MotoGP, Valentino Rossi: “I paved the way bringing Uccio into the garage"

Throughout his career as a professional rider, Valentino Rossi has (almost) always been supported by one man. Not a parent or a coach, but a friend, the same age as him, who goes by the name of Alessio Salucci, or “Uccio”. The first person with which to share joy and pain, but while it all began with a view to simply having fun and supporting each other, in the long term “Uccio” became someone to trust in a practical sense, an assistant to all intents and purposes. The person who makes the rider’s life easier.

Valentino Rossi’s inseparable friend

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In a video for motogp.com Rossi himself remarks: “I was the first to bring a friend into the garage. I paved the way there too. Before that there were other people who would help out or work, but I preferred to have my friend, so in the evening, if I was in Japan for example, I could talk to him about normal things, about what was going on in Tavullia. That made things less boring. He invented a job. That’s a great thing”. From then on, various riders would follow suit, from Marc Marquez to Franco Morbidelli.

Their friendship has lasted a lifetime: “Uccio grew up with me, he’s always been an assistant as well as my best friend ever since kindergarten. We’d go out and he’d come to my house or me to his, and now here we are, 35 years later".

"Uccio", Rossi’s right-hand man

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But what does “Uccio” actually do? The man himself says: “From when he gets up to when he goes to bed, a rider has a thousand things to do. So I try to ease some of that work, removing anything from his mind that might bother him. Even little things, like taking his leathers, ensuring everything’s in the right place in the garage. Having a person you can trust”. After all, friends are the family you choose, a definition that couldn’t be more apt in this case.

Translated by Heather Watson

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