Opinions on Valentino Rossi

So, I have loved and watched Rossi for years. Not with the passion that many of you have, but I am curious of a few things and wanted to see what others thought on the subject.

Is Valentino really the greatest of all time, or has he just had the greatest bikes (and sponsors and setup) of all time? It seems that others are able to ride bikes (and win on them) that he has trouble with. Others get accused of having "extra horsepower" or an "illegal setup" which allows them to win. Now that the tables are turned, has the truth come out?

Now don't get your panties in a wad, as I love Vale, and I know that he is enormously talented, however, how things are going these past several years makes me wonder.

 

It is a difficult question to answer because there is no quantitative measurement to compare riders. One ould argue that championships are the bench mark, while others may offer that race wins or that he who pulls the best pass is the greatest. I think we all know that the fellas riding at the top are very talented and that on any given day their talent varies a bit depending on many factors. When some stars align, they get a race win. When the planets align, they get a championship. It seems that the rider who can align all the elements for the longest period becomes the most sucessful overall but are they the best rider??

Then we get into personality types and whether a rider is fun to watch or not. Lots of characters out there to keep things interesting eh! Carl Foggarty is a good example. He was very sucessful and had a major attitude to match his sucess. He was fun to watch but I never really liked him. Valentino has style and class IMHO and although his sucess of late hasn't been in line with that of years gone by, he is still very talented and for some reason I just like him. I really hope that he can find a way to get the factors aligned again so he can showcase what he still has to offer. I think he still has a trick or two to show us.


So that is just my regular uninformed opinion on the Doctor, the former champion whom history will remember much longer than me.

 

Very nice response. I agree, that there is not quantitative measurement to assess riders against each other. I guess I am asking more of, is he as great as we thought, or just a very good rider on a GREAT bike(s)? I just figured with all of this enormous talent, he would be able to make the bike work better for him than it is now. We all know that a great rider/racer is the key to winning races, but machine setup does play a factor. I guess I am let down that Vale is not better able to make it work for him, seeing as how great of a rider he is.

 

I wonder,

What if he had this bike five years ago? Do you think that at that time, he was more capable than he is today? Of course the Ducati from five years ago was a different animal as well.

All questions that we will never have an answer to I suppose.

 

I like Rossi. I think he is pretty much the greatest rider of all time. The problem he is experiencing now is that he is just plain getting old. He is having difficulty maintaining the ambition and drive that got him to where he is. He's got all the money he needs, and even if he doesn't win another race, people will always flock around him as if he just won one. The level he is racing at requires 110% commitment, and he is past giving his best.

 

Very good questions.....that we will never know the answer to. I also wonder, is the competition better today than it was in yester years?

 

AJ Foyt once said, "Never drive a shitbox." Nobody will care or remember just how bad the bike was, just that he didn't perform. And, I think that's a shame. But, he knew the risks when he signed with Ducati. They haven't had a competitive bike since when?

 

I really think Valentino Rossi is the greatest ever.
Yamaha wasn’t the best bike when he went there. He made Yamaha world-champion. I don’t have to mention Honda.

Ducati is a good bike. But only Stoner was able to drive it to the absolute top. Other great riders (Hayden, Foggerty, Biaggi) also had difficulties on Ducati.

Two months ago Rossi critesized Ducati. Ducati was not amused and Rossi was told to stop talking negative about Ducati. Rossi never talked about Ducati since….nor negative….nor positive…. Do I need to say more ?? I think Rossi and Ducati made not a good match.

Yes, Rossi is still the greatest IMHO. But it will not last forever……a new generation arrived already (Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Stoner….)

 

Put it this way, 105 gp wins, 176 podiums, 9 world championships, across three classes and three makes of machine. He is easily the best of the modern era.....gawd that pained me to say that.

Rumors have him pinned for spies seat next year, that will be the true test.....minus stoner of course..




.

 

Valentino Rossi is set to make a return to Yamaha, abandoning Ducati after two long and difficult years of failure. The Italian was spotted at Yamaha Motor Europe's headquarters at Schiphol-Rijk, an industrial estate next to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, by former racer Niall Mackenzie, who was visiting the Yamaha HQ while negotiating a deal for his younger son Tarran to race in Superstock next season. The Scotsman posted the sighting - naming only a 'well-known Italian' wearing 'a big smile on his face' - on his Twitter page, but when contacted by Thomas Baujard of the French magazine Moto Journal, confirmed his report to the magazine


Valentino Rossi Spotted At Yamaha's European HQ: The Deal Is Done - AMENDED AND CORRECTED | MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

 

:vtr2:His record said it all..............:thumbsup:

 

Could Rossi have beaten Muhammed Ali?

