Long before the Yamaha label was attached to Valentino Rossi, he was a racer for the Honda factory team. Rossi was in the Honda factory team (Repsol Honda HRC) for four years, from 2000 to 2003. While riding a Honda motorbike, he won three consecutive MotoGP world titles, in 2001, 2002 and 2003 to be precise.
He then moved to Yamaha and briefly joined Ducati (2011-2012) before returning to Yamaha. The move of Rossi from Honda to Yamaha is still vivid in the mind of the rider nicknamed The Doctor. For him, leaving Honda and switching to Yamaha was a stupid decision.
His career was successful with Honda at the time. “When I was at Honda, I had a great bike and team. In four years I won three world titles,” said The Doctor. However, this stupid decision also gave him an extraordinary fate in his life.
Valentino Rossi has always been attached to the world of MotoGP thanks to his time with Yamaha. “However, what makes me proud is the courage to change that I made and went to Yamaha,” he explained in an interview with Marca. “Of course Yamaha is a top level team, but at that time it took a lot of courage and I took a slightly stupid decision, moving from Honda to Yamaha,” said Valentino Rossi. When moving, Rossi still carried his chief mechanic, Jerremy Burgess.
Initially I was pessimistic about defending the world title, but The Doctor was still able to win it in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009. “Looking at the past in my career, that’s what makes me the most proud. Accepting challenges and winning with other motorbikes,” he said.
He is still actively racing at least until next season. In addition, Rossi is still listed as a premier class racer who has won the most podiums in MotoGP. The Doctor has made 199 podium finishes during his career in the premier class of MotoGP.
The Italian rider is far superior to Jorge Lorenzo, who has just collected 114 podiums in the premier class, Dani Pedrosa (112), and Marc Marquez (95). Valentino Rossi’s 199th podium was won in the second series of the Andalusian MotoGP at the Jerez Circuit, Sunday (26/7/2020). Rossi won the 199th podium after finishing third in the Andalusian Grand Prix. Until he was 41 years old, Rossi was still considered in the world of MotoGP.
