After 26 years in the world championship, the 42-year-old veteran has decided to step aside.

The charismatic Italian rider made his debut in 1996 in the now defunct 125 cubic centimeter category, which he would win in 1997. He would also win in 1999, this time in 250 cubic centimeters, at which point he decided to step up to the premier category, that of 500cc. After almost giving the bell in his first season, being surpassed only by Kenny Roberts jr, Rossi would achieve his first title in the premier class in 2001, which would later become five consecutive titles.

It would not be the last word for Valentino Rossi, who would be proclaimed world champion again in 2008 and 2009. After some gray years at Ducati, the Italian smiled again with Yamaha, where he achieved three consecutive runners-up. Along the way, countless victories as well as podiums. A total of nine world titles, only surpassed by Angel Nieto, with 13, and Agostini, with 15, these pilots being from another era.

More than 400 races in the world championship with a total of 115 victories, 235 podiums, 65 pole positions and almost 100 fastest laps. A record that lives up to very few, and above all, an idolatry rarely seen both in the motor world and in any sporting discipline.

The Italian rider has declared that he felt that the time had come to stop, ending a stage in his life that he has not hesitated to point out as tremendously special, since he has done nothing in the last 30 years than riding on motorcycle.
He will continue in the paddock

Valentino Rossi will not leave the paddock as he maintains a multitude of businesses around the World Championship, including his own structure, the VR46, where Luca Marini, his little brother, competes, a place where he has confessed that he has had the opportunity to continue competing in 2022 .

Rossi, visibly moved, did not want to elaborate on a brief press conference, repeating that there was not much more to tell, and which ended with an emotional video reviewing the greatest achievements of the Italian.
Future on four wheels

The Italian driver has also confirmed that he will continue to compete, but that he is moving to four wheels, with a project yet to be defined and without clarifying whether it will be on circuits or in Rally, since he has participated in both modalities, although confessing that it would be a dream participate in the 24 hours of Le Mans.

Source: Car & Driver