I was annoyed to see Stoner's reaction at Mugello. My thought was, if you're gonna show up, shake your head in disapproval, then get back in the game or get out of the limelight. I can appreciate him wanting to help test and develop the Ducati, but for .... sake don't tell us it can win when clearly it cannot UNLESS he's on it. That's like Kevin Schwantz saying the Suzuki could win if he were in his prime racing it. Well thank you for that useless information.
I honestly think the "development" acclaim for any rider is both overstated and misunderstood. Rossi and Stoner are supposed to be polar opposites: Rossi the greatest developer Stoner the worst developer ever; but reality supports one narrative over the other in such contrast that I don't know how it can be tacitly debated. Similar to the "moaner/whiner" attribute, I think Rossi’s 2015 whine/moan reached such cosmic proportions that it skewed the very definition of the words to describe it. Scientists invent words to describe such vast distances in space to lightyears because our common unit of mere miles/kilometers are just too inadequate. What word can we invent to describe the McCarthyist Salem witch hunt turned Tonya Harding attack Rossi engaged in BECAUSE he was losing grasp of a 'competition' for which he has been the beneficiary of a skewed playing field?!
What mystical spell are we under where we can debate the legitimacy of a sport where the League's 'commissioner'/CEO acted as Rossi's SPORT AGENT, negotiating a return to Yamaha?
We have become desensitized to it because of the brazen act, but for .... sake Rossi sat there during multiple press conferences over several weeks accusing his fellow competitors and rivals of conspiring to...race him too hard. It parallels the concept of "development" in the sense that we witnessed thee most epic of development failures at Ducati under Rossi, this 2 year long failure should forevermore seal the discussion of supposed "development" prowess, relegated to a laughable time like the once notion the earth was flat. Sure we believed it at one time, then humans discovered something called 'truth'.
After Rossi’s stint at Ducati, having EVERY POSSIBLE SAY in the matter of 'development' with the bankroll and overwhelming patronage by those who listened to Rossi as if it were the WORD of GOD exposed Rossi. Can you think of any other situation with the same magnitude in the whole history of motosport, let alone MotoGP?
Contrast this to the input of other riders, particularly Stoner's feedback, received by the team with skepticism. It's true, he rides the bike with unique ability, how does this mean his feedback is ....? Stoner is uniquely fast therefore his feedback is worthless? I'd like to know what evidence and logic is there to support the claim Stoner can't develop a machine because he is faster than others. So far the claim seems to surround two themes: 1. Stoner is so much faster than others, therefore his feedback can't possibly be useful. (Yet apparently Rossi's feedback was gold when he for an era apparently seemed so much better than everyone, except nobody noticed he had better tires). 2. The bikes Stoner rode were not developed positively for others, therefore he is not a good developer. (Except for the fact he was the 4th choice for Ducati and had little development say in the matter, which was practically entirely Loris Capirossi's task.)
Let's test this logic, shall we:
But but but, Rossi is the greatest "developer", because....he developed the RC211V for everybody, a bike nobody other than Rossi won a title. But but but Rossi developed the M1 into a winner, except he didn't develop it, you can thank Alex Barros for that. And when Rossi did finally have developed input not even his teammate Colin Edwards could manage a win on it. So how does this logic hold for Stoner but not Rossi? Not to mention the continuity of the real WINNING INGREDIENT--SNS.
But Stoner development the GP07 into a dog. First of all the GP07 machine was already a dog, easily the worst of the manufacturers in 2007 (except maybe Kawasaki). Ducati's LEAD DEVELOPER was 7th in the championship, Capiross! Both factory Suzuki riders finished higher than the lead Ducati developer, including the M1 and two RC212V riders...yup, even the Pedrocycle was better than Ducati. Stoner was already on a piece of .... machine, he just rode it like an 'alien' (and nobody since has been able to, not even the "GOAT"). So this idea that Stoner developed a bike into .... is ......... How can you develop .... into ....? That's not a feat or a trick or a development process, that just means .... is ..... Even if we use the same standard as Rossi, then we must conclude Stoner's development input then produced an RC213V that won 3 of 4 championships, as a rider and test rider. And the very thing that has kept the machine from wining in 2015 was the very issue Casey Stoner pointed to as a major problem, which wasn't listened to by HRC.
Again, tires fool people into making erroneous assumptions about Rossi’s ability to ride and to "develop". So let me get this straight, the 08 and onwards Ducati loses its tire relationship with Bridgestone on the 'WHINING and MOANING' of Rossi's threats to QUIT, shifting the balance of power to Yamaha (actually ONLY ONE YAMAHA, the one with BRIDGESTONES) and this is somehow proof Rossi can ride and develop a bike? So why wasn't this great "developer" working with Michelin to "develop" a tire that could complete with Bridgestone? Ah, what lessons have we learned after Michelin no longer could provide exclusively suited tires to Rossi?
The only thing Rossi has DEVELOPED is a cozy motorhome relationship with the most powerful man in MotoGP, the CEO of the sport! His very own Jerry Maguire. We have a situation where Carmelo Ezpeleta-- "league" CEO acted as Jerry Maguire to Valentino Rossi and we're going to debate whether or not Rossi is a great developer? Perhaps we should also debate how Hulk Hogan would have won a bunch of gold medals in the Olympics because he was the undisputed king of Wrestling Mania?
Content Warning: Look ....... (.)(.)
