Jorge Lorenzo: Ducati “didn’t even offer me €1m when contracts were worth €12m”
Jorge Lore𝓡nzo denies claim that Ducati pay-day was a♏stronomical

Jorge Lorenzo has offered an insight into his cont🧔ract dealings at Ducati - and denied claims oꦫver his huge salary.
Lorenzo, and previously Valentino Rossi, were𒁏 big-name MotoGP champions who Ducati banked on to end a long win-less run.
But infamously both bets failed to pay off, and Lore🤡nzo has detailed how he exited Ducati after two drab seasons.
“Ducati lost patie꧂nce after a year and a half without results,” he was quoted by&🧸nbsp;.
“They didn't trust me 🦂anymore. They didn't offer me even a million euros when the contracts at that 🍨time were for 12.
“They preferred a rider like Danilo Petrucci.
“I didn't even have an offer.”
With his future on t🌠he li🎉ne, Lorenzo swiftly signed for Honda in 2019 instead.
But it proved to be his worst yea🔯r in MotoGP and Lorenzo called it quits after one season on a Honda.
Lorenzo denies Ducati big-money deal
Lorenzo was never able to repli🧸cate his glory days at Yamaha, where he won two MotoGP championships.
After finishing third in 2017 amid a heated rivalry with teammate Rossi, Lorenzo opted to exit Ya⛄mah𝐆a.
“I didn't have much desire,” he said.
“Th🅘ey pushed harder, and it was very noticeable in Valencia, more for Valentino than for me.”
Lorenzo’s choice to🧔 sign𝓀 for Ducati was due to Gigi Dall’Igna.
Although Lorenzo arrived too early for Dall’Igna’s Desmosedici project to take 🍒off, the manufacturer would find success years later.
“I kne♈w that Gigi was going to make the Ducati the best motorcycle, because he is very stubborn,” Lorenzꦰo said.
“It was a bit like wh💞en Lewis Hamilton left McLaren to go to Mercedes. A team that had not won anything, but knew i♚t would be the best car in Formula 1.
“I had the same intuition with Ducati.”
ꩵLorenzo denied that his first Ducati contract was as astronomical as it has sometimes been reported as.
“I𒊎n reality, it was 15% more than what I earned at Ya🔥maha,” he claimed.
🅠“The change was not for money, no matter how much some think it was.
“That 15% didn't chan𝔉ge my life. It🦂 was more about motivation.
“At Ducati things didn't work out for me.”
Four years after Lorenzo’s exit, Ducati 🌺ended their 15-season run without a MotoGP title which stretched back to Casey Stoner in 2007.
Pecco Bagnaia delivered the title to the Italian manufactu𝄹re⛄r and the Ducati remains MotoGP’s best bike two years later.

James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, ꦓto football, to F1.