𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐈 | BT Sport Documentary on the career of MotoGP icon, Valentino Rossi

a nine-time world champion

a rebel

[Applause]

an entertainer

a game-changer

as iconic as messi as charismatic as

james hunt and as successful as tiger

woods after 26 years the biggest name in

the sport has retired and we weren't

gonna let him go without saying goodbye

[Music]

valentino rossy

[Applause]

so welcome to tavulia hometown to

valentino rossi

[Applause]

a stone's throw from the italian riviera

and just down the road from the mizano

circuit this is the epicenter of rossi

world

there's his restaurant his pizzeria his

clothing shop his fan club the

children's playground his motor ranch

and the international headquarters of

his 30 million pound a year business now

if you haven't been paying attention how

on earth did all this happen

well he made his grand prix debut at 17.

and was world champion at 18.

and then he was world champion again at

20 and this time he celebrated with

osvaldo

[Music]

more world championships came in 2001

2002 2003 2004 2005 2008 2019

no no more he hasn't won a championship

in 12 years

in 2011 he moved to ducati we don't talk

about that

in 2013 he moved back to yamaha and he

nearly won the championship

twice

[Applause]

he's competed in 432 grand prix winning

115 of them and captured the hearts of

millions

[Applause]

so hi to everybody like uh

i said during the season

i take my decision for for next year and

i decided to stop at the end at the end

of the season so

unfortunately this will be

the last alpha season as motogp rider

when valentino announced his retirement

earlier this year we got the chance to

sit down with him at the british grand

prix at silverstone now normally these

things last for about five minutes

before the ride is whisked off however

valet was clearly in the mood for a chat

hung out with us for a good while so now

for the first time we can bring you the

full chat

it's quite good

[Music]

on dreams

yeah good thank you do you want to drink

or anything are you some more water if

you're water yeah okay let me do that

so this is the british racing drivers

club

ah okay yeah yeah yeah i am an honorary

member you are yeah yeah yeah well i

want to come to see the race here

come next year okay

congratulations on the news about

becoming a father thanks thanks a lot

how exciting

very much and also congratulations on

your 26 year career

top flight racing it's unprecedented

my thought is how on earth have you

managed to do 26 years let's break it

down a little bit first of all

physically because you're tall so have

you been on a diet for 26 years

at the beginning not a lot when when i

was younger in the last 10 years yes

difficult

but is very important to have the

academy guys

because

if you are together you have a lot more

fun because if you have to train alone

is not easy and what about mentally you

know over 26 years how have you managed

to

turn up for work every year

i have a normal life i have a normal

friends and

i give the maximum

for my sport but i have also

the rest

this is good because if you are 100

inside uh become heavy i think for a

long time

you've been able to have your friends go

partying have your holidays and like you

say have your family yes your mum never

misses your birthday does she yeah yeah

very important yes yes yes i think this

is the secret for uh for the longevity

hmm and as your mum being influential at

any time is where you maybe

have been tired or not wanting to do

things is she the one that's

that ah yeah yeah i i

started to to think

uh to stop

uh

in 2019

the first time okay and in 2019 is is

like is the first time that i started to

wake up from this dream

or nightmare no more dream

and it's the first time that i feel out

of the of the tunnel you know okay he's

like okay

maybe now

that's something else it is possible to

stop also

and

my father my mother push a lot no you

don't have to stop you have to continue

yeah like these ladies because sometimes

you expect the the opposite no your mom

no but

you have to stop but

she pushed me yes okay she pushed me and

uh i was also very strange at the moment

that

before austria

i i say to them the first time that i

stop so i was uh

in is how because we are a neighbor no

yeah

and uh a lot of time i go to it to my

mother also with with francescano

because

he's on the other door you know

and she she's a very good

chef cook okay

and they say to them

stephie

tomorrow i have a press conference and i

stay i say that i will stop

and see she like washed the glasses or

like this

ah yes i think it's a good idea

[Laughter]

this is our

words

yes i think yeah i am i think it's a

good idea okay it's ourselves tomorrow

[Laughter]

