Hodgson Column: Racing in heatwave is 'brutal' for MotoGP riders - 'You think genuinely think you might die'
Updated 25/06/2026 at 17:25 GMT+1
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TNT Sports pundit Neil Hodgson writes this week about how exhausting and brutal conditions will be for MotoGP riders this weekend at Grand Prix Netherlands, as Europe is in the grip of a heatwave that poses risks and dangers.
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Neil Hodgson is providing expert insight to TNT Sports throughout the MotoGP season.
In his latest column, he shares his thoughts on riding in a heatwave.
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Back in Britain, and across Europe, the weather has been absolutely scorching, and the heatwave continues across this weekend for the MotoGP in Assen, shown live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.
It’s going to be absolutely brutal conditions for everyone, but I don’t think that people really understand just how exacting and exhausting it is to race on a bike when conditions are like this.
It’s never easy, but with temperatures and humidity rising, it’s something else entirely.
We race in places like Malaysia, where it's in the high thirties, with 95% humidity. Imagine just walking around in weather like that, or how it is now in Britain, in heavy leathers, helmet, boots and gloves. You’re in your own personal sauna, sweat pouring off you, and you can’t get up and leave. It’s torture.
The reality of racing is that you are in a battle with a 300-horsepower motorcycle that is running at well over 100 degrees. There’s searing, scorching hot air coming out of the bike that pours directly over you. It’s cooking your hands, burning your feet.
A MotoGP race lasts over 40 minutes, but that comes off the back of a 20-minute Sprint, three practice sessions and qualifying, along with hours idling in your kit. You’re never given the chance to really cool down for much of three days of competition.
When you’re on the track, and you’re fighting your bike, your heart rate stays between 170 and 200 beats per minute. Jonathan Rea used to average over 200 bpm for a whole race.
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People rarely realise the real, brutal physicality of it because it looks so graceful on screen. The bike swooning from left to right, knees grazing the track. It almost looks relaxing, but you never relax. You can’t.
The heat is pure torture. You are essentially sitting in a sauna doing burpees for 40 minutes straight. Ten minutes in, your body is overheating, and you genuinely think you might die. I'm not exaggerating.
On the start line before the lights even go out, you can feel the sweat pouring down your back and your heart rate is already at 130 bpm.
Unlike football, it's not a team sport - you can't just coast or ask to be subbed off when you're exhausted. You're under maximum pressure, battling for the lead, with sweat stinging your eyes and blurring your vision at 200 mph. It’s horrendous, yet it looks beautiful from the outside.
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There is a small camelback in your kit, so in theory, you can take on water, but it doesn’t really work like that.
The water heats up incredibly quickly as the sun beats down and the heat from your body starts to warm it from the other side. Usually it’s more hassle than it’s worth. You have a lot going on inside the helmet. You’re battling massive G-forces.
When you sit up from behind the windscreen at 225 mph, the wind blast smashes the helmet, back against your face, flattening your nose. Try to drink from a plastic straw at the same time as doing that, or taking on a chicane. It makes it hard to breathe, let alone think.
That’s the last thing you want in a race. This is why every rider you talk to is obsessed with their training and fitness. You cannot go into any race unprepared, but doing so in these conditions would be a disaster for you and your team.
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