MotoGP Misano, Valentino Rossi: ‘The retirement? I’ve been thinking about it since Mugello 2019 ‘

The end of his career is approaching and Valentino Rossi lends himself more and more willingly to chats that retrace his deeds. To the microphones of Sky, the nine-time world champion talked about the present and the future, as usual, in his style. “I’m serene, I’m sorry to quit MotoGP, of course, I would have liked to continue but I’m not competitive enough. This is what I regret most, in the last year of my career I would have liked to be more competitive. But it’s the right choice, I’m sure. Then Aragon is gone, Misano remains, twice, Austin, Portugal, all tracks that I love. And there is Valencia, that will be the last obstacle but it will also be the last race, so it will still be nice ”, he confessed.

Rewind valentino

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“If I think about it for a lot of years, it was good, very long, with different phases, with good and bad things. My recipe for longevity? I don’t think I have any. I think it’s a set of things. First of all, you must like what you do, work with the team, always be under pressure. You have to like the life of the pilot, always on the go. It really depends on why you run. I’ve always been passionate about all this, I’ve always loved the feeling of the race, of the victory ”. Pressure is a travel companion who has never left him. “Under pressure you are not well but at the same time you like it and if you don’t have it anymore you realize that you miss it. It’s difficult to explain, it’s bittersweet, it makes you nervous, tense but it pushes you to give your all, it spurs you to go beyond what you yourself thought you could do “.

time for goodbye

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Choosing the moment to say goodbye is never easy, you always risk quitting too late or too early. For Valentino, this choice has a precise date and place: “Mugello 2019. It is there that the idea of ​​retiring for the first time flashed in my head, I said to myself sooner or later I will have to do it”. Here Valentino becomes introspective: “Last year it was as if I woke up from a good dream, from a limbo. Those were years in which I was so into the situation, in which I was just trying to do well, to win races. I was like in a parallel universe, a limbo in fact. To put it like Steve McQueen: racing is life, everything that comes before or after is just waiting. And then there was Covid which helped change my perception. It allowed me to step back, to step out of the bubble I’ve been in all this time to see what else was out there. But I’m not complaining eh, I was lucky. I had a fairly normal life, I remained the boy I was, I have always been with my friends in Tavullia. I chose this life in the bubble, I wanted it, even in winter, and now it has burst and I’m out ”.

future

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But the future doesn’t scare Valentino. First of all there is a little girl to welcome. “I am very happy to have been able to say that about the girl instead of the newspapers, I enjoyed after all the false rumors spread. I have always wanted to be a father, we wanted her and we are very happy. Then I’m curious about this new situation. So far the pregnancy is going well, I’m fine, for me it hasn’t changed that much, ”jokes the Doctor. And the future still means racing. “I will still watch the races, from home, on the sofa. There are many strong Italian drivers who will fight for the title. People want to see the Italians win, the Italian bikes, maybe together. At Aragon I followed Pecco from a big screen and after the victory I ran to compliment him; it was time for this victory to hit, we are super proud of our work, of our riders, of Pecco and Franco Morbidelli. Next year, but maybe this year who knows, they can really win the World Cup ”. As for him, there is no shortage of offers. “Yes, I have received many interesting ones, I will have to choose the championship where to race, maybe in the endurance one with gt cars, we are thinking about it”.