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Six years apart, two Yamaha-contracted riders clad in black stepped onto unbranded Ducatis at Valencia, in the week after the final race of the MotoGP season. Valentino Rossi was out of the door again two winless seasons later, but Jorge Lorenzo's days in red look destined to be much happier.
Rossi's 2011-12 spell at Ducati is an unfortunate footnote on his otherwise glittering career. Having won seven titles in 11 years with Honda and then Yamaha - bringing success to the latter - he backed himself to go to Ducati and make things work.
He was replacing Casey Stoner, who won the 2007 title in his first year with Ducati but 'only' won races beyond that. As it turns out, the 'only' translates into Stoner carrying a recalcitrant bike to places it did not deserve to be.
