Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi’s MotoGP rivalry was short, but has lived long in the memory of fans around the globe.
Their best years were between 2013 and 2016, and it was most disappointing that they never went head-to-head for a MotoGP title.
Rossi might have been towards the end of his career, but he came back to life during the 2015 campaign in particular.
Meanwhile, Marquez was just getting started and had a point to prove. It’s a big reason why they clashed so heavily – both had points to prove.
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Rossi and Marquez are similar to Michael Schumacher, and all three of them dominated and defined certain eras in their career.
Marquez demonstrated a ‘special’ trait before making his debut, and he used it immediately after graduating to the premier class. He was able to outbrake his rivals for some time.
READ MORE: What Valentino Rossi told Dani Pedrosa about Marc Marquez straight after Malaysia 2015 crash
Jorge Lorenzo thinks Valentino Rossi viewed Marc Marquez as his ‘successor’ before 2015
MotoGP insiders felt 2015 was ‘now or never’ for Rossi, and it did go on to be one of the most controversial seasons of his career.
He and Marquez had really started to clash by then, but the Spaniard crashed way too much, which took him out of championship contention.
When they infamously clashed in Malaysia, the damage had been done, but Jorge Lorenzo thinks there was a time when Rossi saw Marquez as the man to take over from him.
“My opinion is that Valentino and Marc were… I don’t know if they were actually friends, but the image they transmitted to the people was that they were good together, laughing and so on,” he said in Mat Oxley’s Marc The Magnificent biography.
“It was like Valentino had accepted that Marc was his successor. He was already 36, and Marc was 22, and sooner or later, he would have to retire, and Marc liked him. When Valentino came back to Yamaha in 2013, he struggled to be competitive, then in 2014 he was a bit better, then came 2015.
“Marc had difficulties with the 2015 Honda and crashed many times, so he was third in the championship, and Valentino was leading,” Lorenzo continued.
“I think at that moment Valentino opened his eyes and saw the possibility of winning the championship again, so he became a killer again, the killer that had been sleeping for three or four years.”
READ MORE: Marc Marquez was ‘descending into hell’ before reaching MotoGP after being taught valuable lesson
How Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez’s relationship changed when he arrived in MotoGP
Before Marquez arrived in MotoGP, Rossi was one of his idols. He had models of his bikes in his bedroom, and he admired the Italian rider.
As he started to fight him, that dynamic changed. The man who once offered to do anything for him was now fully against him.
Lorenzo believes that part of that was down to a realisation on Rossi’s behalf that he had a chance to win again in 2015.
But they had already been heading down a rocky road before then. There were signs in years prior that their relationship was worsening, and Malaysia 2015 just happened to be the boiling point.
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