How This One Man Changed An Entire Sport ( Valentino Rossi Documentary)

Valentino Rossi is a God in the world of motorcycle racing, the nine-time world champion from Italy, also known as the doctor, has an immense list of mind-blowing professional achievements that not only put him in the conversation as one of the best motorcycle riders. of all time, but you could argue that Valentino Rossi is one of the greatest athletes of all time. His professional achievements and dominance in his

sport

rival those of any other iconic athlete who not only dominated his era but transcended his

sport

. Rossi won. a staggering 115 Grand Prix races in three different classes, stood on the podium 235 times, won races on seven different types of motorcycles and has the longest winning career in Grand Prix racing spanning 20 years and 311 days.

He was also part of some of the most infamous and memorable Moto GP rivalries of all time with some of its best writers, such as Settejibber, now Danny Pedrosa, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, Max Biagi and Mark Márquez, so in In today's video we will take a look at Valentino Rossi's iconic career and how. He revolutionized the sport of Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Foreigner Valentino Rossi entered the world championship in 1996 as a highly sought-after 17-year-old motorcycle prodigy who had just dominated the prestigious Italian 125 championship. It wouldn't take long for the Italian teenager to make his mark.

In Grand Prix racing, he would get his first podium in just 10 races and finish in third place at the 1996 Austrian Grand Prix. In the next race, which was the 1996 Czech Republic Grand Prix, Rossi would get his first victory in a 125 CC race. category, he would finish his first season in the 125 championships in ninth place with 111 points. In 1997 it would be Valentino Rossi's second season in the 125 category and, just as he did in the second year of the Italian sports production championships, he continued to dominate that season, winning 11 of the 15 races and becoming one of the Youngest Grand Prix world champions in history.

The world of Grand Prix racing has seen its fair share of promising young prodigies. There was something very different. About Rossi not only did he have a lot of natural talent but he had that charm and charisma that we hadn't seen since the days of Barry Sheen. It's as if he knew that at just 17 years old the art of showmanship and marketing Rossi entertained the crowds with these unique post-race celebrations, such as dressing up as Robin Hood and shooting an arrow into the crowd after winning the Donnington GP, He would wear eye-catching yellow gear, had a specially designed sun and moon helmet, and began dialing the number. 46 as the identity of his racing career and after securing the championship in the 125 CC class he wore

this

great number one, tied it on his back and did a parade lap, but it goes much further, while the fans in The media was obviously entertained by these post-race antics, they weren't just for show.

Rossi used them many times as a way to play mind games with the competition, such as after winning his home Grand Prix at Mugello that year, Rossi began taking shots at another famous Italian writer and then two 50cc world champions, Max Biagi, when on his recovery lap after the race, tied an inflatable sex doll to his back and christened it Claudia Schiffer, which was a direct dig at Biagi and his then-girlfriend Naomi Campbell, so even at 17 years, Rossi said: The motorcyclist version of Muhammad Ali, who was able to talk, talk and walk, so after winning the 125 title in 1997, Rossi moved up to the 250 class with Aprilia and, just like his first year His first season championships in the 250s had some mixed results, however just nine races in Rossi achieved his first win in the 250 class at the Dutch TT, winning by more than 19 seconds over second place, and would continue until the end of the season.

He charged for the title with a series of wins at Imola and Argentina, but ultimately fell short finishing the world championship in second place, just 23 points behind 1998 250cc champion Loris Capa

rossi

as the 1999 season progressed. , would mark the second year. de Rossi in the 250 class and just as he did in the second seasons of the Italian Sport Production Championships and in the 125 class, he would dominate the season winning nine of the 15 races, giving him his first 250 world championship title. and his second overall Grand Prix title that year, Rossi also upped the ante with his post-race celebrations, starting with the infamous Guardian Angel celebration after his victory in Argentina and, of course, one of the Rossi's personal favorite is when he stopped on the slowdown lap after winning in Spain and jumped the fence and then took a break to urinate in Marshall's Porta-Potty after winning the 250 World Championship in 1999.

