Valentino Rossi had already secured legend status even before winning the MotoGP title in 2009 at the Sepang track, but the confirmation of the ninth title, in all MotoSpeed classes, further increased his prestige. But this was also his last premier class title.
We now tell you a little about each of these achievements, and his passage through four different brands – at Yamaha he passed twice. Let’s go to them:
First Championship, in 125cc
It was in 1996 that the Italian debuted in Motovelocidade through the smallest of the classes, the Moto125cc, and it was in this same category that he won the first World Championship in 1997, when he was 18 years old.
In his second campaign Rossi won 11 Grands Prix – there were 13 podiums in total – and secured the title racing with Aprilia. It was at Brno, where he finished third behind Noboru Ueda and Tomomi Manako, that Rossi was crowned 1997 Champion, well in advance, with three races to go before the end of the season.
The young Italian’s celebration gave an idea of what was to come as he raced the tracks with a giant number 1 strapped to his back. Valentino Rossi had just arrived. Much more was yet to come…
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Rossi’s 250cc title
Valentino Rossi needed a season to get used to the 250cc, as he had done in the 125cc, before securing the World Championship, but in his debut season in the intermediate category, the runner-up was an impressive result in his first attempt to take the Cup.
Having finished second behind Loris Capirossi in 1998, the following year Rossi beat his fellow Italian – who finished third overall – with Tohru Ukawa taking second.
Rio de Janeiro was the place where Rossi won his second World Championship, this in a season where he had nine victories and a total of 12 podiums with the Aprilia bike. By finishing the race in Jacarepaguá in first position, with Ukawa and Capirossi completing the podium, Rossi became champion with a race to spare.
To add to his growing reputation, the 20-year-old celebrated with a “Guardian Angel” on his motorcycle.
Rossi’s third title – at the end of the 500cc MotoGP
When Valentino Rossi reached the top category of Motospeed, he had already created a pattern and it wasn’t just about victories. As he had done in 125cc and 250cc, the man from Tavullia needed just one season in the category before winning the World Championship in his second year.
Rossi’s entry into the 500cc class with Honda saw him go head-to-head with Max Biaggi and the rivalry between the two was memorable. Finishing second in his rookie season, one place ahead of Biaggi, Rossi won the Championship the following year, with fellow Italians Biaggi and Loris Capirossi in second and third respectively.
Securing the 2001 title at Phillip Island with one victory and beating Biaggi over the finish line by just 0.013s, Rossi’s 11-win season (13 podiums in total) made him the last 500cc World Champion in history with two races still to come and also marked the beginning of a streak of five consecutive titles in the main category.
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Rossi’s Honda years
2002 was the first year for 4-stroke motorcycles in MotoGP, but it made no difference to Valentino Rossi, who continued to triumph in the new era of the top category of MotoGP, having won the 500cc World Championship in previous season.
The second title in a sequence of five consecutive, in the maximum category, for Rossi came in Rio de Janeiro, in a season in which Rossi had 11 victories and was on the podium in 15 of the 16 races played – the only exception was the GP held in brno.
The following season would be Rossi’s last with Honda and he ended the call in style by finishing on the podium at every race in 2003.
Along the way he won nine races, securing the title in Sepang (Malaysia) with one of those triumphs and the motto of his celebrations was “Condemned to Win”.
Rossi’s Yamaha years
The switch from Honda to Yamaha did not hinder Rossi’s winning streak, as he immediately secured his fourth and fifth titles in the top category of Motospeed, now with Yamaha.
Wasting no time adapting to the Yamaha prototype, Rossi won his first MotoGP race of the 2004 season on his new machine at Welkom and took 11 podiums – including nine wins – on his way to glory. “What a show” was the slogan on his shirt when he won the title at Phillip Island.
The following year he won another crown and presented another mem.prayerful feast. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs joined Rossi at the Sepang track to help him celebrate his seventh World title in a season that saw him record 11 victories.
“Sorry I’m late” was the motto of the party at Motegi in 2008, with Rossi regaining the title after two years of beating Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner respectively. Nine victories and a total of 13 podiums are the numbers that took him to the eighth World Championship.
The 30-year-old’s success didn’t seem to stray away from Rossi, with the Italian battling directly with competitive rival and teammate Jorge Lorenzo throughout 2009 to secure his ninth World title at Sepang with the slogan this time being “Orange chicken is good.” soup.”
But the 2010 season practically started with a strong crash for Rossi, at the Le Mans (France) GP, which kept him away from the tracks for four GPs, and still suffering pain in his injured shoulder for the whole season. Even so, he still secured the final third place.
Rossi’s Ducati years
The switch from Yamaha to Ducati came near the end of the 2010 season. Rossi’s Ducati years, which began in 2011, with the rider already reaching the age of 32 (February 16), were of poor results, with Valentino finishing the two seasons there in seventh and sixth.
First because Ducati is not at the same level as Yamaha or Honda, second because Rossi still had pain in his shoulder, so much so that he declared at the beginning of the year, that he lost almost 0.5s per lap, because of the pain.
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The return to Yamaha
Rossi simply did not find himself at Ducati, so much so that already in 2013 he moved again to Yamaha, where he remains to this day, that is, for the 2018 MotoGP season. There were five more seasons in the team, where he also did not win a new title, however, where he was – for three consecutive times – runner-up.
But now 38 years old, Rossi dropped in performance in 2017, ending the season only in fifth place. But the Italian said he would turn around again in 2018, which he did, as he finished the season in third place. However, Valentino only managed an isolated second place, in the German GP.
In 2019, however, the situation worsened, without the slightest help from the weak and difficult to adjust Yamaha motorcycle, which only won twice, but at the hands of the Spanish Maverick Vinhales. Valentino finished in seventh place, and was expected to retire at the end of the 2020 season. But the Italian is now competing in the 2021 season and will eventually be able to play a final season, in 2022, when he will put a team – the VR46 – into MotoGP.
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The great dredge – the sunset of a great champion
The nightfall years
Yet again sprinter up in the title race in 2014, Rossi then, at that point, battled for his 10th crown in 2015, yet it was Lorenzo who denied him.
Yet again 2016 saw more post positions, platform and wins as the Italian completed second in the Championship. 2017 saw him come out successful at the Dutch GP in Assen, the feature of a troublesome season which saw The Doctor support a wrecked leg preceding the San Marino GP. Rossi showed his battling soul to finish an amazing turnaround and return to the track only multi week’s after the fact in Aragon, prior to taking one more platform after a marvelous confrontation with Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) in Phillip Island. In 2018, the Italian stayed with Yamaha and took a Championship top three, while two additional platform came his direction the following year, however triumph escaped him in the two seasons.
The last time we saw Rossi splash the effervescent was in 2020, when he got third spot in Jerez toward the start of the period. A difference in landscape came in 2021, with The Doctor getting back to a satellite group without precedent for 19 years after a transition to Petronas SRT, which saw him interface up with VR46 foundation graduate Franco Morbidelli.
But Valentino has already completed 1500 days – now, on August 3rd – without achieving a single victory. It’s a true twilight of a legend, and a great champion, who, however, still didn’t want, and shows he doesn’t want to, abandon a sport that took him to the heights of glory.
After winning the 2017 Dutch GP, Valentino has already competed in another 70 GPs, without getting more than 10 podiums, very little for a great champion.
Will he really want to continue in 2022? When with a new and small team he won’t be able to come out on top. Is it worth not knowing the right time to retire?