At 42, he decided he could hang up with almost no regrets. Valentino Rossi has spent more than half of his life on the tracks all over the world, competing alone for 44% of the Grand Prix organized since the creation of the championship in 1949. At the head of one of the most prestigious palmares that we have known and the true media head of the discipline for a quarter of a century, he can obviously feel that he has done his part and that the time has come to enjoy a life that is now calmer.
For a long time, MotoGP wondered how it could survive without its star. The one who blew up audience figures and circuit attendance, and who also set up colossal marketing, now seems irreplaceable in terms of aura and media attraction, nevertheless the unchallenged success of MotoGP in recent years, when the # 46 was no longer able to play the leading roles, should be able to reassure the organizers.