Rossi would move up. to the premier class with the Honda team in the 500cc two-stroke and in a carbon copy. In Rossi's previous rookie seasons, he began that first year in the 500 class with a series of crashes trying to acclimatise to the brutal power delivery of the Honda 500, but only nine races with Rossi would give him his first race win. of 500 CC in Donnington. At the end of the season, it would be Kenny Roberts Jr who would win the 2000 world title in 2001. It would be Valentino Rossi's second season in the Premier category and you already know what second seasons at Valentino Rossi have in common.

Domain. Rossi would go. After scoring 11 wins in his second season and only finishing off the podium three times, it was an absolute masterclass in motorcycle racing and Rossi would set the tone that season from the first race in Japan, when early in the race he clashed with Max. Biagi and it seemed that if Biagi intentionally pushed him off the track, Rossi would pass Biagi a lap later and lap him mid-corner. Not only was it a major talking point in the race, but Rossi was basically saying, "no." t F with me Max, I will destroy you when the 2002 season arrives.

Grand Prix racing would move from 500cc two-strokes to 900cc four-strokes, but only the four factory teams of Repsol Honda, Marlboro, Yamaha, Suzuki and Aprilia. on four-stroke machines, while all other satellite teams would remain on the 500 CC two-stroke and it was clear from the first race of the season that the new four-stroke machines were far superior to the two-stroke machines and of course , they should be, they had almost double the advantage in displacement and Rossi simply was not the best rider That season he was also on the best bike that version of the Honda RC 211v was a work of art it was far above Yamaha Suzuki and aprilium and Rossi would win eight of the first nine races.

That season, eventually taking 11 wins in total, he would take his second Premier class title and it would be his first in the four-stroke era and his fourth title overall, no matter what the year went. Without drama, many pundits in the press and even the Honda Motor Company itself claimed that Valentino Rossi's dominance and victories that season were due to the top speed and superior performance of the Honda RC 211v and not necessarily to Valentino's writings. , as one might imagine. It was a direct insult to someone of Valentino's caliber and would become the driving force in the near future to leave Honda for Yamaha and take one of the biggest risks we have ever seen in motorsport, but more on that later, when the 2003 season arrived.

Additionally, it would usher in a new era of competition for Rossi with the addition of ama Superbike champion Nikki Hayden and world superbike champions Colin Edwards and Troy Bayless. At the time it was believed that World Superbikes' four-stroke specialists could take the fight to Rossi, but that season's challenge would not come from any of those writers, but from the emerging Spanish outfit riding a Telefónica Honda movie star . Rossi would begin the 2003 season with a mission to win the first race at Suzuki Japan, but unfortunately

this

race. would be marred by the fatal crash involving up-and-coming Japanese superstar and 250 world champion daijiro Kato dijiro Kato was talented and a very dominant 250 world champion, he was special, winning 17 races of his first 53 Grand Prix entries.

He was also a teammate of Jibronelle and was one of the drivers who was expected to give Rossi a good fight and it was unfortunate that we never got to see his true talent manifest in the next race, which was the South African Grand Prix in the Paddock. of MotoGP. He paid tribute to Daijiro Kato with a moment of silence and an emotional and uplifting performance. His teammate, gibbering on set day, would now win the South African Grand Prix. This wind would elevate the set day from a mid-pack driver to a serious contender. Rossi and Jubernow.

They traded wins during the first part of the season, but in the second half of the season we would see five different races between the two leading up to the final lap where Valentino Rossi would overtake Settejibernau. It happened so often that the press began to think that Rossi was doing this for show, now Rossi flatly stated that he was not, but most of the time in those races it seemed that Gibber was now the faster of the two and would lead almost all the race, but somehow when it mattered. The most he had done throughout his

entire

career Valentino Rossi found extra speed when extra speed was needed and if up to that point there was any doubt that Rossi was not one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time, he would crush any of them. those doubts with one of the greatest motorcycling performances that we would see in the Phillip Island Grand Prix when he received a 10-second penalty for overtaking Marco Malandri under yellow flag for a fall by Troy Bayless after being informed of this sanction Valentino Rossi put down the hammer and smoked the field for more than 15 seconds, overcoming that penalty and winning the race.

