27/02/2011: save the date! Tony will attend his first race of the 2011 season in Ponte a Egola (centre of Italy), scene of the first round of the “Internazionali d’Italia”, the National Championship.

In this cool interview, Tony talks about what he expects form the new year: read and enjoy!

D: Having won four world titles do you feel you are totally satisfied or do you think you have something else to show?

R: I don’t feel totally satisfied for sure: I have four titles under my belt, but every year it’s a new challenge. I ride every single race to win, or trying to do that.

D: Do you think you have made the right choice, I mean to ride with the KTM SZ-F 350, since your Team mate has taken the same decision for the coming season?

R: The KTM 350 is an excellent bike, but it’s difficult to say if this has been an advantage for me. It was a brand new bike and the Team has been doing a great job in order to make it “grow up” and to find the right set up for me. A bike which is good for me can or cannot be the right bike for another rider. Everyone needs to work hard to find the right set up, then only results can say if you have been working good enough!

D: What do you expect from the Internazionali d’Italia? The best riders and teams of the world will be there, that means the level of the competition will be very high…

 R: There will be four races, very close to each other one to another one and then the world championship will kick off soon after, so they are the  perfect chance to train, get the pace and tune the set up of the bike. Like you say, many riders competing in the world championship will be there, too and this is good for the show and for the public.

D: Who do you think will be your main title contenders in Ponte a Egola?

R: The more they are, the better it is! There will be some of the best riders of the MX1 and MX2 line up and because of the new format, we are going to race all together..it’s going to be fun!

D: Can you say you’ve had your dreams come true?

R: One of my dreams that came true is that my passion, my favourite sport, has become my everyday life and mainly my profession. Anyway I feel I still have a lot to do and many other dreams to come true!

D: Do you want to say something to your fans?

R: I can only thank them because they are always there for me, I just want to point out that also this year I will do everything I can in order to make them have fun…you know what I mean!

Interview courtesy of Off-Road Pro-Racing

Photo by: Stefano Taglioni