Rossi: “I have a good relationship with Biaggi and Stoner. Lorenzo? A friend”

After 26 years in the world championship, Valentino Rossi has retired from racing, but the shadow of the most charismatic driver in history continues to be present on fans of this sport and still very strong in racing. In MotoGP this year his private team, VR46, which represents the legacy that the Doctor leaves to the world championship, officially debuted.

Ironically, Rossi became the father of his first daughter on Friday in Qatar, the inaugural event of the season, the first in which he has not taken part since 1996. At the age of 43 last February and with his daughter Juliet in his arms, Valentino has transformed into an extra fan following the matches from the sofa.

“I haven’t heard anything special. I thought ‘how lucky it is not to be there. Last year I really wanted to finish the last race in good spirits in Valencia and I succeeded. So now I like to watch the races from the couch. I am a big fan of motorcycles, I like to see them all. Now I have fun cheering our Italian drivers, my brother is on the track and other friends. The most difficult moment was in June, between Barcelona and Assen, when I made the decision to retire ”, confesses Valentino Rossi in an interview with Il Giornale.

During the long interview, the Doctor talks about the birth of his daughter, the reasons that led him to extend his career beyond 40 years and also about his great opponents, with rivalries that in some cases have been taken to the extreme, with riders like Max Biaggi, Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo.

“We had a great rapprochement with Casey, he sent me messages from Australia, he asks about the little girl. We also met last year, ”she says. “The relationship with Lorenzo has also improved a lot. Now he is a friend, he came to the 100km of Champions at the Ranch and in the evening we went to dance together. Even with Max there was a rapprochement “, she declared before acknowledging that she took the rivalry with Biaggi to the extreme:” she was strong. Now we say goodbye, we talk to each other. It’s nice”. However, there is one person he never talks about in this interview and it is Marc Marquez, with whom he experienced a very hard confrontation in 2015 and who still persists in a very strong way today.

Despite being the owner of one of the teams that are on the MotoGP grid, the Mooney VR46 Racing Team, Valentino has not yet returned to the paddock since his retirement in November last year. Everything suggests that he will not be very present at the races: “I will definitely go to some races, for sure at Mugello. But it will be a bit complicated, somewhere they have to put me. I can’t stay in the paddock without doing anything, I’ll go and see my team guys, my brother ”.

Precisely on his brother Luca Marini this year he races with the Ducati Desmosedici GP22 paid for by the team owned by Valentino. This scenario could favor a possible desire of the Doctor to try the very powerful bike from Borgo Panigale. “Noooo, let’s not joke. When you get on a bike like this you need to have a goal, it’s a brutal bike, which goes very fast. There is no point in climbing on it to go to 75%, I will not. I don’t miss MotoGP ”.