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Ana Carrasco and María Herrera with two fans / Aragón 2013

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Yes, this is gonna be a long post :3

These pictures are from a pre-race press conference in Alcañiz, held on Thursday, September 26 2013, for the Aragón Grand Prix.

Team Calvo KTM Moto3 rider Ana Carrasco (a fresh Moto3 rookie, and teammates with title-contender Maverick Viñales) was joined that weekend by Junior Team Estrella Galicia's María Herrera, who would be competing as a wildcard. Herrera had been third in the Spanish Championship and had her second victory of the season the prior weekend. It was the first time two women had competed in the lightweight class since the Spanish GP in 1994, when Daniela Tognoli and Tomoko Igata took part in a 125cc race in Spain.

^ Our two girls, Ana and María!

^ Here's a pic of Daniela (left) and Tomoko (right) on their bikes, for those curious

María and Ana were briefly interviewed by the press, with questions focusing on competing in the Moto3 class, how they feel about achieving such a great sporting stride as talented young women, and the obstacles facing women who enter the sport. Then, the premier-class riders at the table (Rossi, Márquez, Espargaró, Pedrosa and Lorenzo) were asked to weigh in with their thoughts. I've compiled the interesting quotes here, based on articles published at the time. However, I couldn't find the full transcript of the conference, so if anyone has that, or even the full video(!!), please send it my way <3

"Winning in the CEV right before coming to the World Championship is the best thing, and this weekend I'm using it to learn. I wanted to arrive at the World Championship having learned a lot in the CEV, and this year I'm at the front, so we'll see when I finally make it to the World Championship... I hope to be there someday. Well, we have some difficulties getting there, because if you're not fast, they don't trust you, but I have a good team that does." — María Herrera

The question that made them both laugh the most — and on which they agreed — was about how boys react when they're beaten.

"The truth is, it bothers them a little... It bothers them quite a lot. You can see it on their faces on the podium that they don't like it." — María Herrera, her words punctuated with laughter

^ Pic of María on the podium's top step during the CEV championship of May that same year, posing with a cheque for one year of free fuel ...She is accompanied by some less-than-pleased colleagues (...aka sore losers)

And then, Ana added:

"Yes, it bothers them even more because they think a woman is inferior, and it bothers them that someone they consider inferior to them beats them." — Ana Carrasco

Ana joked when asked if the fact that two girls are racing will soon cease to be news, and become more commonplace:

"I hope so. What we're doing here is opening a door so that in the future there will be more women in the World Championships. Anyway, [now] the most important thing is a relaxing cup with café con leche..."

^ Once again, thank you Mirco Lazzari, for all your hard work <3

MotoGP stars including Valentino Rossi, Marc Márquez, Aleix Espargaró, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo also sat at the press con table surrounding the girls. They welcomed the two competing Spanish riders and praised their presence on the Moto3 grid for the upcoming weekend in Aragón.

After the questions, the group of riders posed for the cameras. One of the Spanish sports blogs described it in a very cute way: 'Rookie Carrasco timidly made her way sideways to stand next to her idol Valentino Rossi, while María Herrera exchanged smiles with her fellow Repsol sponsor, Marc Márquez'.

And, so of course, we get to famed image numero uno:

According to one article, Ana didn't mind sharing the conversation she and María had with Marc after they'd finished posing with him. Márquez was the rookie and MotoGP title leader at the time, and they seemed to have a comfortable level of banter as María knew his brother Álex pretty well (...for context, Álex was also an Estrella Galicia rider and teammates with Álex Rins, who was also apparently quite close with María).

"I felt so many things being with these riders. I'd been trying all year to get Pablo Nieto to introduce me to Rossi, and [now,] I did it myself. Meeting the best in the world is important to me, and I hope to be in their shoes someday. I'm left with what Marc Márquez told us. If I may say? He said he blushes when he's with two girls..." — Ana Carrasco

^ Marc cheesing it for the camera after exhibiting insane levels of greed, hehe...