apart from

the on track action that we see

you've also essentially been camping

around the world for 26 years in a

motorhome yes right yes so what parts of

paddock life have you also enjoyed that

we maybe don't see the best moments are

the the moments that we i share with the

widows and max especially when we are

in the out of europe

when we start for uh japan

malaysia australia no when you you you

stay far from home for 25 days and you

are very far you enter like in another

dimensional is never boring and i know a

lot of other big stars this is this is

great

i always love this this type of life uh

at the end in the last four or five

years uh

i start to wait at the airports yes

they're uh

the difficult to make always

the same

so to start and go in the airport and go

in a motegi in the same hotel in the

same room

in the same track and after from moteji

make the same trip to arrive to philipp

island

so but after 25 years i started to be

tired

what was it about you technically do you

think that made you so good

this is a good question

i think that uh

first of all

i am a

left-hander

but a very particular left-hander

because i am like in italiano

ambidextrous ambidextrous i can do also

with the right okay okay so

a lot of riders are very good on the

left

and uh

maybe they have some more problem on the

right because on the right is more

difficult because you have the throttle

my stronger point is that i am stronger

on the right than on the left that

feeling you know to to entry a little

bit faster in the in the corners

and and also in

during my career uh

when i ride

and i am behind another rider

i was able to

understand

where is better than me

and

try to improve my

my my speed and my skills you know

i think for that

now we know and now we know but it's too

late

[Laughter]

no he was a killer he was

very much a cut throat in terms of

he'd do whatever he needed to to get the

job done

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

welcome back to our trip down memory

lane and the incredible 26-year career

of valentino rossi we are in tavilia his

hometown where he used to tear around

these streets in vehicles like this afe

[Music]

[Music]

for all the success that followed it

wasn't all glitter and hearts so when i

caught up with him at silverstone i

wanted to ask him about those times that

didn't quite go according to plan

buzz

i mean he knew he's a rusty cat look at

his little collar

if i could drop you into any race you've

done ever

and you can relive the race you can

change the result if you want to

what race would it be

a lot

for me

valencia 2006

when i crashed and i lose the

championship with nikki

now the pressure's on nikki he's all

plugged in there getting fired up for

the 30 lapper

the final showdown ladies and gentlemen

is about to start

in the first laps nikki was fast

uh but i had the eighth point of

advantage i think

and uh

i saw him

escape

so

sincerely i don't feel very good with

the bike with that on that day but

anyway this is another story

i push and i crash

rossi has lost the world championship

valentino rossi has crashed out of the

valencia grand prix nikki hayden should

be crowned world champion

but at the end nikki finished third

because i have the two ducati with the

bridgestone with baileys and and

capirosi that are too fast

so with the nikki third

and eighth point of advantage i can

arrive seventh

so in that moment i was

fifth or sixth i think so i wanna

go back and stay quiet and arrive six

and win the championship yeah

you know when they let off the yellow

fireworks i laughed and i see the

pictures because uh i like i guess being

the underdog i have a ton of respect for

valentino rossi as we know i mean he's

the goat and uh

to be able to beat him certainly made it

extra special

and do you leave motogp

happy

i leave motogp very happy

but

for example uh so don't win the the 10th

championship is uh

is a shame for me because i think that i

deserve for for my career i mean i

deserve for my speed

and for my level

and the end of 2015

was uh

very hard to accept and uh sincerely

from that moment everything changed

uh because um

i did a

bad

experience with the ducat you know and i

i didn't win was difficult

[Music]

but after when i came back to yamaha in

2013 that years 13 14 and the first half

of 15 i enjoy very much for me was a was

like a gift because i don't know if i

can continue my career after after

ducati no i don't know if i can i can

come back to yamaha

so for i i live like like a gift i enjoy

very much

in the track and also out of the track

was a very good moment

the end of 2015 was uh was difficult

because i think that can be

one of the best battles in

in in my career and also of moto gp

history because all the year with the

lorenzo

i did like 330 points so an incredible

number and at the end finish like this

with another rider that decide

uh your uh

result was very very bad i have two or

three weeks

tough mm-hmm yes it is no problem for me

no problem to shake hands i mean

but

but apart from that was uh was beautiful

yes

yes beautiful career unprecedented

career and the feeling that i had after

uh some victories what i feel in in the

next days

is uh

a feeling that uh

is unforgettable you know as you make

i at the end you raise for that

yeah yeah and just very quickly moving

forward how serious are you in the

future about gt racing is it for fun or

is it serious

i don't want to stop

racing

i think it's the right moment to stop

with motorcycle

but i can do

a good career also with the cars

because in all in all these uh these

years i always try to improve my skills

with the cars i always make tests some

races and everything

i make some simulators at the mercedes

yeah yeah how was it i enjoyed it it was

very good

and i think that for sure is not at the

same level than the moto gp

but i can do some good races i want to

make something a quite serious day okay

we look forward to it

it's so cool to just see the legend

ahead of me that's so cool thank you so

much

i really appreciate it it's such an

honor to be out there with you

thank you for being our favorite sunday

ma'am

it was a great pleasure anyway

the rider in his own words honest as

always but as open as i've ever known

him leaving the sport happy but with

that niggle that he should have taken

that tenth world title if only it hadn't

been for that rider who shall not be

named

mark marquez

[Applause]

