MotoGP, Rossi reveals: "I found out I was a father when I decided to retire"

Deciding to leave MotoGP was not an easy choice for Valentino Rossi, who once he left his role as a motorcycle racer embraced the challenge of four wheels, competing in the GT World Challenge Europe. It was a decision that the rider from Tavullia has been talking about in the latest episode of "Passa dal BSMT" (you can see it above), in which he revealed to Gianluca Gazzoli when he understood that the time had come to say enough.

“In the last few years when I was struggling more, I also talked about it with Carlo, my trainer, and we said: 'you have to race until you really can't take it anymore, so you don't have any regrets afterwards'. Instead there were a lot of riders who quit too soon, but then they couldn't stay away, they came back and messed things up a bit" said Vale, explaining why he stayed in MotoGP up to the age of 42.

When your life revolves entirely around bikes, it is difficult to understand when to decide to stop, but there was a moment in his career when everything was suddenly clear to Valentino.

“I decided to stop after Assen, because there was a break. I wanted to race again, but I said to myself: 'Let's see if I'm still competitive, because I can't come here to finish 12th'. Assen was a very important race because it is one of my favourite tracks. One of the tracks where I've won ten times, so Assen has always been a bit of my home", said the Pesaro rider.

“Before leaving, I went to lunch with Francesca and she said ‘I don't like coffee anymore. Strange because I've always liked coffee. Maybe I'll do a test in the next few days’. I told her 'fine' and left for Assen, then when I was there I didn't think about her test. But I was strong at Assen. I wasn't bad in practice, but then in the race I got a bad start and crashed. I was fighting with Bastianini, like, and I had a big bang. I wrecked the bike and when you are there in the gravel you say: 'If I need any signal to decide whether to stop or not this is it'. Imagine my state of mind, because it means giving up a life that you like and that you have led for 25 years - added Rossi - When we arrived I told Francesca to come down to Cattolica, that we would go to dinner, but she told me: 'No, no, you come up'. This weirded me out because she usually came down. Then I thought: 'I have the impression she wants to tell me something'. And afterwards, in fact... It happened all together, I found out I was becoming a father perhaps the day I decided to stop racing".