#okay so one of my oldest and longest standing motogp conspiracy theories i have been holding onto for YEARS -

[batsplat]

Jorge is talking, hardly stopping for breath. 'Valentino arrived on the scene and revolutionised everything,' he says. 'He brought radical change. I remember that at school, on the day after a race, everybody would be talking about the battle between Doohan and Crivillé... and then about Valentino Rossi! It wasn't normal for us to be interested in the winner of the 125cc race! But he did things differently, he started to improvise. There was a group of us who used to get together to watch the race at my father's track at the water park. There was my dad, his assistant Toni, my friend Rubén... we used to watch the races and then exchange opinions. Everybody said Rossi was a clown... Rubén and I were Max Biaggi fans... we used to criticise Rossi because we liked Biaggi and I suppose it was jealousy. If you don't like somebody you find it hard to admit when they do something well. It's human nature, especially when you're a kid. But we had to admit that this guy was totally original. He did things that nobody had ever done before. He was different from everything and everybody, he worked really hard and he was really fun.' This youthful, envious disapproval aside, Jorge has always enjoyed Valentino Rossi's celebrations, who why not give them a try himself? Once again it's that same old story, the desire to be genuinely original. In fact, his favourite phrase is, 'You have to be different.' He wanted to celebrate his victories, he didn't want to let his fans and his critics down - or himself - but clearly Valentino had been there first. 'When Jorge was little I used to think that Rossi was a bit of a clown too,' María suddenly interjects. 'It wasn't until I became involved in this business that I realised how wrong I was.' With that, she snapped us both out of our trance. We had been at their London flat for several hours, working on this book, and Jorge quickly picked up on what an interesting comment his mother had just made. Everything looks different from the inside. 'The thing is that Rossi has the ideal character to do what he does,' Jorge concludes. 'Ever since he was little, whenever he finished on the podium, Jorge would celebrate differently from everybody else. He jumped differently,' says María. Jorge looks at her, surprised. 'I used to jump on the podium?' 'You would shout, "Bieeeen!" and jump in the air,' she replies. 'I watch you at races now and it's exactly the same. You have the same face, the same expression. You are euphoric. You look exactly the same as when you were little.' 'I have always been very expressive, in victory and defeat. I used to go crazy when I lost...' 'And when you won!' María interjects. Now she looks at me. 'I remember being at a circuit once, at one of the first races he did. In fact I think it was his first race, in San Juan. He was only three years old and it was raining. He kept having to stop and poke the mud off his rear wheel with a stick. And because he couldn't see anybody, because the race was over, he looked at his dad and said, "Have I won? Have I won?" The race had finished! The poor little beggar - everyone was laughing at him and he just kept riding.' 'I got lapped two or three times,' remembers Jorge. 'I was racing against much older kids - 10 and 15 years old. There was so much mud that the rear wheel kept locking up against the mudguard. But what's that got to do with my celebrations, Mum?' 'Because, Jorge, ever since the beginning, all you ever thought about was winning. It was all about winning, winning and winning. Celebrating it, sharing it, have developed naturally.'

Strangely enough, Jorge's first notable celebration didn't come in a motorcycle race but during a school football match in the playground of Milagrosa when he was ten years old. 'I don't know if you remember when Valentino Rossi won at Jerez and packed the bike up before running into one of those portable toilets they have at the Grands Prix. I can honestly say that I can't remember if I did it first or if I'd seen Valentino do it... I think I did first,' he says, gazing into the distance. 'Anyway, the fact is that I'd planned it. I decided that if I scored a penalty I would run off and lock myself inside the school toilets. Sure enough, I scored and off I ran. My friends fell around laughing. I've always been a terrible footballer, but I enjoyed that!' His first celebration of note at a racetrack came in the 50cc Copa Aprilia at Montmeló in 1998. 'I won, stood up on the bike and raised my hand, then raised one finger. It seems such a normal thing to do nowadays, but people didn't tend to do it back then.' It also became normal to see Jorge on the podium sucking on a Chupa Chups, the famous brand of Spanish lollipops that have been long-term sponsors of Dani Amatriaín's teams and riders. 'It wasn't long after the time when Johan Cruyff used to do something similar [on the bench, as manager of F.C. Barcelona].' In Brazil, when Jorge won his first Grand Prix, back in 2003, he mimed the action of firing a gun. Then, in 2004, he pretended to play the guitar after beating Dovizioso at Brno. 'In the end it looked like it was supposed to be a Spanish guitar but I'd wanted it to be an electric one!' All these early celebrations were merely a hint of what was to come. Over the years they have made plenty of people smile, but perhaps none more so than Juan Llansá. 'I find them really funny,' he smiles. 'Even though I am almost 50 years old now, I enjoy them as much as if I were 20! I get involved whenever I can. At the British GP in 2006 I wore a Dutch hat and glasses. I really like the fact Jorge does these things, because they're intended as a present to his fans. That gets me going, it gives me energy, because if you switch off you may as well not bother. You have to enjoy life. The day I stop enjoying being with Jorge, it's time to pack up and go home!'

December 2007: Interview with Jorge Lorenzo taken from Riveras Tobia's Jorge Lorenzo: My Story So Far