Valencia GP, the last race of the MotoGP 2021 season was a very emotional weekend for most of us. When Valentino Rossi announced that he will be ending his MotoGP career at the end of this season, we knew that the last race will be one emotional rollercoaster ride for everyone.
Meeting some Old Friends
On Thursday, Honda, Yamaha and Aprilia came together to surprise Rossi with his championship-winning bikes. From Aprilia 250s to Honda V5 and Honda RC21V to his beloved Yamaha M1, all bikes were present in front of Rossi.
He swung his leg over all of his bikes which brought all good memories not just for his fans watching but for Rossi as well. There were some of Rossi’s great rivals present as well to bid a farewell. Max Biaggi, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, and Dani Pedrosa were all present to watch the last dance of Rossi’s career. His Crew Chief, Main Mechanic, and other Team bosses were also part of this celebration.
VR46 ACADEMY SURPRISE
Valentino Rossi and his team have established VR46 Academy which promotes young Italian talents and helps them to get into Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP. So for the last race, every rider from the academy decided to have a Valentino Rossi style helmet design as a tribute to the Legend. It was great to see all those helmet designs which defined Rossi and somewhat, his career.
THE LAST DANCE
14th November 2021 means 14+11+21=46. This day was meant to be Rossi day and even god showed us the sign. Valencia is considered to be a not-so-friendly territory for Rossi but on Sunday it was a sea of Yellow. It was more like Italy than Spain. Rossi arrived on the grid for one last time. Ducati locked out the front row for the final race and we saw some good battles between Jorge Martin and Pecco.
Pecco took the lead and held it till the end of the race. A VR46 Academy rider wearing a Rossi-style helmet won the race. Ducati locked out the podium which helped them to win the Team championship. Rossi finished his last race in P10. Every rider came and congratulated Rossi. Everyone and we mean everyone! Everyone was waiting for Rossi in the pitlane as he came into his box for one last time. Rossi and his team and academy riders celebrated his last race.
The esteemed motorsport event will never be the same again without the godly presence of one of the greats to ever get astride a GP machine. It might be sad to see Rossi hanging up his helmet but we are lucky enough to experience this mammoth of a personality in action over the years.