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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128121
By TONY CARTER PHOTOS BY GOLD & GOOSE onflict can make a championship. Such events as what happened minutes after the Catalan Grand Prix can be epoch-making, and when Max Biaggi and Valentino Rossi are involved... somehow quintessentially Italian. There has been much talking about exactly what happened at this year's Catalan GP. Before now, all anybody knew (outside of the pair in question, a handful of friends present and some racing officialdom) was that an 'incident' had happened en route to the press conference after the 500cc Grand Prix. Immediately after a blue-riband race, the main protagonists assembled in a gathering area where the top three riders get to park-up their bikes, congratulate their teams and give brief, TV overviews as to the action just passed. Following the normal pattern of events, Biaggi, Rossi and Loris Capirossi then made their way along a corridor to the waiting mass of journalists in the press-room proper where lengthier debriefs of the race happen and further questions can be parried. It was while the riders, surrounded by managers and the bustling throng of entourages, were making their way along the tight-fitting corridor that a scuffle broke out. Biaggi appeared at the conference a short while later with a bloodied nose, Rossi looking decidedly ruffled, and the sport's governing body, the FIM, hurrying around trying to keep everything together. Speculation is rife amongst the racing world as to who hit who in that claustrophobic, post-race, electrically-charged atmosphere. The FIM was taking no chances, however, and issued both Rossi and Biaggi with an official warning about the conduct of self, teams and friends on GP territory. Much has been written about what is thought to have happened during the skirmish. C 50 SEPTEMBER 12. 2001 • c U a • • n The two most exciting 500cc GP racers on the planet appeared to have it out once and for all - no more the cat-and-mouse games of psychology or the battle on track. The past few months have been tense between the pair. Whilst Biaggi has suffered as the villain of the piece, being played out as the battling old hand fighting an increasingly hard battle against the irrepressible youth of Rossi, the ever-masterful manipulator of the press is the racing world's current golden boy. What happened at Catalunya reverberated around the world. Theories were drawn up as to what (and why) exactly happened. But nobody knew for sure, until now. Biaggi has spoken up. "In Catalunya, we had some problem," Biaggi said. "What happened really came about first of all from Rossi's manager, Gibo. He was on the way to the conference after the race ... he was somewhere where the regulations state he cannot be, with the riders walking to the conference. You know, he put his hand on me, on my shoulder, in a rough way. I don't want to say that he did it in a bad way ... just a rough way. That's what it was all about - that's what started it. Then of course there was something of a moment between me and Rossi." In the immediate furor of the spat, it seems that "Gibo" managed to smack Biaggi in the nose with Rossi's helmet - that's when all hell broke loose. "I was trying to look after myself after it happened. I didn't start the attack, but I had to do something after being attacked by somebody. But I don't think of it as a problem now. I was there and straight away I was trying to explain in Catalunya. I tried to say to Rossi that it was all starting from his... how do you say? Bloody manager? And he made it very bad... "I still went up to the conference afterwards and I tried to answer the questions because right then in ...... that moment I think you need the passion because it is not there that you can fight for the World Championship. All I can say is that I am very disappointed with all this stuff. What happened has not changed anything out on the track, though. I would say that although we have shaken hands for the press, I think I can get something back for the people with a result on the track. That's the best answer I can give from now on .. ." Biaggi looks genUinely depressed about what happened. Being in GP racing since 1991 and standjng on top of the world four times as the 250cc Champion and being the last man to truly push the mighty five-time 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan throughout a season of the most important racing class in the series, he's had his fair share of ups and downs in the GP glitterati. Biaggi has always polarized the GP fan base. Love him or loathe him there's no getting away from the Roman Emperor. No denying that he'll be bang on the money during the races too. But with Biaggi there is more than just getting on a bike and going mind-numbingly fast in circles - it's the side of him that people in the paddock or sitting by the side of the track at a race don't see. Biaggi actually ·cares about the sport. He realizes that whilst the fight between him and Rossi may have put a few more people in the seats, or persuaded a percentage or two of wrestling fans to swap the glittering spandex of their muscle-bound heroes for the backbiting of the two-wheeled world, it's ultimately going to take something away from the pure spectacle of 500cc GP raCing. And Max Biaggi isn't the sort of guy to pull his punches when it comes to fingering the blame on those he sees as most directly responsible for the latest 'dumbing down' of the sport. He blames Rossi's fans. Naturally. "I see the fans at most tracks we go to and many times it is Rossi's fans who are very arrogant, very aggressive," Biaggi said. "It is not good for the sport. Ever since 1started racing motorcycles it has always been a nice, relaxing thing you can follow and support. It should always be something like that. A fan should enjoy the racing without following one rider or another too much. The racing should be the most important thing. Rossi's fans make the sport more critical because of the way they behave. I do not want motorcycling to become more like football." FIle Real MIDI 8;agg; 50 Max, how did you get started in motorcycle racing? It all started when I was almost 18. I was really in love with football, a really big fan of it and for a long time my biggest dream was to become a football player for the National Team or AS Roma they are my favorite team. But one day I saw one of my best friends leaving his apartment, he was about to go out on a bike and was dressed in all the gear with leathers, helmet, gloves and boots. I was quite curious, so I asked him where he was going and he said he was going to the local track to have some fun. So I said: "I wanna come, I wanna comel" even though at that time I didn't have any leathers or gloves - nothing. I went to the track, though, and straight-away I was really in love with the speed and the way that the riders were going into the corner. It was very, very strange to me but it was immediately a real love. I had to work hard over the next few months to get the riding gear and a bike because nobody would help me out with anything. I had to do it all myself. I started off by doing one Q