Johann Zarco recounts the ‘pact with the devil’ of his formative years in his biography

“I made a pact with the devil, I accepted everything: moving away from my family, never falling in love…” Johann Zarco uses those words in his biography, “Victory and Forgiveness”, to describe the price he believes he paid in his pursuit of success.

At a time when some biographies merely celebrate their subject, Zarco’s book follows in the vein of Andre Agassi’s “Open”, whose success was partly built on its willingness to show the less flattering sides of a journey. Written by Michel Turco, a journalist who has covered MotoGP for decades and has known the rider since 2007, the biography of the Cannes-born rider goes on sale today. It is more than a straightforward account of the 36-year-old competitor’s career.

Zarco looks back on the sacrifices he made to reach success. The text displayed on the cover sets the tone: he recounts that, at 17, he wanted to live and breathe motorcycles, hanging on Laurent Fellon’s every word. He says he agreed to move away from his family and friends, never fall in love, distrust some people while placing his trust in others, all with the aim of becoming a warrior.

The rider is referring to his former manager and mentor, Laurent Fellon, whose unorthodox methods were presented as necessary to achieve victory. Zarco says he obeyed until success came, remaining loyal and ignoring the paranoia of the man who shaped him as the rider he is. He later understood, he says, that he had to break that cycle and regain a freedom he felt had been taken from him.

The split with Laurent Fellon was, in his words, as violent as their relationship had been stormy. Rebuilding himself was not easy. Yet, with the end of his career drawing closer, Zarco says he harbours no resentment. He recounts forgiving Fellon a few weeks before his death, without knowing whether Fellon needed it, but believing that he had earned the peace he seeks as a free man.

That determination to tell the story without concealing its hardships sheds light on the book’s very title. Zarco recounts a form of final reconciliation after the arguments and the split with his former mentor: forgiveness. The book cover is already, according to the account, a clear signal of that approach.

In the epilogue, Zarco explains that his purpose goes beyond bearing witness or leaving the legacy an athlete might wish to preserve at the end of a career. He says he agreed to tell his story after Michel Turco convinced him that it could inspire others and encourage those who dare to believe and dream.

Above all, Zarco hopes young people can draw from it the same intensity of dream that drove him. He recalls entering motorcycle racing from a family completely unfamiliar with that world, when his father took him to his first competitions. No one, he says, could then have imagined where that journey would take him. Zarco attributes his success to his belief and his perseverance through adversity, while acknowledging that the road was not easy.

The account also addresses his accident in Barcelona in 2026 and the doubts it raised. It reports that a serious knee injury kept him away from the track for weeks. Zarco explains that he began the year determined not to repeat the mistakes he made in the second half of the 2025 championship, after becoming too frustrated following his win at Le Mans.

After a difficult start to the season, he says he had regained his form from the United States Grand Prix onwards. A race crash, followed by his return to the bike, is said to have provided a turning point. The account then mentions a strong start from the front row in Jerez, followed by good qualifying performances on the Friday of the French Grand Prix. In Barcelona, he was still among the top five when everything changed. In the face of that setback, Zarco says he is trying to find the positive side of the enforced break, which has given him time to reflect and prepare better.

The break contrasts with his usual way of operating. Even during the winter break, his mind never completely switched off, he explains. As soon as a season ended, he would immerse himself in a project or in the pursuit of performance.

Zarco also offers indications about his future. Forced to stop, he believes the rest should allow him to return stronger. Until now, he had viewed 2027 as his final MotoGP season, but he is no longer ruling anything out. New bikes, new regulations and new tyres could, in his view, reshuffle the next championship. He also says he is very eager to see what Honda will prepare.

He makes clear that he is not considering Superbike: when he leaves MotoGP, it will not be to join a championship with the same intensity and schedule. Endurance racing appeals to him more. After a first taste at Suzuka, which he says he enjoyed greatly, he can see himself being part of a team and competing for another world title. Before then, Zarco says he still has a few chapters left to write in MotoGP.