Rumors of Valentino Rossi retiring from MotoGP have emerged in the past few seasons. But, The Doctor now has the right moment to leave the MotoGP world as a rider.
“Rossi is too old”. The statement always appeared every 40-year racer failed to compete in winning in every MotoGP race series. The statement was again widely disclosed after Rossi continued to sink into the half of the 2019 season.
Rossi has never been on the podium since finishing second in the US MotoGP, failed to finish three times in a row in Italy, Catalunya and the Netherlands, and ended the season with an eighth place finish in the German MotoGP.
Rossi closed the MotoGP 2019 season with a score of 80 points and was in sixth place in the standings. That is the worst record Rossi entered the season. Even beat the worst incision so far in the 2012 season when collecting 82 points with Ducati.
All retirement rumors that appeared before continued to be repaid by Rossi with slick performance on the track. However, Rossi is currently unable to respond to all criticism after continuing to look bad with Yamaha. Interestingly, Rossi remains confident that he still competes and highlights Yamaha more than being able to make M1 motorbikes more competitive.
Rossi is now at a crossroads to determine the future. Especially after Yamaha MotoGP Team Director Lin Jarvis issued a statement regarding the future plans of the Japanese team. Jarvis firmly said Rossi was not part of Yamaha’s future.
“Now Rossi is in a different phase of life, a different phase in his career. With respect, Rossi is no longer the future of our participation in MotoGP,” Jarvis was quoted as saying by Motorsport.
“Rossi can still be with us one, two or three years ago. We will see how long it will be competitive. We don’t say he is not important. Rossi is important. But Rossi’s role and function will be different. I hope he can become ambassador and our co-workers as he gets older, “continued Jarvis.
Jarvis’s statement is acceptable. Because, Rossi is currently not Rossi in the first era to strengthen Yamaha throughout 2004-2010. Since returning to Yamaha in 2013, Rossi has only once been able to compete as a world champion, namely in 2015 after controversially losing to Jorge Lorenzo.
Rossi still has a one-year contract with Yamaha until the end of the 2020 season. However, this is the right moment for The Doctor to determine his retirement. Think of MotoGP 2020 as Rossi’s farewell season. And if you can win the world title, then it will be a beautiful closing season for Rossi.
If you see Rossi’s performance since last season, Yamaha deserves not much hope for the nine-time Grand Prix world champion. Rossi looks always to waste the opportunity to win, unable to get out the pressure against young riders and not take risks.
Now when Maverick Vinales and Fabio Quartararo are able to perform quickly with the M1 motorbike, Rossi actually has difficulty. A sign that Yamaha must forget Rossi to be able to end the world title drought.
Yamaha’s belief in ending the era and giving up Rossi’s departure were well-founded. That is because Yamaha has found Rossi’s replacement that is commensurate with Quartararo.
Despite ending the half of the 2019 season under Rossi in the standings, Quartararo showed he deserved to appear with the Yamaha manufacturing team replacing Rossi after successfully taking pole three times and riding the podium twice.
No doubt Rossi is one of the greatest athletes in the history of sports, not just in the MotoGP event. But, like the stories of other great athletes, everything will end. Now it is the turn of Rossi’s great story that will soon be over. Even so, the great story of Rossi will continue to be imprinted on every memory of MotoGP lovers.