Rossi would go on to wear down Sethi's Jibber now and everyone else and easily win the 2003 title in Malaysia, this would be his third in the Premier class and his fifth world title overall and as if there wasn't enough drama during the 2003 season, Rossi would culminate with one of the biggest bombshells in the history of motorsports by announcing that he was leaving the almighty. and a powerful representative saw the Honda team for the downtrodden Yamaha team now back then MotoGP was very cruel to Yamaha, they had only won two of the last 39 Grands Prix and had not won a world championship since Wayne Rainey in 1992 and at that time It seemed like career suicide because Valentino Rossi was dominant on the Honda;

He had won 33 races from the first 48 starts he had and to shed a little more light on the risk he was taking, we would find out several years later. While Yamaha was inches away from closing its Moto GP operations when they hired Rossi, they only committed financially to the first three races of 2004. They didn't even tell Valentino Rossi that his first three races on a Yamaha were decisive for MotoGP's career. both. and the future of Yamaha and little did we know at the time that this would change the fortunes of Yamaha and establish Valentino Rossi as the best writer of his time.

As you can imagine, the 2000 season in four Moto GPs was one of the most anticipated. Once Rossi was on a quest to prove to skeptics that he was the best, not Honda. Honda would up the drama by hiring none other than Valentino Rossi's arch-nemesis Max Biagi, who joined Honda Ponds and delivered full factory-spec motorcycles to establish a racket now. So all eyes were on the inaugural Grand Prix in South Africa and what would unfold would become one of the greatest moments in MotoGP history. Rossi with the Yamaha Biagi with the Honda were face to face from the first corner until the last change.

The lead several times could not be separated between the two with the piece of paper, but when he needed it most Valentino Rossi found enough speed to cut Max Biagi at the line and take his first victory for the Yamaha team. This would make Valentino Rossi the first rider to win consecutive negative races with different manufacturers, having won the last race of the previous season with his Honda and now the first race in South Africa with his Yamaha overwhelmed with emotion. Valentino went off the track, collapsed and laughed a lot. and as much as all of us watching this couldn't believe what we had just witnessed, I think we all realized at that moment that Rossi even surprised himself now that it would be that season for Max Biosh, he would never become in a factor.

After that, but he would now try to step up and close out this championship only to be attacked again by Rossi in the closing stages of three consecutive races in Italy, Catalonia andAssen, and the last one during the last lap at Assen was so aggressive that the two collided. He almost crashed them both and it was noticeable during the post-race celebrations that Sethi Gibber was now angry about this incident and began to complain about Rossi's aggressive driving style. He had to do something and do something quickly to stop Rossi's momentum, but what he would eventually do.

Choosing to do would put the nail in his coffin not only for the 2004 season but also for the rest of Settejibranau's career in Round 13 of the Championship. That season was hosted by the newly built low-selling international circuit and Qatar was a newly built circuit. In the middle of the desert, the track was struggling to keep sand off the main race line after members of Rossi's qualifying team were reported to race stewards for sweeping sand from Valentino Rossi's grid spot. which is a clear violation of the rules after reviewing the incident. The race stewards penalized Rossi, forcing him to start from the back of the grid and to make matters worse, Sethi Jibber had now qualified on pole position, now Rossi would drive like a man possessed but would eventually crash. he came out while running in fourth place and put up the gibberish now he would win that race now after the Qatar incident Rossi made it known that he felt Shipper Now and his team of Telefónica movie stars were behind the protest that led to him being penalized.

Valentino was so angry that he swore that as long as he was in Grand Prix racing, that gibber would now never win another race and unfortunately for Sethi Jibber, this would now come true as he would never win another Grand Prix after that in the next race in Malaysia. Rossi would back up his words with an easy victory and then after the race, Rossi would take a shot at the race marshals and cringe at the Qatar incident by getting off the broom and sweeping the floor in front of his Yamaha, now Rossi would continue. By winning the remaining three races of that season and finishing with a total of nine victories that year, he would achieve his third world title in the four-stroke era and his fourth overall title in the Premier class and his sixth in the world championships in 2005.

