How Rossi got the perfect send-off to his MotoGP career

The future that MotoGP has been pondering for the past two decades has finally become a reality: the Valentino Rossi era has now passed. At the conclusion of Sunday’s Valencia Grand Prix finale to the 2021 season, Rossi’s 432nd start, the Italian legend brought the curtain down on his illustrious 26-year career.

Rossi’s is a career that will never be matched. He won nine grand prix world titles, seven of those in the premier class. He scored a grand total of 115 victories, 235 podiums and 65 poles on 125cc, 250cc, 500cc, 990cc, 800cc and 1000cc machinery. And it wasn't limited to one marque either: along the way, he rode for Aprilia, Honda, Yamaha and Ducati.

The Ricardo Tormo circuit was packed out on Sunday in scenes reminiscent of normal times, with fans from all over the world making pilgrimage to bid farewell to the Doctor. It’s because of him that MotoGP can have such a worldwide draw.

Across the weekend messages of tributes poured in from every corner of life, from fellow paddock members, to stars from the wider sporting world and even A-list Hollywood celebrities. MotoGP brought together all of his nine title-winning machines for a special paddock display, while all of Rossi’s Academy riders ran special helmet designs from his past in the race.

At the end of it all, during the end-of-season prize ceremony, Rossi was made an official MotoGP legend. It’s an honour which has little real value given how liberal Dorna Sports has been in awarding it over the years, but legend is the only fitting word to describe the Italian.

“[It] was a really, really special weekend,” Rossi said. “I didn’t expect it like this. I was a bit worried about the last weekend of my career because you always think on this moment for a long time and you don’t know how you will feel, or if you are able to stay concentrated on the race, and also if you are sad. But it was a great weekend from Thursday.”

Rossi was mobbed after the finish, having taken 10th in his final MotoGP race

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

There wasn’t a person in the paddock who didn’t want to see Rossi breach the 200-podium mark on his final outing. But it was never likely. He started Friday’s running last on the timesheets, but a tow from protege Francesco Bagnaia in FP3 on Saturday – having made a set-up breakthrough – allowed him to sail directly into Q2.

From there Bagnaia helped Rossi to 10th on the grid, where he would end up having ridden an “unbelievable” race – according to 11th-placed Franco Morbidelli – that the man himself described as his “best” performance of the season.

Rossi’s pace for much of the Valencia GP was in the high 1m31s – his run in the final seven laps pretty much comparable to that of most of the riders ahead of him up to third-placed Jack Miller. And this has been the reality of Rossi’s final year – at most venues he’s ridden faster than he ever has, but such are the fine margins in MotoGP now that any deficit is magnified. In qualifying last weekend, Rossi was 0.810s off pole. Rewind back to 2016 at the start of the current spec-electronics and Michelin era, eight tenths off pole would have put you fourth on the grid.

“Sincerely they [my team] gave to me fantastic support, because sincerely the season was long and it was not easy,” Rossi reflected. “It was a crucial season for me to decide if I continue, but the results don’t arrive. So, it’s very easy when you say, ‘OK, I stop’, and give up.

"Yesterday I tried to help him in the qualifying, today he was with me on the top of the podium. So, for me it’s a great day" Francesco Bagnaia

“But after Portugal we speak together, and I say, ‘in Valencia we have to give the maximum because it’s the last race and I want to make the maximum because that track is the worst track for me, and I don’t want to arrive last’. It was much better than we expected and sincerely I think this is the best race of my season. It was very important to make a good result today.”

While a solid run to a competitive 10th was a good way for Rossi to sign off, it was what happened at the front which ultimately made his final race perfect.

Having dropped off from second to fourth at the start – baffled by recent sluggish starts – Bagnaia came through to score his fourth win of a 2021 season which has marked him out as a menacing frontrunner in MotoGP. Running a 2004 tribute helmet to his great friend and mentor, the significance of Bagnaia’s latest win was not lost on the young Italian.

“The most important thing was to celebrate him in the best way possible, and with my favourite helmet he did in the past – and the most significant I think, because in 2004 he won with Yamaha, it was not easy and he won,” Bagnaia said.

Bagnaia won using special tribute helmet

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“For me [it] was the nicest one, for the story this helmet had. I chose this one and today was the best way possible to celebrate him in his last race by winning. And it was nice, the hug we had on track after the chequered flag. We shared a lot of emotions there, so I’m very happy.”

Bagnaia ends the season runner-up in the championship to Fabio Quartararo and just 26 points adrift. No one has scored more points in the second half of this 2021 season (143 vs 122 for Quartararo), while the Italian has absolutely nailed his qualifying form by scoring front rows in ever round since Assen. Given how well-rounded the Ducati package is now, it’s no wonder world champion Quartararo is “worried” looking ahead to 2022.

But Bagnaia would arguably never be in this position without the belief shown in him by Rossi when he was first taken into the VR46 Riders Academy. Bagnaia’s ability to win Moto3 races on the underpowered Mahindra back in 2016 showed an immense talent, while Rossi helped to mould that into the rider to win the 2018 Moto2 title convincingly before eventually becoming Ducati’s leading light.

“Vale for me is a friend, a big brother and helped us a lot every time,” Bagnaia said after the Valencia GP when asked to sum up what Rossi means to him. “Also, for what he has done for us and what he is doing for us every day. It’s [winning] the minimum possible [I could do for him]. Yesterday I tried to help him in the qualifying, today he was with me on the top of the podium. So, for me it’s a great day.”

Ironically, the fact Bagnaia is in the position he is with Ducati is also in some ways down to Rossi and how Ducati reacted following its two dismal years with the Italian icon in 2011 and 2012.

Just as Rossi himself thrust Italy into the spotlight again during his golden years, so too has he ensured the future of Italian MotoGP talent remains bright through his efforts with the VR46 Academy. In 2022, four riders will race in MotoGP backed by VR46: Bagnaia, Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli, plus VR46 duo Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi.

As the Rossi era came to a close, Sunday’s Valencia GP felt very much like a true changing of the guard – the master passing the torch to his apprentice.

Much has been made about how MotoGP will move on in the post-Rossi era. Whatever that will look like, it’s clear that his legacy is very much safe in the hands of Bagnaia…

VR46 Academy rider Marini and protege Bagnaia will ensure Rossi's legacy continues

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images