“Valentino couldn’t race until the age of 60. He extended his career until he thought it was right“, has explained Carmelo Ezpeleta, Dorna’s number one, regarding Rossi’s farewell to MotoGP last November. The Spanish manager noted: βI think people haven’t evaluated Valentino’s last two years on the track very well, but in Valencia he finished tenth, less than a second from pole position. Previously he would have been third in those times, now he can do fifteenth or tenth or eighteenth. But I can only say thank you to Valentino and I couldn’t ask him to continue“. No fear of a drop in interest in the category: βIt has happened several times before. They asked us: ‘What will happen when the Americans are gone?’ and again: ‘What will happen when Doohan stops?’. The championship is more important than anything else“.
In the interesting interview given to the Spaniards of Brand, Carmelo Ezpeleta refused to elect Marc Marquez as Rossi’s heirperhaps in the case of world championship victory after the heavy injuries suffered: “It’s different. Valentino moved from Honda to Yamaha, then from Yamaha to Ducati, and finally from Ducati to Yamaha, because he believed these choices were the best possible for him. Marc, on the other hand, was forced to deteriorate in performance due to an accident, and then diplopia emerged due to another fall. It is not comparable“. And even on the media level, Dorna’s CEO rejected the comparison: “We do not conceive of our championship in terms of media relays. We need to do our job as best we can, with probably the best package ever available. We must work to ensure that the championship is as balanced as possible, with different bikes and riders capable of winning, and if a private rider should triumph, much better β.
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