It would be Rossi's second season with the Yamaha team and I don't have to tell you what happens with second seasons. Valentino Rossi proved to be even more dominant than the previous year and immediately started the season by winning the first round in Spain, but not without controversy, as during the last corner of the last lap the victory fell to him and yes, settejib Burnell Rossi faithful to his way and his words in a display of will and aggression Paloma inside Jibronelle's barn during him just off the track Jibber and his team would now protest Rossi's reckless and impetuous driving, but in the end the stewards stated that it was just a racing incident and that victory was a policy to maintain from that point on which pretty much put an end to the settejibber, now Rossi would go on to end that. season with another 11 race wins capturing his fifth Top Class title and seventh overall championship.

When the 2006 season began, it was no surprise that Rossi was once again the favorite to win the title; However, throughout Rossi's career he was blessed with good fortune, but this would be the year in which that luck would change, he would suffer mechanical failures in France and the United States, a piece of rubber would fly out of his rear tire, causing which would force him to retire at the Chinese Grand Prix, but things would go from bad to worse for Valentino when In the ass and at the GP that year, he jumped his Yamaha during practice and was left with a fractured wrist, a hole in the elbow and a serious sprained ankle.

Now, against the advice of the Grand Prix medical directors, he decided to race in the ass and in the GP anyway. From 18th on the grid and in a tremendous display of courage, a battered Valentino Rossi somehow fought his way to a respectable eighth place, but gave up significant ground to championship leader Nikki Hayden, but entered the penultimate round of the championship in the Portuguese Rossi Championship. Hopes seemed to be over, he needed a stroke of luck and he would have it when during the race, Nikki Hayden, the championship leader, was eliminated in a strange way by his own teammate, Danny Pedrosa, causing both riders to crash. crash and retire Tony.

Elias, who was in third place, would pass Kenny Roberts Jr and Rossi on the final lap to take the lead and win the race by a minuscule 0.0002 of a second, even though Valentino did not win the race at the time. The incident between Hayden and Pedrosa was enough to give Valentino Rossi an eight-point lead in the Championship heading into the final round in Valencia over Nikki Hayden, so despite all the bad luck he had that season he just needed to finish ahead of Nikki Hayden. winning his eighth world title now seemed like a foregone conclusion because every time Rossi needed to give that was exactly what he did, but this time it would be different because on lap five in Valencia he made a mistake and lost the front of his Yamaha and the accident He would manage to get going again but would only finish 13th and would ultimately lose the title to Nikki Hayden by just five points and Rossi's five year run at the top of the Moto GP Empire was over and Nikki Hayden was his new Moto GP.

Now world champion, after Valentino lost the title in 2006, he was determined to win it back again in 2007 and there was a feeling that Ross was still the man to beat, but that was about to change when a new legend emerged in the Casey Stoner form Casey Stoner was in his second Grand Prix season and had just signed a contract with Ducati and Rossi simply had no answer for Casey Stoner, everything he threw at Stoner. That season that had worked with previous drivers for years just didn't work. with Stoner after losing four of six races, Rossi tried everything he could to slow Stoner's momentum in Catalunya and despite his best efforts, Rossi was defeated hands down, leaving him to say after the race that Stoner rides like a god and that Stoner would easily keep going.

If Rossi won the title, on the other hand, he would finish in third place with 241 points and after two frustrating seasons where Valentino Rossi and the Yamaha team lost the title to the Honda of Nikki Hayden and the Ducati of Casey Stoner, the critics began to doubt whether Valentino was ever capable of winning. another title in the 2008 season, many people believed that this would become the Casey Stoner era and that he would easily win the title and halfway through the season that was exactly what it looked like because Stoner won four of the first 10 races, but everything fell apart. boils down to another historic and iconic MotoGP battle of all time involving Valentino Rossi when, for the sake of Laguna, in the United States, Casey Stoner was clearly the fastest rider that day.

Rossi would say during the pre-race conference that the only way anyone could stop Stoner is if he had a gun, but Rossi wouldn't need a gun, just his legendary race. Acumen, when he started the race, Rossi immediately jumped to the front and spent the

entire

race blocking Casey Stoner. He knew that if Stoner stepped up to the plate. His career would be over and he simply wasn't going to let that happen now. Stoner would overtake Rossi in the interest of the infamous corkscrew only to see Valentino Rossi pass him in the dirt and this was another total Hail Mary pass that we had come to see from Valentino Rossi.

