Valentino Rossi truly belongs in the pantheon of modern sporting greats. Statistically the greatest motorcycle racer of the modern age, the Italian was at least partially responsible for MotoGP's dramatic growth in popularity in the 2000s.
But, as he announced today that he will retire at the end of the 2021 season, Rossi will also leave behind him one of the most enigmatic and dotted legacies of any modern sportsperson, with plenty of quirky tales and gaffes throughout his career to pair with the greatness of his riding.
Valentino Rossi leaves behind a dotted legacy
"Unfortunately, this will be my last half-season as a #MotoGP rider" 💔@ValeYellow46 announces his retirement at the end of 2021! 🎙️#VR46Decision pic.twitter.com/4mUSQnswXT
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 5, 2021
The Styrian Grand Prix weekend of 2021 will be remembered for years to come in motorcycle racing as the weekend where Valentino Rossi, nine-times world champion and 89-times top-class winner in MotoGP, announced his retirement from the sport.
Rossi, from the north-east of Italy, began his career in the then-called 125cc class (now Moto3) in 1996, and he had his first world title within two years. 1998 saw a move up to 250cc (now Moto2) and a similar progression, as he added a second world title in 1999.
Many immensely talented drivers in all of motorsport struggle with the step up to the top level, but perhaps the greatest mark of just how good Valentino Rossi was and is, is how quickly he took to the 500cc class. Thrown in at the deep end with former world champion Mick Doohan as a mentor, Rossi proceeded to finish second in the championship in his debut season.
He then won the top-class world championship for the first time in just his second season, 2001.
He also won the next four world championships.
These weren't championships he won easily, either. The sport completely rebranded in 2002 from 500cc to the much catchier "MotoGP" and with that came a move from 500cc engines and bikes to 990cc bikes
The massive change to the drivability of the bikes wreaked havoc, with extra power and torque causing major issues for plenty of riders. Not Rossi, though, who won an incredible 11 of the 16 races in 2002.
Maybe the greatest achievement of Rossi's career was the 2004 championship win. In the off-season, he moved from world champions Honda to Yamaha, who hadn't won a top-class title in 12 years, in a widely-ridiculed move. He went on to not only win the opening race of the season in South Africa, but he dominated that championship, and again in 2005.
This is what made Rossi so special. His ability, particularly in the early years of his career, to just get the absolute most out of his bike, regardless of the circumstances, was unmatched, even by the best of his time. He conquered greats like Max Biaggi, Sete Gibernau, and Jorge Lorenzo, and it seemed for a while that Rossi would retire as the widely accepted "Greatest of All Time".
That was before the arrival of Marc Marquez, though.
Throughout his career, Rossi had met the likes of Biaggi and Gibernau and, though he may have taken time to get the better of them, he always came out on top. It was thought that Rossi's legacy would be one of meeting the world's best head on, and always coming out on top.
But 20-year-old hotshot Marquez arrived in MotoGP in 2013, and went one better than Rossi had by winning the championship in his rookie year. And again the next year.
It didn't help that this came at a point in Rossi's career when his stock was falling. Two disastrous years at Ducati in 2011 and '12 meant that, by the time Marquez wrapped up his second title at the end of 2014, Rossi had only won three races in four years.
Then came 2015, and a real title fight once more from Rossi. Rejuvenated on his Yamaha, he fought hard with Jorge Lorenzo, and led the championship going into the penultimate round at Malaysia. A public spat with Marquez in a press conference, though, led to increased tensions on track - and ultimately the most infamous incident in modern MotoGP history.
After lap upon lap of racing which pushed the boundary of "too aggressive", Rossi eventually lost patience and attempted to run Marquez out wide onto the dirty section of the track. The two bikes ultimately connected and, with what looked like a kick, Rossi sent Marquez to the ground.
It was a shocking incident, and led to a penalty for the following race that cost Rossi a tenth world championship. It's one in a series of incidents that sour the legacy of one of motorsport's true greats.
Rossi has always had a reputation for hard racing, on the absolute edge. Sometimes, his rivals called him out for it, but more often than not he got away with it. He forced Sete Gibernau into a mistake that ended his race at Jerez in 2005. He forced Casey Stoner to take evasive action when passing him in 2008 at Laguna Seca.
There was almost a sense that Rossi could get away with moves that verged into dangerous ones, because of his reputation. Who was really going to penalise someone like Valentino Rossi for what was technically a clean pass - admittedly one on the edge?
Everything changed when Marquez arrived. Suddenly there was a new youngster, with a lot of the same tricks up his sleeve as Rossi's. He was the first rider to successfully get under the Italian's skin and, at Malaysia in 2015, Rossi cracked.
And this is where we come to the confusing legacy of Valentino Rossi.
He is, undoubtedly, one of the true sporting greats of the 21st century. Seven top class world championships in the most competitive era in MotoGP's history is an astonishing achievement, and he has raced competitively deep into his 30s and now into his 40s.
He has also put MotoGP on the map. Though popular among petrolheads for years, it was only with the rebranding in 2002 and the arrival of Rossi that the sport really developed a global fanbase. MotoGP exploded worldwide at the same time as Rossi's arrival, and that was no coincidence.
Rossi is also one of the few figures in motorsport to have cultivated a "celebrity" status. His fanbase is among the biggest and most devoted in all of motorsport, and he was so respected within the community that he was invited to test Ferrari's Formula 1 car on multiple occasions in the late 2000s.
Maybe the best way to sum up Rossi is that when rumours began to circulate that he would jump ship and sign for Ferrari for a new challenge in Formula 1, it was hard to immediately dismiss them. It's the kind of thing he would do.
When Valentino Rossi and Lewis Hamilton swapped rides 🐐🐐 pic.twitter.com/2km8KmpTQy
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) August 5, 2021
But there is a lot of complicated history with Valentino Rossi as well. The frosty reception he has given competitors off track has sometimes given a bad impression, and has led other riders (most famously Casey Stoner) to lash out in interviews and press conferences.
Though an immensely talented rider, he has made questionable moves on track and, perhaps, gotten away with them in ways other riders may not have. Malaysia 2015 is but one example of when Rossi's racing was on the absolute limit.
And then there's his decision making. It's hard to say "what if?" in the context of one of the most successful careers in the history of motorsport, but would Rossi have won more world championships if it wasn't for the disastrous move to Ducati in 2011? Or if he hadn't fired his crew chief, Jeff Burgess, at the end of 2013?
The debates will rage on for years as to where Valentino Rossi sits in the all-time table of MotoGP's greatest riders. The likes of the great Giacomo Agostini, or even more recent riders like Mick Doohan, have decent shouts at that throne. Marc Marquez could well pass Rossi's records by the time he retires.
But there's no doubting that, with the retirement of Valentino Rossi, MotoGP has lost it's greatest ever icon. The luminous yellow logo and liveries, the adoration from fans worldwide, the unique helmets every year for his home race. There has never been anyone in the history of the sport with such a vibrant and recognisable identity off track.
And, if we're being honest, there may never be anyone quite like Valentino Rossi in MotoGP ever again.
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