MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi’s impressive motorcycle career came to an end on November 14, 2021. Rossi drove his last Grand Prix at the season finale of the motorcycle world championship and said goodbye to the world championship stage after 26 years.
The career of car number 46 could have ended sooner. The fact that Rossi was still driving in 2021 is mainly due to the Italian’s environment. Rossi himself planned to resign at the end of 2019.
“In the 2019 season I was already thinking about retiring,” Rossi admits in an interview with YouTuber Graham Bensinger and explains: “It was the first year that I had real problems with my results. I expected to be significantly stronger.”
In the 2017 MotoGP season, Rossi celebrated his 115th and final Grand Prix victory. A mixed season 2018 followed, in which Rossi was able to show one second and four third places and ended up third in the World Championship.
Sporting crash after a promising start to the season
The following year things went downhill significantly. After a promising start to the season with two second places in the first three races, Rossi did not manage another podium. “I had a very good start to the season in 2019. I made it onto the podium twice, in Argentina and in Austin. In Austin I was close to victory. After that, something happened,” muses Rossi.
“I wasn’t fast when we came back to Europe. At that moment, for the first time, I thought about the end of my career. It was followed by the 2020 season, which was very strange because of the pandemic. I thought at the beginning of the season, that it will be my last season and I won’t be driving again in 2021,” recalls Rossi.
“But my parents and friends put pressure on me. I also changed my crew chief. They wanted me to drive another season. That’s why I drove again in 2021,” says the MotoGP legend.
Thoughts of resigning always gave Rossi a queasy feeling
From 1996 Rossi was a regular rider in the motorcycle world championship – he won titles in the 125cc, the 250cc, the 500cc, in the 990cc era and later with the 800cc MotoGP machine. “I was always afraid of the end of my career. I never wanted to stop. I always wanted to continue because I like it so much,” explains Rossi.
The coronavirus pandemic gave Rossi the first taste of not having to prepare for the next race. After the outbreak of the pandemic, it was uncertain whether the 2020 MotoGP season could take place.
“It was the first time that I didn’t know when the next race would take place,” Rossi recalls the uncertainty after the canceled start of the season in March 2020. “I realized that life goes on without a race.”
Another setback: Corona infection threw Rossi back
The topic of Corona occupied Rossi again in autumn 2020. On the return journey from Le Mans, the Italian became infected and missed the two Aragon races. “I felt really bad for two days,” Rossi looks back.
“I had a lot of pain in my lower back. All my muscles hurt. I could feel it in my legs. I had no strength. It was uncomfortable. It was short but very intense. After five or six days I was fine better,” the Italian recalls.
“But I had to stay at home for three weeks,” said Rossi. “Normally everyone is willing to help when you’re sick. But in this case I was completely alone,” recalls the now 43-year-old from Tavullia.