Now this pass obviously made Casey Stoner nervous because a few laps later he went off the track while he was trying to pass Rossi in the final corner. Casey Stoner was able to remount but ultimately finished second that race. For Valentino now, Casey Stone looks a lot like Seth from Jibber. He now he was not a fan of Valentino Rossi's aggressive driving. The style would win a few races that year, but it clearly didn't look like the Casey Stoner we had seen in the 2007 seasons and the early parts of 2008 and that was enough for Rossi to regain his authority over the Moto GP Empire by winning his eighth Championship overtaking to Stoner by 93 points in 2009.

Valentino Rossi would receive a very tough challenge from his young teammate Jorge Lorenzo, but just as he did with Sethi gibber now and heret and Casey Stoner and Laguna Sega, as soon as Jorge Lorenzo felt a breath of confidence and thought he might have a chance in this Championship, Rossi stopped him by making another pass for good on the last lap. At the final corner of the Catalunya GP, this was a place that no one had ever gone through before on a motorcycle and that let Jorge know who is still Yamaha's main rider now, however his main competition the previous season, Casey Stoner didn't do it.

Stoner would later miss a series of Grand Prix due to health reasons and at the time was diagnosed with lactose intolerance, but years later it was revealed that he actually suffered from Epstein-Barr or chronic fatigue syndrome. which he still suffers today, later that season in Ass and Kingdom Valentino would win his 100th Grand Prix race becoming only the second troublemaker in history to surpass 100 total wins, placing him in second place in all-time behind 122 Grand Prix victories. Prize racing legend Giacomo Agostini Rossi would finish first in the championship with 306 points, 72 ahead of second place Jorge Lorenzo. When the 2010 season arrived, it would be another dominant year for the Yamaha team, but this time it wouldn't come from Rossi.

He would come from his teammate Jorge Lorenzo. Jorge's perfect precision and ability to consistently put in fast laps throughout the race made him difficult to beat, but the year would get worse for Valentino when, during his home Grand Prix and at Mugello, Italy, Rossi highlighted his Yamaha in one of the quick right-to-left combinations would suffer a displaced compound fracture of his right tibia. This crushed any hopes of winning the 2010 title and was the first time Rossi would miss a Grand Prix race in his career. but as the saying goes, you can't hold back a good man and just a month after breaking his leg, Rossi would compete again in the German Grand Prix and, surprisingly, would finish just off the podium in fourth position.

Rossi would make a valiant effort for the rest of the season but would finish third in the championship behind eventual champion Jorge Lorenzo, now in 2011 Rossi would send shockwaves through the motorcycling community again by announcing that he would be leaving the Yamaha team for the Ducati team, but Valentino never got along with the Ducati, certainly not like Casey Stoner did and was windless for the entire 2011 season. This would be the first time in Valentino Rossi's illustrious career that he failed to win a race during a Grand Prix season, unfortunately, what would happen? The most memorable thing about the 2011 season would be the tragic death of promising Italian superstar and former 250 world champion Marco Simoncelli in the Malaysia round.

We are in the second lap of the race. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards were in a strange situation. Collision involving Simoncelli who was his best friend when Simoncelli lost control of his bike sending him right in front of Rossi and Edwards and they hit Simoncelli in the head and chest the blow resulted in the attack The Italians suffered critical injuries where he would later die in a hospital and this was another tragic loss for the world of motorcycling as Marco simoncelli was fast, fearless and charismatic, he put on a show every time he got on a bike and the fans loved him for that and just like digirokato , it was sad that he was taken out of Now It's Too Soon.

Rossi would finish the 2011 season seventh in a championship behind eventual winner Casey Stoner in 2012. Rossi would stay with Ducati, but it would be more of the same: he would never win another race and would never be again. grab that bike in the end he would finish sixth in a championship with 163 points a total of 187 behind a ventral Champion Jorge Lorenzo in 2013 Rossi announced that he would leave Ducati to return to the Yamaha team but the MotoGP panorama had

changed

with the arrival of Mark Márquez Márquez He was fast, aggressive and brave, possessing all the qualities except the charisma that Valentino Rossi had when he was young.