"This is good news, I was at home last Sunday watching the Spanish Championship race, and I saw María win... Already, she had won a race, but you never know if it was just a one-time. But then she won again [last weekend] at Navarra. This will be important for motorcycle racing and MotoGP, because it's like a man's world, but a girl can be fast too." — Marc Márquez

Meanwhile, Rossi believes the rivalry between Carrasco and Herrera will spur them both to achieve better results, as is often the case with male riders:

"I think it is good for our sport, because it is mainly a men's sport, but also in the past, four or five girls were very, very fast. It is especially interesting to understand and follow María after she won two races in the Spanish Championship, where the level is good." "And for sure, it is also a great motivation for Ana to try to arrive in front of María this weekend! But it will be hard for the girls, because all the boys don't want to arrive behind them, so they will have extra motivation also! But they are both fast, so they can have a good weekend." — Valentino Rossi

^ Rossi ofc still being rivalry-pilled here. Melancholic sigh...

"I think it is a really good thing for the sport to have two girls. It is not normal, and maybe next year it can happen [full-time]. My mechanic, Tuanito, worked with Ana and tells me she's really brave, and also, in the Spanish Championship [last year] she did a really good season. Now in the world championship, it is more difficult, so she needs a little bit more time. And María — she has won two CEV races. Everybody says she is really strong. Winning races in the Spanish Championship is very difficult. So both have a really promising career ahead of them." — Jorge Lorenzo

^ Believe me, this was the clearest resolution I could find... also, Ana!!

"[They are both] very brave in such a male-dominated sport; they compete against men and demonstrate their skills. I'm curious to see them on Sunday." — Dani Pedrosa

"It's good because it's not just two girls racing, but because they are fast. María has won races in the Spanish Championship this year, and Ana has finished just five or six seconds from the points in recent grand prix races. They will both be really motivated to beat the other, and so we will see if they can arrive in the points on Sunday." — Aleix Espargaró

"I'm happy to see girls racing motorcycles. The only girl racer I remember was a German in 250GP, Katja Poensgen [2001, 2003], who scored points — maybe this is the only thing where Germany is better than Spain in racing at this moment!" — Stefan Bradl

+ more under the cut :3

slight rpf warning. It's very mild, and it's mostly just my musings, but yeah

I love anamaria so bad in ways I cannot even begin to fully touch on here... I wanna go more into yuri musings, but I will hold off for now because I am working on a full post just for them >:3

But. One more quick thing. I am also lowkey a little herrerquez-pilled. 693. 673, also. Yep. I'm sorry, but there's just so much juice there. I'll keep it brief. Hashtag my comphetslop...

Mini preface. There's always going to be an undercurrent of sexism that is present in motorcycling and motorsports, and that is hard for me to ignore, meaning it'll be a ubiquitous facet of my interpretations of my favourite rule63, bike/rider or hetslop duos.... I've briefly talked about this before in another post I've made about Rossi/his M1. And I'm gonna pause for a second because I need to emphasise that there really are so few instances of women being able to navigate Sponsorship Hell and get a proper foothold in motorcycle racing (and motorsports... and god don't get me started on sports in general). In motorcycling, it has continued to be the default that women are essentially 'excluded from contention'; and in this sense, 2026 is really not much different to 2013. There's a case to be made for the positives and negatives of girls being delegated to Women's Racing classes instead of being integrated with the boys, and I don't want to dive into that here. Girl riders are just as skilled, strong, and determined to make a name for themselves despite all the obstacles, the antiquated opinions, and the fragile masculinity of their opponents. I just want to emphasise that, because girls on the grid, or even in the garage as mechanics and engineers and team members, are pretty rare and far between (unless they're holding an umbrella, and there's no shade in that either, to be clear, but it is impossible to deny that gridgirls don't come with their own baggage). And, the idea of having women in moto classes who are as competitive as anyone else really needs to be explored more by fans of motorcycling.

Okay with that in mind — Swallows rpf pill, pulls out insane-looking white board with a mess of red string — herrerquez...

