THE CHAMPION FACTORY
How Valentino Rossi is putting a stop to the Spanish domination
Over the last ten years Valentino Rossi has had to painfully witness Spain’s ascendancy and subsequent domination of the MotoGP paddock. While Italy put all their eggs in the Rossi basket, Spain’s approach was more measured. With close to two decades of investment into the next generation, a plethora of circuits and the mercurial talents of Marc Marquez, Spain is now producing a conveyor belt of race winners and title contenders.
But that freight train of Spanish talent is being halted as Valentino Rossi’s plans for his own dominance has finally started to pay off. Thanks to years of labour, countless hours of study and a few million euros of his own money, the future now looks bright for Italy and that’s down to the nine-time title winner, his ranch and the VR46 Academy.
In the making for close to a decade, Rossi’s pipeline of riders, run out of his hometown of Tavullia, has now produced two world champions; Franco Morbidelli and Pecco Bagnaia, with Bagnaia winning on Rossi’s own Team Sky bikes to boot. Returning Italian racing to the glory days of 20 years ago, Rossi himself admits the project originally designed as his retirement plan has been a resounding success. Narrowly missing out on the Moto3 title this year with Marco Bezzecchi but winning Moto2, he’s adamant that they’re in a position to change the dynamic of the paddock in favour of Italy.
“I think that it’s our challenge to take Italians to the top. We have a great history, but in recent years the movement up has been quite low. So, we’ve worked hard, we’ve put time and money and effort into it, and it now looks like we can fight for more titles. Spain is still number one, but we can challenge them. I think that I’ve got to be a great motivation for the young Italian riders. They’ve seen me still there fighting against them and still able to put a lot of effort into it, and it motivates them to go faster.”
And the system is working, perhaps even sooner than the evergreen Italian expected, but it comes as no surprise when you speak to those involved about the instruction and opportunities they’ve been given. Former Moto2 champion and current MotoGP man Morbidelli explains: “Being in the Academy is like being in Florence during the Renaissance, being an artist or a poet or a writer.
It is Florence for riders, with Vale as the teacher who keeps us all right and helps us all learn. We give our maximum and in return he helps us to develop our natural skills and talent.” The centrepiece of the entire Academy project is Rossi’s Moto Ranch. Built on 230 acres of land owned by father Graziano, it’s an unlikely spot to find a nine-time world champion and his host of protégées. Surrounded by olive groves and vineyards (“the olive oil is quite good,” according to Rossi’s right-hand-man Albi Tebaldi, “but the wine not so much!”), planning for the track began in late 2010 when Rossi was joined by Marco Simoncelli and Mattia Pasini to first lay plans for it. Centred around an old farmhouse and a 2.5-kilometre track of hardpacked sand on a base of half-metrethick concrete, there’s also an oval track and a motocross circuit. There are plans to add a sports centre and gym next to the house that already includes bedrooms, a kitchen and a multi-purpose space that also functions as the Academy’s classroom, not only for track instruction but also for their English lessons.
And while it might all sound like a bike-mad millionaires’ playground, it’s where Rossi and his crew hone their racing skills every week. The fast and flowing dirt circuit has become a regular battleground where Rossi and co. use the same aggression that helps them to win MotoGP races and even Rossi admits that at times he has to play the role of race control when things get a bit heated.
He explained: “At the end of every day we have a race, and sometimes it can be difficult to manage! One guy moans at the other or threatens ‘next time…!’ It’s not easy to find the right balance, but that aggression is good for training. They have grown up together, they’ve always fought together, and none of them ever want to come second.”
But there’s another purpose beyond building future Italian champions… How do you stay young at heart when you’re a nine-time Grand Prix champion with an unquenchable desire to stay at the very peak of the sport?
Nearly 40 years old, a milestone he’ll reach before the start of next year’s title fight in March, Rossi is still just as competitive and motivated as he’s ever been, despite struggling again in 2018 with a problematic Yamaha M1. And that is in large part thanks to Rossi’s
‘Rossi’s pipeline of riders has now produced two world champions’