As Rossi hits 40, we celebrate his unprecedented racing career with a 12-page special
MotoGP’s GOAT says nothing has changed. It’s still all about winning…
At the first round of the 2019 MotoGP championship next month in Qatar, Valentino Rossi joins an even more elite group. Already one of the very few competing in any sport with a genuine claim to be The Greatest Of All Time, Rossi will line up on the grid having passed another milestone: middle age.
The Italian turned 40 last week but, despite being the ‘elder statesman’ of MotoGP for quite some time, he admitted to MCN when we sat down with him that the event had still caught him by surprise.
“F***, 40-years-old. It’s desperate! But it’s important, because if you’re lucky it’s half way. You feel it because it’s 40 and it’s something special and you have to celebrate it in a good way, but it’s not actually a big difference compared to 36. 36 compared to 25 is a big thing, but 36 compared to 40 doesn’t change much.
“But mentally, 40 is better than 25. I feel better, I’m surer about myself and I have less problems in my life. But for sure it’s harder physically, especially if you’re a sportsman. It’s not a big difference if you live a normal life but to ride a motorcycle and do a sport at a high level it’s heavier. You have to train more, you have to put more effort in. “I never thought when I was 16 and winning my first race that I would still be racing at 40. But I never thought I wouldn’t be either, I just didn’t think about it. Now nobody arrives at 40-years-old in motorcycle racing, but in the future others will. I’ve given other riders in the future an example of how it can be done. As long as you have a the motivation then you can do it.” And motivation isn’t something Rossi is short of. Adamant he’s still riding simply for the golden 12 hours of emotion that follows a MotoGP win; an emotional rollercoaster that few of us can even imagine. He might not still be as regular a visitor to the top step of the podium these days, but it’s still something he believes he can experience often enough to make the effort required worthwhile. Arguably the most successful racer of all time, not only because of the stats but because of the eras he’s spanned and the multitude of rivals he’s fought against, he told MCN that despite all those wins, there’s still one that stands above all the rest.
“The greatest moment for me is the victory in Welkom in 2004... and then to go on and win the championship. But I put the championship win in 2008 at the same level when I switched to Bridgestone. Maybe it’s not exactly the same, but for me it was a great thing after two seasons without winning. Already people had started to say ‘Ah, you’re old, you’ve already won five titles and now it is like this.’ Being able to show to them that it wasn’t true was a great emotion. Also 2001, the last championship with 500s, because it was the last chance. “In general, I’m very happy about my career, but 2006 and especially 2015, the two championships that were lost, are bad memories. When I think about them I still say ‘F***’ because I had the opportunity to have 10 championships. I think I deserve 10, too, because I’ve won nine but came second a lot of times, more than anyone else. I’ve been in the top two 15 times, so I deserve the tenth! The 2015 season, in particular, is a bad memory, because of how it ended. But it’s normal in a long career to have some bad moments.
“It’s interesting to think about what could have been. Because, for example, I could have won more had I remained with Honda; more races and more championships. But the switch to Yamaha was the best achievement of my career, the thing I love more than anything else. I tried something different, I had a new challenge, and in the end, I’m very proud to have made that choice... even if I won less.”
But with those successes have come a cost for a guy who is still just a simple Italian kid at heart. Still surrounded by childhood friends and living in his home town only minutes from Misano, you’d expect a rock star persona for the guy who has come to personify MotoGP to millions, but it’s a weight Rossi carries surprisingly easily.
“A lot of times I have to think about how far I’ve come. There are days when I’m sad, days when I feel bored, because I have to reconsider how I live my whole life, even in Tavullia. You have to live a different life. But in the
‘I want to have a family, I want at least one kid’
end, I have a lot of advantages too, and my life is a special one. I want to race motorcycles and if being famous is the price I have to pay, that is OK. “I’ve been lucky to retain as much as possible of a normal life. I stay in Tavullia, a small town, and I still have my old friends; 75% I had when I was at school. I like this type of life. If you change your life a lot when you become rich and famous, you still enjoy it but you enjoy it less than a normal life. Everyone is a bit different. I enjoy what I have.
“I feel the pressure of the championship, but the bigger pressure is the desire to win. To be the face of MotoGP is something I’m proud of, and it’s a good thing. I think I’ve helped motorcycle racing across the world because a lot of people started to follow it because of me, and that’s a great positive. When I stop, I’m happy that MotoGP will be more famous than it was before me. Maybe I need some money from Ezpeleta for this!”
And while he might be wary of talking too much about the future while still trying to come to grips with a struggling Yamaha M1 he concedes he has spent time wondering about life after racing. “I had to think hard about the current contract. It was an important choice and I was not 100% sure. I had to think about it even if it was an easy decision to make in the end. It’s a long time until I have to think about it again; in two years’ time, but I haven’t decided or even thought too much about it yet. Instead, I think about the first six races of 2019 and then about the next six, because that’s usually how I work. Next year when I have to decide, it’ll depend very much on how I feel, on the performance of the bike and if we’re competitive. I have to say that I still haven’t decided. “I want to have a family, I want to have at least one kid; after that, we’ll see! I think that I have some more years to do it, but not a lot... two or three maybe. I want to continue to race afterwards, too, but with cars. We’ve already been thinking about what I can do and there are some interesting ideas, because I want to continue to be a rider or a driver. It won’t be at the same level or with the same effort, because to make a life at this level is a big effort, but I don’t want to stop. I want to race with cars, but more on the track than in rally, because it’s too difficult to arrive at a good level in rallying. The track is my habitat.
“But whether I’ll be more like Ago or Aspar is a good question, because it’s one that I’ve spent time thinking about. When I finish being a rider, I’ll go to the races and it’ll be a disaster if I can’t ride a motorbike! I don’t know yet how it’ll end up working for me.”
That decision is still some time off, though, and in the meantime there’s only one goal in mind for Rossi. Starting 2019 stronger than he has been in the preceding two seasons, the goal is the same as it has been for the past 22 seasons: to win.
“For sure the main target is to continue pushing for the tenth title. I know now that it’s going to be very difficult, so the important thing for now is to be stronger than in the past two years, to try to be on the podium every weekend and to fight to win races. For sure to win the title will be difficult but as always it’ll be the goal. If the bike is as good as it was in 2015 though, then there’s no reason why we can’t. If the M1 is more competitive then we can be strong.”