The multiple world champion from Tavullia has decided to say enough at the end of the season and devote himself to his great passion for engines at 360 °.

When he gets off the bike at the last Grand Prix this season he will have accomplished something extraordinary. His fame is almost stronger and more important than the entire MotoGP paddock.

At 42, Valentino Rossi, 9 times world champion, has decided to say enough to the world of two wheels as a driver.

The news that arrived yesterday is something that will remain in history. He made his debut in 1996 in the smallest class, the 125, and has changed almost all the bikes. He moved from Aprilia to Honda, to go to his beloved Yamaha, try Ducati for 2 years and return to Yamaha.

The palmarès is a world record holder with 9 world championships won, 423 races disputed and 115 races won. Over the course of his career he has achieved an impressive 6330 points, as well as 65 pole positions and 96 fastest laps.

A rider who can easily be compared to Agostini and all the great ones of the World Championship.

Valentino Rossi is the rider who overtook at the exact moment you didn't expect anything. His overtaking at the Corkscrew was unforgettable, which literally made all the fans jump on the sofa.

His number, 46 , was a very strong combination of two single numbers that also influenced the mass in streetwear. In fact, the Valentino Rossi fan club has the habit of finding themselves with these two numbers imprinted on the t-shirts or in the caps or on the sweatshirts. Two yellow numbers surrounded by a red and a blue. Two numbers that immediately evoke the image of an ultra-fast driver who passed quickly in the larger classes as he was a bit uncomfortable in the small 125s.

Since 1996 he has competed continuously until 2021, with the same desire and the same determination of a rookie. The last world championship came in 2009 and then three second places arrived in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Last year he finished fifteenth overall in the championship, but this shouldn't make Valentino Rossi think as a rider who has threw the gloves and surrendered to an age-related fate.

Clearly it is very difficult to compete with guys 10 or 15 years younger than him in the most powerful class of the World Championship. Fatigue is felt as MotoGP is a sport that wears you out.

The smile, however, was never lacking, both when he won the MotoGP world championships 6 times, and when he fell to the ground and was always looking for a way to think about the next race.

Valentino Rossi in Italy, and even more in Romagna, is a true symbol of sportsmanship and a symbol of MotoGP. Where he went he always created confusion and always dictated the times inside the garage.

His father Graziano, himself a motorcycle rider at the turn of the 70s and 80s, brought him into a world that could very often eat the brain of any rider. We often see drivers who are sometimes mentally victimized by the burden of ranking leadership or race leadership. All this was not within the mind of Valentino Rossi, as in the minds of the great champions. Another great champion is Marc Marquez, also a rider we will remember for decades. Both have had that extra something that the ultra-professional riders within the MotoGP have not had.

Starting inside the MotoGP paddock is something exclusive and very few riders in the world can do it. Coming last in these competitions doesn't mean being poor. All those who break the pace on the roads and think they have an ultra-performance bike with excellent qualities are light years away from the technical ability, quick reflexes and skill of these 15 riders who start every Sunday during the MotoGP championship.

In the Olympus of these riders there is a name, namely Valentino Rossi who yesterday decided to say enough at the end of the season to the racing world. He decided to say enough, without saying goodbye. We will probably see him in the world of rallying, which is also a great passion of Valentino Rossi.

Thanks for everything, really, Vale

credit photo By Mr. Negative - Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1994950