 

I just think the ducati doesn't work for his style of riding. I was hoping he would fill stoners spot on honda but yamaha is fine too. Look how he rode when it was a rain race. I think when he gets back on a bike that suits him he will be right back up front. I believe if hayden were on a better bike he would also be right up front. I think that when the riders skill is as good as the mojority of the top moto gp riders the bikes and set ups play a major part. Maybe for us mere mortals the bike isn't as much a factor but they are riding those bikes to their potential. I know lorenzo, stoner and pedrosa are very good riders but its kinda funny that factory yamaha and factory honda are nearly always right up front.

 

I think the age/motivation factor is one thing , but maybe Ducati is also a problem. Whilst it's a Italian marketing dream to have Rossi on a Ducati, perhaps they really can't work together in terms of the set up of the team/organisation/bike. Perhaps Valentino has become more Japanesised (?) than even he would admit.

 

A new version of the race card?

 

Thanks NCB, I was looking up all the wins, but the big fact as you mentioned is he has one the world title on 3 different machines...that is usually one of the hallmarks that a racer is truely gifted if not great!

BZ

 

On a personal level when he was winning races have enjoyed Rossi's riding style on the track, flamboyant character off the track and have long been a fan of Rossis Team manager Jeremy Burgess, but as a counterpoint have posted a well thought out extract from a riding buddy during a local discussion on the Rossi question just to spur on the debate about whether or not he is the greatest rider of " all time " Vs the best rider of " his " time and don't see much wrong with his logic.



" Vale for half of his MotoGP career has not had the wicked competition of say the Lawson, Gardner, Schwantz, Doohan, Rainey era. He has raced against GP Journeymen for a good part of his career up until 2006. Doohan's dominant period was a bit the same as the established stars fell away just as he rose and no one else rose to quite the same level as him. Not to slur either of them & they still would have won lots of races & world championships as they are both freaks who are a good as you'll get. Just maybe not so dominant as the record books show.

As John Kocinski famously said, if you can't win the title in a couple of years you're a hack who should stand aside & give some newcomer a crack at it. This is so true of Rossi's competition 2001 thru 2005, good but not great riders on the BIG bikes.

Vale:
2000 on NSR500 - 2 race wins in his first year was against GP Journeymen - no BIG stars except maybe Criville & KR the Jr. & they were both on the way down.
2001 on RC211V - Dominant - 11 race wins but no Big stars. Biaggi & Gibernau were the best of them.
2002 on RC211V - Dominant - 11 race wins again but no Big stars. Biaggi & Barros the best of them.
2003 on RC211V - Dominant - 9 race wins but no Big stars. Biaggi, Gibernau & a rising Loris on the Ducati.
2004 on M1 - Dominant - 9 race wins but no Big stars. Gibernau & Tamada the best of the rest.
2005 on M1 - Dominant - 11 race wins but no Big stars. No decent rider on a factory Honda, of Honda's 4 race wins 3 were by the customer bikes!
Then the tide began to turn. Melandri on a customer Honda & the Ducati came good with Loris started to take some wins. If it wasn't for that Donkey Gibernau taking out Loris & hurting him in Spain Loris had a good chance of being 2006 world champion I reckon.
2006 on M1 - 5 race wins. Stoner & Pedrosa arrived on the scene so the depth of talent started to get better. Hayden was World Champ on the Honda with only 2 race wins and there were 9 different race winners that year.
2007 on M1 - 4 race wins, all but 2 of the rest the rest went to Stoner & Pedrosa.
2008 on M1 - a good season with 9 race wins Jorge arrives too and gets one win, the rest went to Stoner & Pedrosa.
2009 on M1 - 6 race wins, against the rest to the aliens & Dovi'. Stoner was ill this year & missed some races.
2010 on M1 - 2 race wins - a sore shoulder & broken leg as he finally had to start pushing & finding the limit.
2011 on GP11 - No race wins at all despite Stoner being competitive on essentially the same bike in 2010. I big helping of humble pie for Vale.
2012 on GP12 - Will be a write off. "

 

Maybe this adds more credibility to his stature, Motorcyclist Magazine's latest issue (Sep. 2012) listed Malcolm Smith as the Motorcyclist of the century, but they also had a list of "alternative takes". Out of 10 other possible candidates, 3 were actual roadracers, Kenny Roberts, Joey Dunlop and Valentino Rossi.

Here's what Motorcyclist had to say: "Even though he's ranked second in all time wins behind Giacomo Agostini (122-105), Valentino Rossi is widely regarded as the greatest Grand Prix roadracer of all time, having defeated more formidable competitors on more evenly matched equipment than Ago did in his day. Rossi's nine world titles are just one measure of his success...Despite current struggles with the uncompetitive Ducati D16, "The Doctor" is still fast and could catch Ago yet"

Personally I think he seemed to stop being as agressive after the incident where Marco Simoncelli was killed. At least that's where I noticed it.