Rossi retires

[Sanqhar]

Press conference 15:15 today.

tom

[daveuprite]

Yep, sad but inevitable. That guy has given me a hell of a lot of pleasure over the years (oh you know what I mean, you perverts...). Seen him race at Donington, Catalunya, Mugello, Le Mans and Assen, including his first 500cc win at Donington.

It was brilliant just to watch him pass by during the formation lap while pretty much everyone erupted in cheers, gas-horns, applause - regardless of who else they were there to support. I ended up in the Ducati Club stand at Mugello in 2007 and Rossi, who was riding for Yamaha, got just as good a reception as Stoner and Capirossi on the Ducatis.

It's really good to have lived through and watched the era in which the GOAT redefined bike racing as a genius rider and entertainer.

[Hall]

Viva La Figa what a legend the man is ,I hope he continues with the cars and VR46 team

[petecam]

Yup. I overtook Rossi at the race track on my GS. I was 2up with luggage and knobbly tires. He’s lost it

[dave h]

meravigliosamente magnifico

dave.

[Nigel]

Shame he ended his career so far back on the grid but a lot of great riders finally get the message!
Whether you like him or not he brought massive passion to the sport and loves what he does
Just wish he would go into WRC, he has the talent to do it.

[daveuprite]

Shame he ended his career so far back on the grid but a lot of great riders finally get the message!
Whether you like him or not he brought massive passion to the sport and loves what he does
Just wish he would go into WRC, he has the talent to do it.

Maybe he competed for about 5 years longer than he should have to stay at the very top. But it needs to be remembered that even when you come consistently 12th / 10th in MotoGP you remain one of the very quickest 0.01% of all racers (or something like that). Besides he loved it, never grew sick of it like Stoner did for instance, and he was still offered top level rides even into his 40s. He also earned whichever manufacturer employed him a hell of a lot of money just by association with his name and style.

He won over a quarter of all the GP level races he started !

He got on the podium of more than half the races he started!

The only rider to win championships in 125cc 2T GP, 250CC 2T GP, 500cc 2T GP, 800cc 4T MotoGP and 1000cc 4T MotoGP classes. Extraordinary.

And he mainly did it all with style and humour, winning the popularity class at the same time.

[dave h]

moto gp back this weekend,

should be a good watch with crutchlow getting a few races along with pedrosa as a wild card,

and rossi starts his farewell tour,

dave.