Former AMA champ-turned trainer Ryan Hughes has spent some time with ex-world champ Romain Febvre in California and reckons he knows how the Frenchman can be even better. Febvre, along with some GP riders like Evgeny Bobryshev and Jorge Prado, decided to spend the two weeks between the Argentina and Mexico GP rounds in America riding. That’s where Hughes saw him ride, filmed him and offered this advice:

“How do you help someone that has already been a world champ and is one of the world’s fastest riders like Romain Febvre? Well, you don’t by just telling them to go faster or to stay on the gas more or to just train harder.

“You don’t think they are trying as hard as they can to go faster or that they’re training as hard as they can? Of course they are. You focus on technique, because that will allow more control – intensity – relaxation and flow which can create more consistency and speed.

“On the fitness side, I don’t do what I think is best, I look for weak areas and I hit them without focusing on their strong points. They are already strong on these points so why focus on it. Someone at that level can only improve by very small corrections or changes because they are so close to the 100% mark on technique – speed – fitness.”