^ First pic is María showering Álex Márquez with a bottle of champagne, after what I think is Navarra 2012. Featuring a cheeky Rins in the back with his own bottle eheh

All evidence points to María being quite fond of Marc, especially since she rose through the ranks on the same racing team as his baby brother, and many old pictures suggest they were friends, or at least got along. And, as we know, Álex's buddies usually become Marc's buddies. In my head, I think of María as seeing Marc as a friend; he's talented but human. Crazy(!) but not out of reach. Grounded, despite all the fanfare surrounding him and hyping him up. Marc is sweet... despite it all.

During the 2013 Aragón press conference, Marc praises her and Ana. His words are kind and sweet, but tame. I don't think he feels in any way threatened by María, both in the sense of 'femininity entering the motorsports world'. And also because I'm gonna go on a limb and guess that Marc still likely thinks of himself as the better and more talented rider, and he feels secure. I don't intend for that observation to come across as cruel, even though it might sound that way; I only think it's a little realistic if we're looking from his point of view. Maybe Marc sees the unpredictability of his own situation — as someone who's been placed somewhere few thought he could properly belong (as being the first premier class rookie placed in a factory team) — reflected in María and Ana, who are talented and determined women in very competitive professional classes, and are showing promise and the capacity to further flourish.

I always think about how María is also a biiig Rossi fan and got invited to the VR46 ranch a couple of times.

^ First pic is from summer break 2015, and the other two are both from summer 2021

But unlike Marc, who she can compartmentalise as her friend, Rossi is doomed to forever remain a symbol. A venerated and unattainable motorcycling idol. Powerful, but intangible. Even when you're standing right next to him and getting praised, it doesn't feel entirely real. María said in a May 2013 interview (after her first CEV win) that her motorcycling idol was Álvaro Bautista, however, she's also always been a Rossi fan (which I think is quite obvious, based on her history with Rossi-posting on instagram). Also, I find it so cute how, literally a day after meeting Rossi, María does the valentino egg pose before leaving her garage for Friday free practice (see picture below). I dunno if this was part of her usual pre-race warm-up or a superstition ritual, but I do find it a fun coincidence if she did it the first time after finally meeting Rossi properly :3

^ fig4.6: evidence of Egg Herrera ... this photo was taken 27 September 2013 (aka the day after the Aragón press con)

^ Hashtag My Dysfunctional Repsol Family. Circa 2012 BC. Colourised. Boyprince Marc, next to the unbothered King he's soon gonna overthrow for a seat. Judging by his sad eyes, being dethroned would bring King Casey an overwhelming sense of sweet relief. Maverick trying to explode me with his mind, probably for threatening to write hetslop. Dani. Biblically accurate Álex² height-mogging the short. Rins spaced out on, I presume, Repsol-grade hand-rolled tobacco-free cigarettes. Álex staring at the wrong camera. Oliveira's haircut. María looking at the camera like it's our fault her fellow colleagues are this insane.

idk. Sorry for such a jumbo post. If you read this far, ty <3 and stay tuned for the anamaria post :333 I also have enough content for a quartararerro post, so perhaps if that interests anyone? siiiigh doomed teammates...

*swinging my hypnosis pendulum side to side* ooooo marc you wanna be maría's umbrella girl sooooo bad

^ María unintentionally posting 4693 on main whilst trying to congratulate her idol, Álvaro. Featuring one of Marc's alien antenna captured on camera :3 ...shhhhh that's not Rossi's drinking tube, that's evidence of extra terrestrial activity...

^ María, Peccorino and Baldassarri. Completely irrelevant to my thesis, but this lineup of riders is very funny to me

cool links I used for reference. they're worth checking out if you wanna get more ana and maría-pilled:

Blog that wrote down a few of the press con questions that Herrera got asked

Sports news blog that has a Carrasco quote from the Aragón press con and provides really brief background info on both of them

Hashtag my Spanish clickbait. aka: "Marc Márquez blushes when he sees us"

Another article focusing on Herrera's Aragón press con experience. Almost no mention of Carrasco here :(

Article about the Aragón press con covered in greater detail than some of the other sources I've put here. Includes quotes from some of the premier class riders

Herrera interviewed after her first CEV win. She talks a bit about herself and her idol

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