EXCITING CONTENT north of Spain . It is 1.5 hours from their own town . I live in the centre of Spain , so I am eight hours from Andorra . In the end you have to see the balance . I can get more money in Andorra , but how is my quality of life ? I would be alone , or only with my wife . At the end I prefer to live life with my friends and family . I stay in the same city as before .” A true ‘ home bird ’ then and despite his fame in bike-crazy Spain it has mostly been stress free to live there all these years . Mostly … “ Many years ago when I won the world championship many people wanted a photo , an autograph ,” said Alvaro . “ Sometimes I still get it but it is not crazy . Madrid is a big city but I live one hour from there . It has big traffic and so on so I prefer to stay at home . I have to train and live so why move to a big city ? My town is not too small , you can find almost all things there , but if I need something special I can go to Madrid . For me Talavera it is the perfect place to live .” Home , long before he started a family of his own , is a key part of Bautista ’ s approach to life . His rider assistant at races , Mario Ruiz , is his oldest friend and goes everywhere with Alvaro . They are best friends , as well as employer and employee . “ We raced minibikes together when I first started racing . Our fathers were friends . At home , real friends I can count on my fingers .” Where Alvaro comes from has maybe even played a part in his early career . On one hand he did not have the same immediate exposure and support as others , but then that factor maybe added even more motivation to lift his career onwards and upwards . What does it matter where he comes from ? Well , from outside of Iberia it feels sometimes like almost every Spanish rider of note , in MotoGP™ or even WorldSBK is Catalan . Certainly only a few hail from Madrid or the west of Spain . Why is that - and does he notice that he is one type of Spanish and the others are another type of Spanish ? “ From my side I do not feel the difference ,” said Alvaro . “ Spain is Spain and it is more from the Catalan people to say , ‘ Ah , we are another country .’ So for me it is just to make some jokes with some people . I do not know why there are so many Catalans but in the history of racing in Spain - although Angel Nieto was from Madrid - all motorcycling life is Catalunya or Valencia . They have more tracks , more structure to do it . I think it is tradition . It is like in Italy , with the region of Misano and Emilia Romagna . So , sincerely I am so proud that I arrive , coming from the place I come from . Especially in my first years , when I didn ’ t have support from someone . All I gained in my life is because of me and my family , my friends , my efforts . Nobody helped me to arrive to the World Championship , like some other riders arrive with a top team and a top bike . They can show their potential . I always arrived with a normal bike , a team without experience , so for me … I feel more proud to have the achievements that I got , coming from the centre of Spain and without big help .” Bautista feels he did not miss out on too much normal life as a youngster , despite having to dedicate himself to racing . He is refreshingly ‘ unstarry ’ for an ex-MotoGP™ rider . “ For sure I had ‘ my ’ time and my schedule , but then I liked to share time with my friends . Now being a father I have a bit less time but they have also got children . For sure in the future we will share more time because of the children .” When asked what he does for fun nowadays , Bautista joked , “ Nothing , I change nappies … before becoming a dad I liked to go to the cinema - before Covid as well . Anything that entertains me . I like to go to the cinema , but for sure not to cry . I do not like these kinds of films . Sometimes you cry because
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