Nadia Padovani she was a nurse. She was born in Imola and worked, until his first two children were born, Lawrence and Luca, in the Usl near the circuit. Then, when her husband, the former 125cc world champion, Fausto Gresinidedicated himself body and soul to motorcycles, to his team, decided to quit his job, dedicate himself to his children, have two daughters, Alice and agneseaged 16 and 11, and collaborating with her husband in everything she needed, who, until his death due to Covid-19, a little over a year ago, never had anything to do with motorcycles.
Padovani remembers how his father, passionate about motorcycles, Giacomo Agostini and, yes, also Fausto Gresini, whom she met when she was 20 years old and the pilot was 26, he took her to the Imola track and they encouraged all the Italians. Padovani is still shaking from what he achieved on Sunday in Qatar. “I still wonder how it is possible that we won the first race that we disputed as a team, in MotoGP! and with Enea (Bastianini), almost a ‘rookie’. There is no doubt that Fausto has lent us a hand wherever he is. It seems like a huge feat to me. It is a titanic victory of a woman in a world of men & rdquor ;.
Faust’s courage
It goes without saying that Padovani, who hopes to find time so that his daughters, who have already lost their father, do not find their mother missing, ensures that in the last three laps of the Qatari GP “My brain was fuming, it is impossible to describe everything I experienced in those six or seven minutes, thinking about Fausto’s death, his funeral, when we all got together to start over, the meetings with the guys from the team to find out if We could keep the illusion of Gresini alive, those talks that we finished at eleven at night…maintaining the illusion and the courage that Fausto instilled in us”.
Nadia affirms that Fausto was on Enea’s motorcycle in the last laps of Lusail. “His life was motorcycles, his team, his riders, the young people he discovered and trained. He lived 90% of the days away from home and dedicated 10% of his time to the family. Of course, when he was at home he was a delight! & rdquor; Suddenly, Padovani found himself in command, at the helm, of a team of 65 people. “I never imagined something like that because, yes, I was with Fausto, but I didn’t get into the bowels of the team. And I had to do a crash course to know what the guts of the team were like. And I’ve gotten ahead because everyone, everyone, everyone, has put their soul into helping me, starting with Carmelo Ezpeleta, the boss of the World Championship, and Ducati, who has opened his arms to me and helped me from minute one & rdquor ;.
Nadia assures, yes, that motorcycling is, without a doubt, a world of men “but I have felt wonderfully valued from the beginning and everyone has seen me as one more ‘team manager’ of the ‘paddock’, perhaps because everyone thought of Fausto, yes, why not, but the reception has been wonderful. In the end, both in my team and in the World Cup, I feel at home, like family.”
“Fausto was on Enea’s bike in the last laps of Qatar, for sure”
Nadia Padovani / ‘Team manager’ of Gresini Racing
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Padovani assures that if he had not inherited, well, if he had not been “infected & rdquor; of Fausto’s passion, illusion and vitality, he would not have been able to pull this off. Nadia affirms that the moments in which she was with her husband the most, despite not working at the team, was when her heart was shattered by the deaths of two of her most beloved young champions, Daijiro Kato (“a moving, wonderful, unique”) and Marco Simoncelli (“overwhelming, likeable, a great, pure talent”). “Then I did have to intervene, encourage him, because he, like many in 2003 and 2011, when those accidents and deaths occurred, wanted to leave everything & rdquor ;. “It was because of those deaths” adds Nadia, “that Fausto did not want our son Luca, who tried, to be a pilot”.
“Sunday was a unique reward. It was like touching, caressing, the sky with your fingers, with your hands. It was a mixture of emotions, tears and happiness. And I know, because my mobile has hundreds of messages, that the whole world has been happy and that makes me even happier. Thank you all & rdquor ;, says Padovani, visibly moved.