V
alentino Rossi didn't need to win the race to
grab the headlines at the first round of his 21st
season. He did that with the announcement on
race eve that he had signed to stay a further two
years with the factory Yamaha team for 2017 and
2018.
This came as a surprise not only to observers
who have been predicting the 37-year-old super-
star's retirement for some years, but also to fellow
riders, although not Movistar Yamaha teammate
Jorge Lorenzo, who is considering his own future
with his uneasy teammate after delaying his own
response to Yamaha's simultaneous offer to him.
"It has always been my plan to compete for as
long as I can be competitive and find it enjoyable,"
said Rossi. "Ever since I returned to Yamaha in
2013 I have felt like I am home again, and this
showed in the results."
Asked later whether it would be his last con-
tract, he laughed, and said, "Ninety percent, yes."
Yamaha Racing boss Lin Jarvis revealed it had
been Lorenzo who asked for contracts to be sort-
ed before the start of the season, and the offer
to Rossi had been a matter of "equal treatment."
Both riders had received offers at the beginning of
the week, Lorenzo's the biggest in Yamaha's his-
tory, but so far only Rossi had responded.
Lorenzo's response to the news on Spanish TV
was to say: "It is clever of Rossi to accept, be-
cause he doesn't have many other options."
Rossi joined Yamaha in 2004, after taking
three titles on a Honda, and won his first race on
the until-then underdog M1, going on to take four
more crowns for the marque before switching to
Ducati in 2011, piqued at having to share Yamaha's
attention with Lorenzo.
The contract extension gives him three years to
claim 11 total GP victories, finally to outrank com-
patriot Giacomo Agostini as the Greatest Of All
Time (GOAT). At the start of the season, Valentino
had 112 wins in all classes against Ago's 122.
Rossi was already the most successful in the
premier class with 86 wins to Ago's 68.
Michael Scott
IN
THE
WIND
P30
He's insatiable, isn't
he? Rossi's decision
to stay will mean he
will be racing MotoGP
at 40 years old.
ROSSI
SIGNS FOR
TWO MORE
YEARS!
