Rossi opens up about 2015

Mrpurple said:

I suppose we could all pretend we didnt see him kick the bike...and that he himself was penalized for it, but how much was MM getting for being on Jorges payroll?

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Rossi haters shouldn't pretend that Rossi has superhuman powers in order to justify their hate. If you honestly think that Rossi could execute a no-look kick to a motorcycle behind him while simultaneously accelerating his own bike then I have a ocean front property in Idaho to sell you. Just how strong do you think Rossi's legs are and why do you want to believe he has better kicking abilities then even the best pro-kickboxers?

What Rossi did was illegally block Marc from turning in and when Marc saw that Rossi was finally going to continue the corner he misjudged his turn-in and ran into Rossi's bike/leg thus pinching his brake lever and losing the front end. But I suppose the truth isn't as sensational as making up a narrative that Rossi can kick a turning and accelerating motorcycle so hard that it crashes.

moto vudu said:

Rossi haters shouldn't pretend that Rossi has superhuman powers in order to justify their hate. If you honestly think that Rossi could execute a no-look kick to a motorcycle behind him while simultaneously accelerating his own bike then I have a ocean front property in Idaho to sell you. Just how strong do you think Rossi's legs are and why do you want to believe he has better kicking abilities then even the best pro-kickboxers?

What Rossi did was illegally block Marc from turning in and when Marc saw that Rossi was finally going to continue the corner he misjudged his turn-in and ran into Rossi's bike/leg thus pinching his brake lever and losing the front end. But I suppose the truth isn't as sensational as making up a narrative that Rossi can kick a turning and accelerating motorcycle so hard that it crashes.

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Of course he didn’t deliberately kick the brake lever, if it was contacted that was by accident.

He did run MM off the track however, illegal then and now. What happened in my view was that after the ridiculous accusations in the Sepang pre-race press conference ie that MM had tanked a race he won, thereby depriving Lorenzo of 5 points, was that MM decided to show him what interfering with a contender really looked like, and raced Rossi as Rossi raced Lorenzo at Motegi 2010, although admittedly Rossi had a chance of winning the title whereas Jorge while not yet mathematically the champion could pretty much not fail to win. The other difference was that Jorge had caught up considerable time on Rossi at Motegi 2010 while we don’t know whether MM was faster than Rossi at that stage in the race at Sepang 2015.

The run-in with MM at Sepang quite possibly gained Rossi 3 net points as I see no evidence he would have finished other than 4th at both Sepang and Valencia.

Even though 2015 demonstrated to me that Rossi orchestrated the vilification of his rivals by an element of his fanbase he was a great rider and I still find it somewhat sad that the supposedly “stolen” title appears to occupy his attention more than the 7/9 he actually won. Everyone knows he is/was better than Ago.

I don't know that he was better than Ago at all. I know Ago had superior equipment for many of his wins but it was before my time. Haven't watched his racing.
Afaik Ago didn't use his fan base as a tool to damage his rivals like Rossi most surely did.
The lengths to which Rossi went to do so, marks him down as a pos to me regardless of his riding skill.
I have watched MM v Rossi though, and it is totally evident to me that MM dumped on Rossi from a great height in terms of riding ability.

warthog1 said:

I don't know that he was better than Ago at all. I know Ago had superior equipment for many of his wins but it was before my time. Haven't watched his racing.
Afaik Ago didn't use his fan base as a tool to damage his rivals like Rossi most surely did.
The lengths to which Rossi went to do so, marks him down as a pos to me regardless of his riding skill.
I have watched MM v Rossi though, and it is totally evident to me that MM dumped on Rossi from a great height in terms of riding ability.

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I am old, but not old enough to have followed Agostini in his prime which was while I was at school at a time when gp bike racing was only mentioned in the specialist bike press in Australia.

My understanding is that he won the 7 titles for MV Augusta on a bike akin to the 5 cylinder Honda 990 4- stroke Rossi had in 2002, literally a different technology than his competitors.

The 8th title Rossi wished to emulate was on a Yamaha when the Japanese manufacturers were in the sport and he was 33 years odd old, a win for the ages by all accounts.

I am 54. Too young at the time also and not interested in m/bikes then.
Yeah I have read he had better machinery and was streets ahead for at least some of the titles. Not sure we can compare them anyway.
The whole GOAT thing seems to appeal to fans, but you can only be best of your time as a bike racer imo.

I wondered when or if this would come up again.
After all this time has passed I am a little surprised that his perception of the events haven't taken a more objective perspective. If nothing else it's a fascinating demonstration of what ego can do to a person (and also the people they influence).

After witnessing Rossi in his prime and seeing how good luck seemed to follow him around like a bad smell, I always wondered if he would stay around in the sport long enough for that to change. I'm pretty sure we did, and in spectacular fashion.