2001: British GP (Donington Park)

Some of Valentino’s greatest victories followed huge crashes and this was one of them. On Friday afternoon, he was hurtling through the fearsome downhill Craner Curves when he lost the front at 200 km/h. It was a big crash and he was lucky to escape injury. Things did not get much better during qualifying, when he struggled for grip and ended up 11th, 1.3 seconds behind pole-sitter Biaggi.

His bitter rival led from the beginning, fully aware that this was a great chance to take a big bite out of Vale’s world championship points lead. During the early laps, Rossi scrambled around mid-pack, then he started making magical forward progress — 11th on the first lap, he was up to third by lap 12 of 30, his NSR’s lightening fuel load helping him to quicken the pace.

Just after half-distance, he took second from Alex Barros, which left only Biaggi ahead. He wasted no time, swooping past into the chicane and clearing off to beat his championship rival by 1.8 seconds.

‘Maybe, this was my most exciting victory because I didn’t think it was possible to win, so when I crossed the finish-line, it was the biggest emotion,’ he said later.