RiderTua.com – Jorge Lorenzo remembers his relationship with Valentino Rossi when they were still together at Yamaha, where there was competition at the highest level (fighting for titles). The former Spanish rider is a MotoGP legend and it is a shame that he ended his career with a bad season at Honda. He should have deserved a better finish, there are some regrets, but he has won five world titles and goes down in World Championship history.
Jorge Lorenzo arrived in the top class in 2008 as Valentino Rossi’s teammate at the factory Yamaha team and immediately proved formidable. The Doctor didn’t expect to have a partner in the Yamaha garage at that level and there have been moments of tension over the years. Today, with the retirement of both riders, their relationship is much better and in 2021 there is also an invitation to the Ranch for the 100 km Champion race in Tavullia.
Jorge Lorenzo: Valentino Rossi left Yamaha because he was jealous
Lorenzo in an interview recalled how his relationship with Rossi was at Yamaha.. “We never spoke to each other from the start, if we met in certain situations, at most we greeted each other. We hated each other. Maybe the word hate is not quite right, but I don’t wanted to hurry up. There was a feeling of dislike. In 2005 I was ranked 250th and a journalist asked me if I would beat Rossi if he was ranked 250th. I said yes and the majority of people didn’t like it, they thought I was arrogant. But I really think so. I think I can beat him with the same bike. If you mitigate it, how can you beat him?”
Valentino in 2010 put Yamaha at the front of the choice between himself and Jorge, then decided to move to Ducati. Lorenzo confirmed what happened.. “He left because of jealousy. In 2010 I won my first World Championship and asked Yamaha to choose between him or me. He recognized it. Yamaha answered that they wanted him to stay, but if he forced them to choose then he had to leave. Proudly he went to Ducati, he had two bad seasons and then our relationship got better because we were no longer in the same team. In 2013 he returned to Yamaha in a slump, his income was much less and agreed to be the second driver. Little by little he got stronger and took more control of the team. We were supposed to be 50-50 and from there we started to hate each other again.”
In 2010 Rossi suffered a serious injury at Mugello and there he lost every chance of fighting for the title, having to miss the race. Lorenzo believes the desire to beat him made the Italian exaggerate… Lorenzo is at the top of the standings and he can escape. Rossi should have won, but the Italian crashed and was out for months. This eased Lorenzo’s path to winning the world championship. Is it a happy thing or sad about the injury suffered by his rival? Happy, even though I don’t want anything serious to happen to him. But he’s one of the less… This goes for everyone, but no one recognizes him and something else is said. I hope the recovery is slow, because I want to win championships. Without Rossi, Stoner, Pedrosa and Marquez I would be ten or twelve times champion.”