more of him a bit later but for now

let's get the thoughts and reflections

from the panic insiders who know the

italian better than anyone else

[Music]

yes you know everything

how old were you when you first met

valentina

around at three years old four years old

and anyway the first school right

and was there something different about

valentino that you noticed when you were

children that stood

out yes for sure it's different

everywhere

i don't know something special already

our emotion is something dangerous

what we have the school i remember

valentino already designed the helmet

for 401 driver

rider

he's very smart

he doesn't study very much

like me

but at the end

better than me because he's more clever

he don't

yes he does study a lot but he have

always the

strategy to make a good result

we are very different

he is a little bit more

crazy

he like a lot to open himself to other

people

loris what was your first ever memory of

valentino oh wow the really first one is

1990 when i am

world champion and we do a party here in

catholic in the small

minibike truck and i see that really

small guy coming to me

i think you have that time 11 year old

hey cappy rossi your world champion

please give me the helmet give it to me

the gloves start to asking immediately

this is my first reminder of valentino

did you see him riding that day

yeah

so what did you think of him then i

remember you have the turtle on the

helmet well that time is that day is

really young but it's still faster still

really good would you say he's the same

person as when you were four years old

yeah for sure

in valles valley

in 25 years i never see valley angry one

of the strong point of valentino you

don't remain always calm

concentrate try to understand why the

problem may happen and for make a better

race next week and what do you think it

was technically about him that made him

such a great rider

i don't know because uh i think

you know nearly everybody we are the

same but the big difference here

the brain i am uh

much more aggressive compared to him you

know i win or christ i don't care about

the rest we or christ him always

thinking you know this is the difference

between me and him

i remember actually watching a race 2003

watching valentino in mugello

he was behind max biaggi for the first

laps and we're just watching him come

out of there come out of there and then

all of a sudden valentino decided to

make the pass

as much as you saw everything on tv it

wasn't until you got to go and see that

track side

[Applause]

the difference uh and the different

speed the different level of power and

grip everything that he was able to

carry at that corner

um it just showed you you know he was in

a class above

[Applause]

we did everything we could to try to

beat each other

so intensive periods are alive and

somehow i'm happy that it's over

because it was really stressful it was

really intensive

and

but still i'm you know romantic and i

think we had a

very great period of our life

we see the wave we see the friendly

smile the charismatic valentina but he's

won nine world championships you don't

do that by being mr nice guy all the

time how would you describe him on track

he was a killer

very much a cut throat

we haven't seen actually like this as

ross he runs off track and pushes

further wide he would do anything to win

valentino always try to have the best

thing for him always don't think about

the other

i prefer to have something not perfect

but to have to see everybody happy and

this is the difference to the normal

champion and the top champion

the top champion he can control

everything

he brought this intensive show

uh very theatrical with the celebrations

i mean he had a little poke at you once

with his claudia schiffer darling you

know you were dating naomi campbell i

think at the time what were you thinking

then i wasn't happy when it was about

that the one that you just said with

naomi and cloud or whatever

but now when i watch back after 10 20

years i love sports it's also it's about

shows it's not just about performing the

track

that was a big plus point for us

how would you describe your relationship

with valentino back then

prickly

[Music]

um you know no doubt about it you know

valentino and i were best of enemies

how's the shoulder it's okay okay you

have some problem with the shoulder

[Music]

i've always had massive amounts of

respect

um even when i won the championship in

07 you know i had his name on my

on my um

my winning you know vest

because he was one of my heroes growing

up you know he was somebody that i

looked up to and aspired to be um so

being able to learn from him and race

against him in his era

was something that i think you know

puts a lot more credit on what i

achieved in my career

maybe one day we will sit and have a

glass of wine and talk about the old

times and valencia ross is going to go

through wow

can you

rate valentino rossi out of 10 his

26-year career

the king of the two wheels is giacomo

because we're talking about very low

safety very crazy racing and he won so

much it deserves to be 10.

