Photo: PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team
In less than two months, Valentino Rossi will be officially ending his MotoGP career. He is now 42 years old, and he's been active in the sport for almost three decades now. He hasn't won a World Championship since 2009, but he is still one of the most successful pro riders of all time.
The 14th round of the 2021 MotoGP was held last weekend at Misano, in Italy. Francesco Bagnaia rode his Ducati to victory and even managed to establish the all-time lap record with a time of 1:31.065. Fabio Quartararo put Yamaha in 2nd place while 3rd went to another Ducati rider, Enea Bastianini. Valentino Rossi had to settle for 17th overall, which means he didn't score any points, unfortunately.
That doesn't mean he's slow by any standards, it's just that the level of MotoGP is nowadays incredibly high. While the race winner had an average speed of 101.71 mph (163.7 kph), Rossi was down to 100.36 mph (161.5 kph), which is quite close indeed. After the event concluded, the teams stuck around Misano for further testing, ahead of the next race. Francesco Bagnaia was once again the fastest man on the track, with a time of 1:31.524.
Valentino Rossi was just 0.646 seconds behind, which put him in 14th overall. He did manage to improve compared to his fastest race lap mentioning that: "We only had to fix two or three things and we were focused on the small details. It has gone okay and we hope that we have found something a bit better for the final four races." It feels strange to say this, but this was Il Dottore's final test as a MotoGP rider.
I wouldn't be surprised if he will still come out on the track every now and then in the next few years. But it's not likely that he is going to be any faster in the future, as he keeps growing old. His teammate, Andrea Dovizioso was 1.141 seconds slower than Bagnaia, as he's probably still struggling to find his pace.
The Grand Prix of the Americas is up in a week from now. Fabio Quartararo has a comfortable lead in the championship with four more races to go before the end of the season. But I guess everyone is still focused on Valentino Rossi, as people are hoping for one last, miraculous victory before he retires.
That doesn't mean he's slow by any standards, it's just that the level of MotoGP is nowadays incredibly high. While the race winner had an average speed of 101.71 mph (163.7 kph), Rossi was down to 100.36 mph (161.5 kph), which is quite close indeed. After the event concluded, the teams stuck around Misano for further testing, ahead of the next race. Francesco Bagnaia was once again the fastest man on the track, with a time of 1:31.524.
Valentino Rossi was just 0.646 seconds behind, which put him in 14th overall. He did manage to improve compared to his fastest race lap mentioning that: "We only had to fix two or three things and we were focused on the small details. It has gone okay and we hope that we have found something a bit better for the final four races." It feels strange to say this, but this was Il Dottore's final test as a MotoGP rider.
I wouldn't be surprised if he will still come out on the track every now and then in the next few years. But it's not likely that he is going to be any faster in the future, as he keeps growing old. His teammate, Andrea Dovizioso was 1.141 seconds slower than Bagnaia, as he's probably still struggling to find his pace.
The Grand Prix of the Americas is up in a week from now. Fabio Quartararo has a comfortable lead in the championship with four more races to go before the end of the season. But I guess everyone is still focused on Valentino Rossi, as people are hoping for one last, miraculous victory before he retires.
Google News