Márquez would reinvent Moto GP with his elbows-down riding style and there was nothing at the time anyone could do about it. That year, Márquez would take a crude C on Rossi by passing him in the corkscrew in the dirt during the United States Grand Prix, but at the Dutch round Rossi would break his long 46-race winless streak by recording his first MotoGP victory since Malaysia. in 2010. Rossi would finish strong that year in the championship with 237 points and finished with a respectable 97 point lead over eventual champion Mark Marquez in 2014. Valentino would continue to battle against the likes of Marquez and Lorenzo, in fact they would all struggle that year.year. with Márquez, he won 13 of the 18 races that season and easily took the MotoGP title.

Rossi had a very consistent season, winning two grands prix that year and finishing on the podium in 13 of those 18 races, but it still wouldn't be that way. Enough to surpass Mark Marquez's record year now in the 2015 season arrived, none of us would have imagined what we would witness would be one of the most dramatic and dark Moto GP seasons in history during his entire Grand Prix career. Rossi has always responded to any challenge that could threaten his MotoGP throne and there was no way he was going to let Mark Marquez get away with another title in 2015;

It would be a showdown for the ages, but not in the way we had all thought. and it would change the fortunes of Valentino Rossi, Mark Márquez and Jorge Lorenzo forever. Rossi started the 2015 season by taking a win in the opening race in Qatar, but at the third round in Argentina things got heated as Rossi chased Mark Marquez for the lead. before the two drivers collided on the penultimate lap, Rossi would stay upright but Márquez would crash out of the race. Now Márquez downplayed this altercation by saying it was just a racing incident, but really in his mind he felt that Rossi deliberately cut himself in front of him causing him to crash, so four rounds later at the Asin GP the two would be involved in the crash. back and forth battle for the lead when on the final lap into the final corner, Mark Marquez would aggressively dive to the inside of Valentino Rossi and do what it looked like.

The moment was a pass for victory, but Valentino Rossi would pick up his bike, wheelie it through the dirt and cut a portion of the track, finishing in front of Mark Marquez and c

rossi

ng the finish line in first place. Now Mark Marquez believed that his aggressive pass was fair and clean and that Rossi cut the track on purpose and fooled Valentino. He claimed that Marquez ran him off the track on purpose, leaving him with no option, but Ray Stewarts eventually sided with Rossi. and considered that once again it was just a racing incident and Rossi held the win in years prior to this aggressive victory, the everything cost mentality gave Rossi The Edge over the likes of Casey Stoner and said that now they sputter but Mark Marquez was different, he shared every bit of the win-at-all-costs mentality that Rossi did.

And that would lead to a serious problem later that year at the Australian Grand Prix at the Australian Grand Prix it was a fierce battle between Rossi Marquez Lorenzo and Andre Ioni had more than 50 different overtakes in the top four throughout the race now Márquez went on to set the fastest lap on the final lap to take the win, but at the next round in Malaysia, during the press conference, Rossi made a comment that he felt Mark Marquez was deliberately blocking him at Phillip Island in an attempt to help his son. His Spanish teammate Jorge Lorenzo won the world title.

Now this comment would set the stage for the Malaysian GP to become one of the most infamous races in the history of the sport, while Marquez, running in third, appeared to back off and take part in a version of road racing. After a fight with Valentino Rossi who was fourth there would be a total of 18 different overtakes and exchanges of positions between the two until on the seventh lap of the race Rossi overtook Márquez at turn 14, pushing him off the circuit and causing him to crash. Now Rossi would stand tall and take third place in the race behind Jorge Lorenzo and winner Danny Pedrosa, but when race management reviewed the incident they deemed Rossi to be at fault for the collision with Marquez, he would now get to keep his third place. , but this meant that Rossi would be forced to start the final race in Valencia from the back of the grid with only a slight four-point lead in the championship over Jorge Lorenzo, even though Rossi would start behind on the grid in Valencia.

He would work his way up to fourth position, but Jorge Lorenzo would win that race over Mark Marquez by two tenths of a second. Victory would be enough for Jorge Lorenzo to win the 2015 MotoGP championship by a narrow margin. Five points ahead of Rossi to this day, the dispute between Márquez and Rossi still continues and, unfortunately for Valentino, that would be the closest he would get to a world title again: he would win two races in 2016 and then win his last Grand Prix. . victory in 2017 at the Asin circuit, but from 2017 until announcing his retirement in 2021, Rossi was never able to recover his magic as a father, another time would catch up with him and a younger Mark Márquez would continue to dominate the MotoGP scene and the top.

