook, as opposed to ironing and cleaning.