so valentina gets 9.99

with that it was a was difficult because

we are two

difficult characters i mean

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

there's no better way to define a rider

than looking at the people he's beaten

and in valentino's case

since his debut in 1996 the list is long

and distinguished and he remembers every

single one of them so sit back and enjoy

valet

taking you through his own personal hall

of fame

what we have here we have four boards

that have every single rider that you've

raced against in the premier class wow

so 175 names on these boards 175

names and you've beaten 174 of them no

one no

we'll come back to that okay let's start

here

start here

any names jumping out strategy but now

we have a very hard fight

through the season yeah and that was uh

one of my

uh worst or better rivals

rossi takes the inside line jibber now

takes the outside line swings it in

comes up the inside of rossi who's going

to be first across the line it's going

to be close it's going to be juvenile

the spaniard wins for the fourth time

this season i remember because she said

that he would never win another race yes

i think in this season but after he

don't win any more races in his career

yes

i i i

maybe a bit too much a bit witch doctor

yes exactly

yeah with the head

okay right so we've got so we've got

sete so let's have a look down here

john mcguiness yes i'm always in contact

with him would you like to have raised

him in the isle of man

i

did a lap in the isle of man and i

understand

the love for the track

because it's unbelievable it's great

it's very similar to the panel panoramic

street in

close to to tabula where we learn to

race is very close uh but i don't want

to race against him at the ttt too fast

[Laughter]

and captain there is a great great rival

for me from the beginning and he was

also

one of my hero because uh

he became a world champion in 90.

loris in the rookie season yeah he won

the championship

also another one that i want to say is

alex barros also a great great uh battle

with alex he he was very very fast yeah

he's uh one of the

riders that i learned from him

to break and to enter in the corner

because he was very fast and and also is

a very good guy

what else uh

one of my greatest rivals yes i think

that we need the best battles

yes apparently 2001 yeah yeah with the

500 yeah that year was uh very strong

and you know when you're in that rivalry

like that and you you

you have to hate each other i suppose

certainly on track

now how do you feel about max

is uh with bloody was uh was difficult

because we are two

difficult characters i mean

but now

so essentially when i when i see the

races and when i see him is a pleasure i

mean you know because when when you

battle so hard and you stay in the track

together after you have a kind of

respect you know that is quite special

that you don't have with with another uh

guy yeah so he's good

so on here have a look on here is anyone

that

colleen edwards my friend

is my teammate for a long time we also

have a very good relationship he's very

funny also outside of the track and uh

i always enjoy with the colleen you know

and after we have nikki aidan that is uh

is a great shame

because uh

he's

he was a very good guy yeah great

glasser yeah

a hard person to get over isn't it big

loss because when you stay with him who

you always enjoy is uh is positive you

know absolutely yeah uh and then we've

got

some guy called neil hodgson

never came too much today nail really

[Laughter]

for example also gobert

anthony

but for a party they go show yeah i did

a party with the goblins

difficult

[Laughter]

difficult difficulty

very difficult but funny yeah funny not

you need to to

so

difficult to stay on the sleep stream

[Laughter]