The future crop of younger, hungrier racers would prove to be too much ferocity. It is a delicate decision for any all-time great to step down and retire from their sport. Some bow out too soon, leaving fans wondering what could have been while some. -The greats of time stay too long tarnishing their legacy as the world sadly watches them deteriorate before their eyes, but Rossi was different even when he was 40, he was still a top five writer, he was still kicking men's ass half his age, but the question is how he revolutionized the sport of Grand Prix motorcycle racing and whether he is the greatest of all time.

Well, let's start with the statistics. He won more races in the modern era than anyone, including all his main rivals by far, and he did it for a longer period of time than anyone else and only the great Yakimo Agostini of the 60s and 70s has more wins and championships, but that It was a completely different era where racers competed in multiple classes in a single day under very different rules. Rossi also won a championship in every category of motorcycle racing he competed in from the day he was born to the day he retired and when he entered Grand Prix racing he was beating men twice his age and when He left, he was winning. men half his age, he went toe to toe with some of motogp's biggest superstars and legends and more often than not outclassed them, making him easily the best motorcycle racer of the modern era on statistics alone, without a doubt, and in the The best conversation of all time, he can only be compared with the Great Yakomo Agostini.

And depending on how many libations you've drank, you could honestly make a clear argument for any of them, but what made Rossi so great and how did he revolutionize him? The sport of motorcycle road racing is what's not on the stat sheet, much like the debate between Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Statistics don't tell the whole story. If we only looked at the statistics, one could easily say that LeBron James is the greatest basketball player who ever lived. Did you ever live but you saw a video of Michael Jordan playing basketball and you tell me who you think is the best of all time and that's how it was with Valentino Rossi, you had to see it to believe it because he was the best writer of key moments of all time .

Whenever he needed speed, whenever he needed a victory, he got it, and unlike Mick Jewan of the previous generation, who had just come along, he punched Square in everyone's mouths, totally dominated him, and then went to home. Rossi rarely dominated a race and that was the beauty of it. He was often lurking in second or third place with only a few laps left, but everyone in the world somehow knew that this man was going to throw an epic Hail Mary pass on the last lap and somehow pull this off. . I mean, you knew he was coming, even hell.

The writers knew it was coming but they couldn't stop it and then after he won you knew he was going to treat the crowd to a wild celebration like bowling, ball and chain kissing the ground or notarized world title celebration. I never knew what this man had up his sleeve. Rossi was the biggest draw on the biggest stage because in his time you didn't show up to see MotoGP, you showed up to see Valentino Rossi fans, sports stars, top celebrities, they came from all over the world. world to witness the legend himself become the highest-paid motorcycle racer of all time and one of the highest-paid athletes.

He became a national hero in his home country and there was no video of his achievements. You would think that all this was simply He was so popular that even Formula One wanted a piece of Valentino Rossi. It was bigger than the sport. He was larger than life. And he did it because Rossi made Moto GP fun. He seemed to enjoy the thrill of racing and entertaining people. and since his retirement, he has returned to the sport creating the VR Racing Academy to groom younger talent and also with his Moto GP racing team, Mooney vr46 racing, and has also become a highly successful race car racer where he still races and continues to entertain.

It's as if he was put on this Earth to do just that, compete and entertain in sports talk, nowadays we are constantly bombarded with the overuse of the acronym goat, the greatest of all time, and now the new phrase seems be I'm him, but the truth is that most goats are not goats and most athletes are not him. It's just sports clickbait, but Valentino Rossi was the goat, he was him, he put a sport on his back and took it into a new era, he got people interested in motorcycles. competing and spawned a whole new generation of legendary riders, he was loved by the masses and respected by his enemies, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter if you think he's the goat or not or what his position is in the minds of social networks in the press all that matters is that you and I were lucky enough to be alive and witness what a true once in a lifetime wonder looks like because you will probably never see someone like him again, thank you