MotoGP super racer Valentino Rossi set to retire
Few athletes are capable of transcending their sport, but Valentino Rossi is unlike any that have come before him.
Over the course of his 25-year motorsport career, the Italian veteran has almost singlehandedly taken MotoGP from niche to the mainstream through his high-octane riding, charismatic personality and hilarious antics off the track.
On Sunday, the Doctor makes his last dance in MotoGP. Rossi’s retirement has been on the cards since August, yet his departure leaves a gaping hole in a sport that will struggle to fill that void in the years to come.
‘The guy deserves all the admiration he is getting,’ Ducati Lenovo’s Jack Miller tells Sportsmail. ‘What he has done for our sport has been phenomenal.
‘He has been racing in the world championship for as long as I’ve been on this planet so it’s pretty damn cool to see. He is the people’s favourite. Everybody looked at him as the person they wanted to be growing up.’
MotoGP’s record books are plastered with Rossi’s name. The Italian spearheaded the sport’s new era from its birth in 2002 and completely dominated throughout the noughties before Marc Marquez’s arrival onset saw a shift in MotoGP’s pecking order.
Twenty-six seasons in the premier class have heralded nine world championships, 115 victories and 235 podiums, all feats that put him head and shoulders above his contemporaries.
Yet Rossi did not allow his superstardom to detract from what he could provide his sport. Miller’s first interaction with the Italian as a young hopeful plying his trade in Moto3 left an impression so vivid that it has helped carry him into MotoGP.
‘I went to the ranch [Rossi’s home in Tavullia] in 2013, he was an absolute legend, invited us around. I was an absolute nobody and he took us around there to go and ride.
‘To be able to ride with him and Nicky [Hayden, 2006 MotoGP world champion], two of my biggest heroes growing up, it was phenomenal, he’s been awesome to me.
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‘He is an outgoing character, he is a fun guy to talk to, he’s never down, we can always have a laugh.
It was Rossi’s rivalry with Marquez that really captured the public’s imagination. Marquez, 14 years Rossi’s junior, had the edge over the Doctor for the best part of a decade, winning the 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 titles.
According to Motor Sport Magazine, Rossi’s VR46 brand rakes in more than €20million (£17.11m) a year in merchandise sales, while he boasts more followers on Instagram (11.9m) than MotoGP’s official account (11.7m).
But it’s fair to say that, in 2021, Rossi’s influence off the track far exceeds his ability on it. At 42, it is remarkable that the veteran is still able to mix it with rivals half his age, but he is certainly no longer at the peak of his powers.