Valentino Rossi is an Italian professional motorcycle road racer and multiple MotoGP World Champion.
Background
Valentino Rossi was born in Urbino, in 1979. He is the son of Graziano Rossi, who was also a motorcycle racer once. As a child, he was given a kart instead of a bike, because his mother was worried about her son’s safety. When he was five, his kart’s 60cc motor was replaced with a 100cc motor for more speed and in 1990 he won the local kart championship.
Career
Valentino joins Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, with the number 46. Valentino Rossi's career began thanks to his father Graziano Rossi.
Graziano Rossi was the famous racer, whose best result was the third place in 1979. He earned 3 victories in 1979 aboard a motorcycle Morbidelli. In 1990 Graziano had an accident and it became the end of his career.
In 1995 Valentino race in the European championships as official racer of Aprilia and finishes a season in third position. In the same year he keeps the crown of the Italian Championship 125cc.
His next move was big and ambitious i.e. he participated in the World Championship in 1996 in the Malaysian Grand Prix, where he finished 9th. However, he won the 1997 125cc World Championship held in Aprilia, to become the youngest rider ever to claim the championship. In 1998, he took up 250cc racing and came second in the World Championship which was won by Loris Capirossi. He won the 250cc World Championship held in 1999 in Aprilia, where he had won his first world championship title.
In 2000, he signed up with Honda to race in the 500cc class and was mentored by Michael Doohan, a former 500 cc World Champion. He raced that year and finished second to Kenny Roberts, Jr. The 500 cc World Championship conducted its final race in 2001 and Rossi who had come second the previous year, finished first and claimed the championship.
In 2004, he signed up with Yamaha and raced in the opening season of the Grand Prix in South Africa. He won the championship to become the first ever rider to win premier class championships in a sequence, representing two different manufacturers. Out of the 16 races held that season he won nine, securing the World Championship title for himself.
The year 2005 was extremely good because he won eleven races in total to become the World Champion that year too.
In 2006, however, he finished second to Nicky Hayden, from Honda, by five points. It was only the second time in his premier class racing career that he came second. The year 2007, was a little rough for him as he could only win four races owing to several technical problems. He was also injured in one of the races and finished third in the World Championship that year, his lowest achievement since his first championship win.
In 2008, he regained his repute by winning the MotoGP title by winning nine races. The following year was also very fruitful, but in 2010, he suffered another injury in which he broke his leg while practicing at Mugello. He finished third in the championship and missed four races that season.
In 2011, he left long time sponsor Yamaha to sign a two-year contract with Ducati. The 2012 season wasn’t much better for Rossi, except that he was able to take two podiums during the season, one again at Le Mans and the other at Misano. In both cases The Doctor finished in second-place and by the end of the season he’d moved into sixth overall. Right to end of the 2012 campaign Rossi worked to find a bike configuration that would solve the power delivery and grip issues on the Desmosedici, but to no avail. Rumors swirled mid-season that he would end his contract with Ducati at the end of 2012, and by August of that year the rumors had been confirmed. Rossi signed to ride with his former team, Yamaha Factory Racing, once again alongside Jorge Lorenzo.
Rossi’s move back to Yamaha paid off in the first race of the 2013 season at Qatar, where he finished in second-place. After that, however, the Doctor struggled to keep pace with the front-runners earning a string of results ranging from fourth at Jerez to a 12th at Le Mans. The Yamaha ace broke through in Round 7 at Assen though, making his way to the top-step for the first time since 2010. He followed that up with two third-place results in as many races and then maintained results within the top-six through the remainder of the season. In total Rossi earned six podiums and finished fourth in the series.
In the days leading up to the finale at Valencia, Rossi announced he would break ties with long-time Crew Chief Jeremy Burgess. Rossi hired on Silvano Galbusera as his new Crew Chief for 2014 and explained his decision, which came as a surprise to many, as an effort to reinvigorate his race program with “something different.”
Rossi remains with Yamaha with teammate Jorge Lorenzo in 2014.
Quotations:
"The most important thing is to have a good relationship with the bike... you have to understand what she wants. I think of a motorcycle as a woman, and I know that sounds silly, but it's true."
"I don't like being famous - it is like a prison. And driving for Ferrari would make it far worse."
"I would have probably stolen cars - it would have given me the same adrenaline rush as racing."
"Fortunately during my career I have won more or less everything, so I need to enjoy it to have the right motivation."
"It is a big problem and so I don't know for sure if I say yes or no to Ferrari."
"I always enjoyed myself a lot in pre-school."
"How do Ferrari know what I'm doing next year when I don't know what I'm doing next week?"
Personality
He is a decent, and cheerful guy but he also attracts media attention and makes headlines for his feuds with fellow racer/ competitor and World Champion Marc Marquez. Rossi is socially active in the social networking sites and his admirers followed him on Twitter, Facebook, and others.
Physical Characteristics:
Rossi is 6 feet tall in height and weighs around 148 lbs.
Interests
He is interested in playing and watching football.
Sport & Clubs
football
Athletes
Italian football club Internazionale
Connections
As of 2018, Valentino Rossi remains unmarried but is dating his girlfriend Francesca Sofia Novello who is a model by profession. He was believed to be single since his relationship with Linda Morselli ended in 2016 but has found a new girlfriend. The couple is dating each other since late 2017 and so far the pair hasn't outed any future plans about getting married.
Despite sharing many romantic moments together and being seen as a pair in the media, Sofia isn't Rossi's wife but the Car racer-model couple have a super hot chemistry together.
Earlier, he dated Arianna Matteuzzi from 2005 to 2007, Maddalena Corvagila in 2005, and Martina Stella in 2002. There was also rumored that he hooked up with Elisabetta Canalis in 2007.