Àlex Crivillé Tapias (born 4 March 1970) is a Spanish former professional motorcycle racer. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from to , most prominently as a member of the Honda factory racing team. In 1992 he became the first Spaniard to win a 500cc Grand Prix and, in 1999 he became the first Spaniard to win the 500cc World Championship.
Biography Crivillé was born in Barcelona, Spain. He falsified his age in order to start racing at 14 in 1985, the minimum age for a license being 15 in Spain. In that year he won the Criterium Solo Moto, a national series for 75 cc Honda streetbikes.Noyes, D. "Dreams Come True", pages 37-38. Motocourse 1999-2000, Scott, M. (ed.) Richmond: Hazleton Publishing Ltd, 1999.
80cc career Derbi (1987–1988) 1987
Crivillé started his international career in the now-defunct 80cc World Championship with the Derbi team. At his debut race in the class, he immediately impressed by qualifying third on Saturday and taking second place, as well as the fastest lap, on Sunday in Spain. He then participated in two more races, the Dutch and Portuguese rounds, where he qualified fifth and second respectively, but retired from both of them.
Crivillé finished eleventh in the championship with 12 points, 117 points behind the champion Jorge Martínez and 74 points behind runner-up Manuel Herreros.
1988
In 1988, Crivillé continued to impress. In the Spanish and Expo grands prix, he finished third two consecutive times, taking the fastest lap on the first race. At the Nations round, he finished just off the podium in fourth but scored a second place podium in Germany. In the Netherlands, he retired but finished on a high note by taking two more third place podium finishes in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.
Crivillé finished second in the championship with 90 points, 47 points behind the champion Jorge Martínez.
125cc career Derbi (1988) 1988 Besides the 80cc, Crivillé also raced in the 125cc class, predominantly the races that were not held in the 80cc class. At the Belgian GP, he retired. At the British round, he scored his first points by finishing ninth but failed to score any more points when he retired from the Swedish race and only finished seventeenth at the Czechoslovak grand prix.
Crivillé finished thirty first in the championship with 7 points, 190 points behind the champion Jorge Martínez and 161 points behind runner-up Ezio Gianola.
JJ Cobas (1989) 1989
For the 1989 season, Crivillé moved to the JJ Cobas team of grand prix mechanic and constructor Antonio Cobas.
While the team opted to skip the opening round in Japan, Crivillé scored back-to-back wins in Australia and Spain, scoring his first ever podium in the latter. He retired at the Nations GP but took the fastest lap.
Another win followed at round five in Germany, with a third place (and fastest lap) in Austria and a second place in the Netherlands as well.
Another retirement followed at the Belgian GP, but Crivillé responded with two consecutive second places in France and Great Britain and two poles in the last two races in Sweden and Czechoslovakia, which he went on to win.
Crivillé won the championship with 166 points to Spaan's 152, with Ezio Gianola third with 138 points. He clinched his first, and only, 125cc title.
250cc career Yamaha (1990) 1990
In 1990, he stepped up to the 250 cc class to race for Giacomo Agostini's team.
Crivillé skipped the opening round in Japan for the second successive year, and started his year with a retirement in the United States. At the next round in Spain, he finished seventh, before recording another retirement in the Nations race. He finished eleventh in Germany but went on to score yet another retirement in Austria.
He finished in seventh position in Yugoslavia but went on to register back-to-back retirements at the Dutch and Belgian rounds. Crivillé finished the season on a high note by scoring a flurry of points on the closing rounds - eighth in France and Great Britain, ninth in Sweden, seventh in Czechoslovakia, his season best result of fifth in Hungary and sixth in Australia.
Crivillé finished eleventh in the championship with 76 points, 147 points behind the champion John Kocinski and 132 points behind runner-up Carlos Cardús.
JJ Cobas (1991) 1991
After a lackluster season in Yamaha in 1990, Crivillé went back to the JJ Cobas team for 1991.
He did not start the season well, retiring twice in Japan and Australia. Only at round three in the United States did Crivillé score his first points with an eighth-place finish. Two more retirements followed in Spain and Italy, with seventh and ninth-place finishes in Germany and Austria.
Back-to-back retirements followed once again at the European and Dutch rounds. In France, Crivillé finished seventh, two more retirements followed in Great Britain and San Marino. He scored his season best result of fifth at the Czechoslovak grand prix, retired again at the Vitesse du Mans round - his ninth retirement of the year - and finished sixth at the final round in Malaysia.
Crivillé finished thirteenth in the championship with 51 points, 186 points behind the champion Luca Cadalora and 169 points behind runner-up Helmut Bradl. He recorded nine DNFs - the highest amount in his career - and never managed to finish a race on the podium or win in his two years in the 250cc class.
500cc career Honda (1992–2001) 1992
Crivillé moved up to the 500cc class after two seasons in the 250cc in which he struggled, joining the newly formed Pons Racing team for the 1992 season.
Initially he retired on the opening round in Japan, but scored his first points at the second race in Australia with a seventh-place finish. In only his third race in the class, he took his first podium at the Malaysian grand prix, behind Mick Doohan and Wayne Rainey.