but uh was a good guy we'll move on from

the from the party scenario okay

this is one of my favorite board we here

we are more in the modern era we are in

the modern era yes okay so we have uh

we've got danny

and we've got casey stone over there one

of the most talented and difficult

riders to beat

because

for me

about the pure talent

is unbeatable so we did some

incredible things like i remember

phillip island

a warm-up in the morning but like

eight degrees so already phil pyland

is brave already when he's hot

but with eight eight degrees

is

really really dangerous and i remember

that he was 1.5 seconds faster than

anybody

in which way do we do like this

unbelievable i think that the battle

with the stoner in 2008

was one of the best

and also lorenzo we shared the team for

a long time i don't deserve a teammate

like lorenzo in yamaha after what i do

for yamaha i need one a little bit more

slow

200 miles an hour jorge lorenzo up the

inside of valentina rossi can he make it

stick he has made it stick as he rossi

tall

wow we start to fight hard and after uh

i go to i go to the ducati but after i

come back so we stayed together for

maybe six seven years like a long love

story

but we enjoyed very much because lorenzo

was very fast yeah very fast and very

metronomic as well very exact but for me

the what impressed me more more than his

riding style is

his

mental

focus

when you jump on the bike

he's able to don't think to nothing

around just

go so this was quite impressive yeah yes

okay

moving along

very very bad uh

that was a disaster

was a very very bad also the wave of

great shame yeah i'm i'm sorry yeah

he was fast he's a great great talent

and uh

he can give

a lot

to

the motogp he was ascending wasn't he

going up yes and also

we always suffer

with the 800 because

we we are tall taller than the other and

also more weight and also marco was

taller than me

and also heavier than me and we

have always a lot of problem with the

full consumption

because with the 800 the full

consumption was at the limit so um if

you take a guy like pedros or stoner

that are more small they have an

advantage but in 2012 arrived at 1000

and i think that

in 2012 he can he can win

but unfortunately like this and uh apart

from from the sports side was uh

devastating for uh

for the normal life

because uh

every day together because we train

together

and we go with the motocross bike

i want to say that marco is the first

rider of the academy

because uh marco come come

to me and say please help me and i want

to come if it's possible to train with

you and we say okay and we start

and we always enjoy with with marco and

it was a disaster

comes in and says congratulations that's

great

is a great rival and

he's very very fast very strong

one is the best

but with marcus

i don't feel very well okay difficult to

battle

yeah yeah we need to wait a little bit

till yeah another 20 30 years right

[Laughter]

so on this one in essence actually

valentina your legacy on here we've you

know we've got franco we've got pekko

we've got your brother down here

these are

riders who you have heavily influenced

i'm very proud of this because it's like

that also

at the end of the season when i will

finish it is like that

something of on me remain no

they are always faster and faster no i

remember that 26 27 28 years every year

i become stronger

faster more concentrate and better a

better rider after is more difficult so

now i see these on on them here you have

the future yeah and uh you have uh six

seven names

that i think that can stay motogp and

win in motogp for 10 years and how did

they compared

to those names over there the riders

changed a lot now they

are real

athlete

but real you know so what what they do

during the day what they eat what they

sleep

and so when you see them on the bike

also they are they are better and also

the difference probably is that these

guys aren't going out partying with

anthony gobert

difficult all right

i think that have somebody that are not

so bad also yeah but um

a lot of riders now are very

concentrated very focused and yeah they

drink water and they go to sleep very

early

so not with gobert no no

no actually with rossy

um all right there's one rider here that

you haven't beaten

never

no

no

yeah but but it's on this board i'll

give you a clue because i know for time

we're unfortunately short of time but

it's on this board

he's on this board yeah so you mean that

i never beat in race

ah okay yeah it's possible yeah i mean

yeah because this year i arrive always

behind so

[Music]

yeah of course yeah yeah yeah

i don't know yes you do

look towards the end

not at the end but near the end

replacement

[Laughter]

oh i'm more is

okay yeah

but i was in front in arsenal after i

cried

[Applause]

we won so many races and beat and

destroyed so many rivals was because he

loved it

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

the end of an era it's the weekend we

say goodbye to the greatest of all time

some of the most memorable motorcycles

in valentino's career unveiled at this

very very special summary let's have a

listen to what he says

[Music]

ross is the one to five cc world

champion for 1997.

rossy wins his second world championship

hello

[Music]

[Applause]

the new world champion

[Applause]

bye

valentino rossi will take victory and

the world title

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

he is the world champion

seven world titles for valentina rotty

[Music]

we salute the 2008 moto gp world

champion

valentino rossi becomes the world

champion 2009

[Music]

[Applause]

we're looking back at the career of

valentino rossi and now it's time for

the expert view with commentators

analysts slash troublemakers gavin

emmett and neil hodgson

well we've all been around valentino for

over two decades commentating on him

interviewing him and neil you've ridden

with him so let's start with that

valentino as a rider you'd expect me to

say oh well he's so aggressive he's got

an incredible

relaxed style that's what made him great

what's made him so different all these

years is the fact that he loves it

[Music]

