MotoGP, Ezpeleta: “I didn’t cry for Messi, I won’t for Rossi”

Carmelo Ezpeleta is being kept busy with the various difficulties relating to the world championship. One of the latest was the tricky transportation of some of the containers from Indonesia to Argentina. MotoGP has now moved on to Austin and, as we wait to see the riders back on track, Carmelo Ezpeleta has carried out an interview with Spanish website solomoto.es, in which he covers many topics, including Valentino Rossi’s retirement.

Ezpeleta: “I won’t cry for Valentino”

The journalist drew a comparison between Valentino Rossi leaving MotoGP and Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona, two transitions that weren’t in fact too difficult to digest: “I admit that the comparison is a good one, a fair one”, comments Ezpeleta, “but with the same sincerity, I can tell you that I didn’t cry for Messi and won’t for Rossi either. I think that, in both cases, there is gratitude on the part of all the fans who were able to enjoy what these two phenomenal sportsmen gave them for so many years. Particularly Valentino, whose career was longer than that of the Argentinian champion”.

“The championship is stronger than the stars who leave”

The Dorna CEO clarifies one point: “But if this is a way of insinuating that since Rossi has left, the whole motorcycle racing world needs to be changed, then that’s not the case at all. There is nothing to change in MotoGP because it has its own consolidated importance, even if a charismatic rider like Valentino leaves. I don’t sell marketing products, and Dorna has never intentionally tried to create a personality, fuel a rivalry or push the image of a rider to make him more or less popular. Sure, Valentino drew in an entire generation, but it’s also true that in recent years he didn’t experience much success, and this was because the generation of riders that followed him is also a very talented generation. I experienced the post-American and post-Doohan era... I’ve already been through it and the championship has always been stronger than the stars who leave”.

Translated by Heather Watson

Tragedy shakes MotoGP ahead of the Americas GP