Jorge Lorenzo: Ducati “didn’t even offer me €1m when contracts were worth €12m”
Jorge Lorenzo denies claꩲim that Ducati pay-day was astronomical

Jorge Lorenzo has offered an insight into his contract d🅰ealings at Ducati - and denied claims over his huge salary.
Lorenzo, and previously Valentino Rossi, were big-name MotoGP champions who Ducati bankedꦿ on to end a long win-less run.
But infamously both bets failed to pay off, and Lorenzo has detailed how he exited Ducati after two drab se🧜asons.
“Ducati lost patience after a year and 🅺a half without results,” he was quoted by .
“The𓆉y 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 the line, Lorenzo swiftly si꧑gned for Honda in 2019 insteadဣ.
But it proved to be his worst year in MotoGP and Loren✅zo called it quits after one season on a Honda.
Lorenzo denies Ducati big-money deal
Lorenzo was never able to replicate his glory dayꦬs at Yamaha, where he won two MotoGP champ♎ionships.
Af൩ter finishing third in 2017 amid a heated rival🅺ry with teammate Rossi, Lorenzo opted to exit Yamaha.
“I didn't have much desire,” he said.
“They pushed harder, and it was very🌳 noticeable in Valencia, moreඣ for Valentino than for me.”
Lorenzo’s choice to sig🔥n for Ducati was due to Gigi🎃 Dall’Igna.
Although Lorenzo arrived too early for Dall’Igna’s Desmosedici project to take off, the manufact🌊urer would find success years later.
“I knew that꧟ Gigi was going to make the Ducati the best ✅motorcycle, because he is very stubborn,” Lorenzo said.
“It was a bit like when Lewis Hamilton left McLaren to go to Mercedes. A team that had not won anything, but💫 knew it would be the best car in Formula 1.
“I had the same intuition with Ducati.”
Lorenzo denied that his first Ducati cont💧ract was as astronomical as it has sometimes been reported as.
“In reality, it was 15% more than what I earned 🍃at Yamaha,” he c🎃laimed.
“The change was not for money,𓆉 no matter how much some thiꦅnk it was.
“T𝐆hat 15% didn't change 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 whichꦜ stretched back to Casey Stoner in 20ꦛ07.
Pecco Bagnaia delivered the title ꧑to the Italian manufactureไr and the Ducati remains MotoGP’s best bike two years later.

James was⛎ a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a deca༒de covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.