he loves the battle and the more

stressful point of the weekend you know

last lap dies

anxiety levels at 10. but valentino

thrived on that

and i think that's why he destroyed so

many rivals was because he loved it

yeah he can be ruthless in those kinds

of races but then think of places like

phillip island australia 2003 yeah when

he suddenly got a 10 second penalty in

the middle of the race and had the

wherewithal

to go all right i'm going to need to put

10 seconds on the rest of the fields how

do we understood it from a pit board i

never understand anyway

you can't tell how he worked out from

the pit board i don't know how he did it

yeah well there's that all of a sudden

right i'm going to have to beat

everybody by over 10 seconds and he just

did it felt like he could play a little

bit with riders and know that he was

going to win and then just to create a

show

it felt like that especially when he was

on the honda yeah at the time he was the

best rider on the best bike yeah i would

have never done that out of this chat

which is their job yeah yeah but it

doesn't mean we all love them well

that's the entertainment factor isn't it

they loved entertaining he had his

celebrations

well with the helmet designs with aldo

trudy and some of the fun they've had

coming up with whether it be their

viagra helmet or the the face screaming

down in mijello

it wasn't trying to be the coolest

design it was just funny and it was

perfect he originally said it was the

break-in area mijello from over 200

miles an hour down into first gear

turmoil

and just the that face obviously that

he's pulled on top of the helmet that's

what my face is doing on the bike it's

scary at times and he that's him

laughing at himself isn't he because he

looks silly on the helmet but it's the

coolest sound i've ever seen

before something like that had it no not

at all just worked

out it just worked

and interesting what a career in two

halves if we break it up really in the

first 14 years you've got the nine world

championships and then the next 12 years

essentially searching for that 10th

world title it came close it came close

in 2015 he will say that he felt he

should have won it in that season

but it's hard to criticize him for the

second half of his career we took the

big gamble of going to ducati wanted a

new challenge trying to do something

that not being done before to win on

three different manufacturers and it

didn't work i mean you would have

married him for that think about it

early on in his most gp career he could

have stayed at honda like marcus has

done like a lot of riders like dewan did

but he didn't he took a risk and that's

he took the risk with ducati like say it

didn't pay off but you've got to admire

him for that

let's talk about the empire that is

building and it really is some empire

isn't it the turnover over 30 million

pounds a year it's an industry now 46 is

a full industry you just go around this

part of italy and you see it we've been

filming here all day and since that

place opened his merchandise store

there's been a constant queue looking

it's still going yeah it's not just

about his merchandise they work for

juventus lamborghini really prestigious

names

marcus all his kids

but yeah there's a lot of riders who use

vr 46 manufacturer or they design and

get the kit manufacturer for him in and

there'll be another little percentage

here there so he's savvy he's not stupid

is he yeah i mean let's talk about the

ranch because now we're starting to see

the fruits of that aren't we coming

through yeah well it's incredible what

he's achieved over the last 10 years

because right at the beginning when he

started with his team in motor three

then moved to motor too obviously he's

going to be immortal gp next year with

his own team

but it was hard to see well you knew the

long game it was always going to be a

long game but i'll tell you what it's

all happened a little bit quicker than i

thought yeah

pekko banya this year second in the

championship and you'd have to say we'll

be one of the favorites for next year

and more bedelli for the future

obviously had he had the injury this

year but i mean the way morbidelli talks

about the

the ranch and what they do with the

ranch it's almost

it's going back to the renaissance of

you know how he talks of florence but

it's not just about riding motorbikes

there they're learning about art and

history and and drew del joe drew is

there taking them to galleries and

talking about paintings and he's taken

over

where the italian federation failed to

try to bring italian riders through

there hasn't been an italian champion

since valentino no last one in as in the

premier class anyway which we know is

some time ago now which is a long time

for italy in essence we could see

his legacy match his greatness that he's

achieved in his career couldn't wait in

the future

what he's done is he's built the

foundations but they are rock-solid

and from now on it's just gonna grow

isn't it and we will have more gp world

champions this is just the beginning

[Music]

[Applause]

let's finish with the personal memory of

valentina it may be something that

people don't know

over the last 20 years or so i've spoken

to him pretty much every day of every

race weekend every single time without

fail it'd be a smiling face on the other

end pretty much my memory is he was

always interested in me you always have

a question for me

sounds weird in itself no what i mean by

that was so even when i was like when i

was doing super bikes and then you're

coming to the paddock none of the moto

gp riders wanted to speak to you but

russ is straight over ah what's the

difference with the bike you know like

the first time i rode the moto gp bike

or when i started with bt sport

he's so excited to see me oh neil how's

your shoulder what happened you crashed

the motocross bike in america right so

he's aware of what's going on around in

other championships and then he's like

what every time i see him what's tv like

you're still enjoying the tv

why i'm saying this is other riders

current riders they're not asking you

any questions because they're

self-absorbed again they've a job to do

yeah yeah russ is that open he cares

isn't it the thing that made me smile a

lot was when alex briggs his main

mechanic said to me one day you know how

we love motorbikes and i was like yeah

he goes you know how we love the race i

said yeah he goes well valentino

really loves it you can see it no what a

great explanation basic but that's the

secret

[Applause]

let me tell you i'm italia i personally

and every rider i know wanted to be

valentino because she just saw the fun

the love the skill

well it can't get any better can it

i think the message from the town to the

man says it all

thank you vale for transcending our

sport and making motogp what it is today

[Applause]

[Music]

you