Rossi: “I’ll race until the end”

least one a season for the last half a decade. His ninth (and last) world title however came in the last decade. For all the talk of records and longevity Rossi clearly still wants to be submerged in racing and commit beyond a single speculative campaign. He cited the example of former world superbike champion Troy Bayliss as a reason not to step out of a sport if the timing didn't feel right. “It could be a risk…” he admits. “But that's why I’ll race until the end.”

For Movistar Yamaha there were multiple causes to invest and continue with an athlete that has given twelve years to the company and race team; the association has already yielded four titles and four runner-up positions. “There are so many reasons,” admitted Yamaha Motor Racing Managing Director Lin Jarvis. “It’s difficult to give one. Because of everything he brings to Yamaha and the sport and the team [and] because of who he is. That’s the motivation. But I would also like to add that he is still highly competitive and absolutely a top rider capable of winning.”

“He will only continue if he is convinced he’s ready to put in that maximum effort and if he’s convinced that he can be competitive,” he adds. “It’s the same for us. We want competitive riders. If Valentino is convinced, that means he has made that personal commitment and he feels confident. Therefore so do we.”

Rossi will maintain his fight against the passage of time and that means MotoGP will soak up the special stream of colour and character for a while longer. On Sunday he showed that there were still plenty of stretch in the muscles and wiliness in the racecraft. “In our sport, like in other sports, just one thing is important: the result,” he said Sunday night. “So you can speak a lot, but the only important thing is what happens on the track. I don’t race for demonstrate to people that I’m not too old. I race to demonstrate to myself that I can stay at the top. This is the good way, I think…”