"I'm still recovering; let's say that right now I'm 65% recovered, but the doctors insisted in particular that I should take everything with ease, since this is an injury that needs, under usual conditions, a six months recovery period. The team is also telling me to go step by step and that I shouldn't forget that my injury is recent and that I haven't been on a racing bike for three months. In fact, yesterday I stopped testing for lunch and I told myself that I should take things easier, because it was only one day and a half ago since I had ridden a bike and most of the other riders have hardly gotten off the machines since the end of the season. The shoulder is still hurting and at the beginning, both on Wednesday and on Thursday, I felt very tired. But today I feel much better and hope that the pain will disappear little by little."

Is the Honda 2004 very different compared to the one you rode at the end of 2002? Which are the main improvements? What do you remember from those four races?

"It's difficult to compare them, but in general terms I can say that the 2004 bike has materially improved with regard to the 2003 bike: the behaviour of the clutch and the engine brake, the engine as well - more powerful - and the traction, increased in the 2004 bike. There have also been some changes in the chassis, but the Honda 2002 was already working well in this aspect. Of the four races that year I remember that when I got on the bike I noticed the immense abyss there was between the two-stroke machine Loris Capirossi and I were using to try to follow Valentino and the new four-stroke. Milder and easier to handle, more powerful... After a whole season trying to get the most out of the two-stroke; the incredible effort made me learn more and considerably improve my riding technique. The result of it was clear when I got on the four-stroke machine, because I was able to be very fast without much effort. That explains the good results I got with it from the first moment on."

Finally your dream of becoming member of the official Repsol Honda Team has come true. Does the fact of being in the best team of the world and entering as a substitute to the number one rider of the world imply much more pressure?

"I've been a Honda rider for eight years and I've finally reached the official team, the dream of every rider. With regard to the pressure, you know, I'm the first to make pressure, because I'm the one who wants to win. I get the pressure from myself, from the sponsors and from the team, but that's normal, it's part of the game. If you're not able to stand it, bad thing... I know that Honda has put me in this place because they want me to win the Championship this year and I hope not to disappoint them; neither them nor my people, nor obviously myself. Honda is hardly ever wrong and as they have believed in Nicky as a future World Champion, they have offered me a place in the team because I could be World Champion at the end of the 2004 season. It's the chance of my life and I'll give it all to make good use of it."

New but also well-known faces in your team. Have you got everything necessary around you to fight for the title, now that you are in the official Repsol Honda Team? Who is going to set the direction to be followed at Honda with regard to the bike's evolution along the season?

"The difference between an official team and a first level satellite team as the one I was in a couple of years ago is not in the people. All of them, both in the satellite teams and in the official one, are professionals who know how to do their job perfectly well. The important aspect in both cases is the personal and human side. You have to build a united team with harmony to be able to work with enthusiasm, pleasure and professionally. The real difference between teams is the disposition you, as a rider, have to work with one type of material or another. In a satellite team you have what you get, and that's it, while in the official team you can ask for changes, parts, improvements and also set guidelines for the evolution of the bike. Ukawa is doing a great job with the test bike, but it's obvious that Honda expects us, as the official riders, to set the guidelines to be followed in the evolution of the 2004 Repsol Honda RC211V."

What do you think will happen in South Africa this year?

"Difficult, very difficult to predict anything.... Do you remember last year, here, around the same dates, the private testing? Well, Ducati was about two seconds behind the Hondas' best time, but when they reached South Africa, Bayliss almost gave a surprise, he gave Valentino a hard day and finished third on the podium. I mean that it's not easy to make any forecast, because there are still two months ahead and that's a lot of time, the bikes are going to develop a lot more. In fact we're are only at the beginning of the preseason. In South Africa, there are going to be many riders with a chance to clinch the victory on Sunday. I only hope to be one of them."

Maybe your team-mate Nicky Hayden will also be one of them?

"Yes, why not? Nicky is young, he has already had a year to adapt to the World Championship, he is fast and he has a lot of quality as a rider. In addition he doesn't make hardly any mistake, he hardly ever crashes and he learns very fast. Last year he finished fifth in his first season, and that's not an easy result at all... Let's see how he starts the season, but with no doubt he is going to be one of the riders with chances to fight for the victory on Sundays. During these three days he has already proven to be in very good shape."

Which other riders do you consider as your main contenders? Can you tell us something about them?

"There are surprises every year, but leaving that out, I think that they are going to be the same as always: Biaggi, Rossi, Gibernau... Valentino will clearly depend on the bike at his disposal. He has already proven how fast he can be, but until now he was driving the best bike and now he'll start with a disadvantage. If Yamaha make everything they can - I know that they're doing it - and they are capable of giving Valentino what he wants, we'll have to be very careful. With regard to Biaggi and Gibernau, they're both more motivated than ever: Max because he's got everything in favour and he's seen how his main rival has moved from Honda to Yamaha. Sete, in addition to the same reasons, because he won some races last year after face-to-face battles with Valentino, finishing runner-up of the Championship. And we shouldn't forget the guys from Ducati, because the Italian bike, despite being new, has great potential and both of the riders, Capirossi and Bayliss, are very fast."

The Rossi and Yamaha effect, is it an illusion or is it something serious? You've already been fast during the preseason and then... Have you met Rossi on the track, have you been able to see his evolution on the Yamaha?

"The preseason tests are obviously something very different from the races. Valentino is being fast on the Yamaha, but as you already said, I've also been fast in winter and then..; a crash in Suzuka where I seriously hurt my knee and another one halfway the season where I broke two shoulder tendons, and the season was gone. You never know what might happen. Valentino is a very fast rider and right now the World Number One, but Yamaha has still a lot of work ahead. I've made one lap behind Valentino, but I didn't want to increase my pace because I'm not physically OK. I've seen that Valentino is very fast on the Yamaha, but also that he leans and makes a lot of effort on the bike to make it go faster; he looked much more relaxed on the Honda. The bike has improved a lot with regard to the engine, it's faster and it accelerates a lot more, but it still has the same problems in the rear; it's difficult to make it slide and when it does it's not progressively but abruptly."

Apart from the Yamaha and your Honda, what about the evolution of the other bikes that you'll meet on the starting grid in South Africa?

"I haven't seen much on the track of the Protons and Aprilias so there's not much I can say about them. The Suzuki has improved the engine power and considering the times they have set here, they're not that far way. Kawasaki has made a material improvement, the bike has made a big evolution, it is faster and more stable. Obviously getting down from four to two seconds is easy; the rest is much more complicated. However they have improved a lot and that's good for the Championship. And the Ducatis, well, the Italian bikes are fast and they have an incredible acceleration; it's a new bike but they'll surely make it a highly competitive bike. They've also got two great riders; we'll have to be on the watch."