At the next race in Spain, he registered his first retirement but scored more points by finishing eighth in Italy. Another retirement followed in Europe, but Crivillé finished off the podium in fourth after battling with Wayne Gardner for third at the German round.
At the Dutch GP, Crivillé made history by winning the race, becoming the first ever Spaniard to win a race in the 500cc class. After a battle with John Kocinski and Alex Barros in the final few laps, Crivillé managed to stay ahead and cross the line 0.762 seconds ahead of Kocinski.
After his win in Assen, his low point came at the next round in Hungary. Crivillé was disqualified because he pitted to switch bikes on a drying track, something that was not allowed at the time. Two more retirements followed at the French and British rounds, with a sixth and seventh-place finish in Brazil and South Africa respectively.
Crivillé finished eighth in the championship with 59 points, 81 points behind the champion Wayne Rainey and 77 points behind runner-up Mick Doohan.
1993
In 1993, Crivillé stayed with the Honda Pons team.
In the first three races of the season - the Australian, Malaysian and Japanese rounds - he finished sixth once and fifth twice. At round four in Spain, he took his first podium of the season in the form of a third place.
His first retirement of the season came in Austria, followed up by a fourth place in Germany and a second third place podium finish in the Netherlands, the same venue where he won his very first race a year earlier.
Three consecutive retirements followed after his third place at Assen, namely at the European, San Marino and British rounds. The final four rounds were more positive, with Crivillé finishing eighth in the Czech Republic, sixth in Italy, seventh in the United States and fourth at the final race of the season, the FIM round.
Crivillé finished eighth in the championship with 117 points, 131 points behind the champion Kevin Schwantz and 97 points behind runner-up Wayne Rainey.
1994 For the 1994 season, Crivillé moved to the Factory Honda team, riding alongside Mick Doohan and Shinichi Ito. He became the first Spanish rider to ride for the Factory Honda team.
Crivillé started the season off well by taking an array of points in the opening rounds - sixth in Australia, eighth in Malaysia, seventh in Japan and fifth in Spain. However, he stood in the shadow of Doohan because he already had won two races and an additional second-place podium.
At the fifth round of the season in Austria, Crivillé scored his first podium of the season in the form of third place. At the German round, he finished fourth but took another third-place podium in the Netherlands.
His first retirement arrived at the Italy but took his third and final podium of the year at the French GP. Further points came at the next two rounds in Great Britain and the Czech Republic in the form of sixth and fourth-place finishes. He did not start the United States grand prix due to a hand injury he sustained during practice. At the final two rounds - the Argentine and European rounds - he finished seventh and fourth.
Crivillé finished sixth in the championship with 144 points, 173 points behind the champion and teammate Mick Doohan and 30 points behind runner-up Luca Cadalora.
1995
Crivillé stayed with the Factory Honda team, who now found a new major sponsor: Repsol.
He started off the season well, taking back-to-back podiums in the form of third-place finishes, at the opening round in Australia and at the second race in Malaysia. In Japan, he retired for the first time this season whilst his teammate Mick Doohan took second place. In Spain he went on to take another third-place podium.
In Germany, he finished off the podium in fourth and at the Italy he finished fifth, whilst teammate Doohan won the race. At round seven in the Netherlands, Crivillé took his first-ever 500cc pole position on Saturday. On Sunday, he battled hard with teammate Doohan and Alberto Puig in the closing stages of the race. On the last lap, Crivillé overtook Puig by outbreaking him, moving him from third up to second. However, Crivillé was never able to attack Doohan and thus he crossed the line, 0.114 behind him.
After his second-place podium finish in Assen, Crivillé retired once more in France. In Great Britain, he took his fourth third-place finish of the year. Further points came at the following rounds in the Czech Republic, Rio de Janeiro (sixth on both occasions) and Argentina, where he finished fourth.
After his teammate Doohan already had clinched the title in Buenos Aires, Crivillé won the last race of the season out in Europe, which was held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Cataluña|Circuito de Cataluña or his 'backyard'. On Saturday, bike problems prevented Crivillé from posting a proper lap time with his main bike and he was forced to switch to his less optimal alternative one, pushing him back to seventh position whilst teammates Doohan started second and sixth on the grid. On Sunday, he moved up from seventh to fourth as the race went on. When he overtook another rider for third, he passed the grandstands where Spanish fans were cheering him on, shouting "Crivi, Crivi, Crivi!" in the process. After overtaking Loris Capirossi for then second place, he hunt down first place Carlos Checa who was suffering from tyre wear. While Crivillé was closing down the gap, Checa slid out of contention when his tyres gave up, gifting the lead to the Catalan. However, Crivillé himself began to suffer from the same tyre wear problems in the closing laps, allowing teammate Shinichi Ito and Capirossi to close the gap. On the final lap, Ito tried to attack but Crivillé defended by outbreaking him. A second attack followed at turn 10, the "La Caixa" corner, with Ito taking the lead, running wide and so giving it back to Crivillé. Crivillé eventually crossed the line 0.160 seconds ahead of Ito, becoming the first Catalan to win on home soil.