MotoGP star Miguel Oliveira engaged to stepsister after secretly dating for 11 years, couple to marry next year
MotoGP star Miguel Oliveira is engaged to his stepsister, whom he has known since they were both 13 and is planning to get married to her in 2021.
Oliveira chose to keep his romance a secret for the longest time but his father Paulo announced on Saturday, August 30 that his son was getting ready to wed Andreia Pimenta, 24, the daughter of his second wife. The couple who developed a friendship and eventually went onto date each other since the age of 13 had kept their relationship for 11 years a secret before announcing their bond in 2019. Paulo told Spanish newspaper Marca: "I'm happy that my son is getting married to the woman of his life."
The rider, who made history by winning his first Portuguese MotoGP victory, recently opened up about falling in love with his step-sister after meeting her in his early teens when his father decided to marry his fiancee's mother and his plans to marry her. Speaking to Manuel Luis Goucha, Oliveira said: "Before love, there was a great friendship. We grew up together. At some point we realized that it was more than a friendship, it is a very strong love. We were going to get married this year, but that weekend I had a race and we had to postpone it next year." MotoGP World Championship was postponed due to the worldwide Covid-19 outbreak.
The pair announced they were going to get married on Instagram in July last year. Pimenta posted a photo on social media of her and Oliveira holding flowers with the caption: “Today was marked forever in my life. The answer was YES.” Since then, Oliveira’s father has given them his blessing.
On August 23 Oliveira won the 2020 Styrian motorcycle Grand Prix in Austria and is currently in ninth place in MotoGP standings, according to Yahoo Sport. After the race, he said: ''Just screaming and pure joy to have done it finally. I saw this coming already quite a few races ago. I felt we had the potential to do it, so finally to be able to do it is a huge boost to be able to continue like this.''
The Portuguese rider for the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team snatched the lead after a duel between Jack Miller and Pol Espargaro. In the post-race news conference, he added, “Happy and proud; there is for sure many reasons to be happy about this day. It was a win in the home of KTM and Red Bull, so this is extra special. The first one for me. Throughout the whole weekend, we (did) a good job. Just really happy. My feet are on the ground, but my head is for sure floating around a little bit. Feel full of happiness for not only me but my family, Portuguese fans. Everyone."
When asked about points leader Fabio Quartararo, who won the first two races of the season, and rookie Brad Binder also became first-time winners this year, he said, “I don’t know if there is any specific reason. Just my opinion, once (defending series champion Marc) Marquez was out, I think all of a sudden, everyone started to feel like all of a sudden they could win races and championships. I think this feeling is still floating around a little bit. This is why there’s not a clear favorite for the championship fight."