Rossi vs Marquez - one of motorsports' fiercest rivalries

 When you think of MotoGP, two names will always spring into mind - Valentino Rossi, or Marc Marquez.

  Both of these riders have set the sport alight in the 21st century, garnering massive and passionate fanbases along with their intensity on-track that made the sport a joy to watch.

  Valentino Rossi made a name for himself in the 2000s, his smooth riding style and precise timing through corners helped him win seven titles in the premier class, nine overall including the 125cc and 250cc tiers. 

  These successes cemented Rossi's name among the all-time greats and is now widely regarded as one of, if not the greatest men to ride a motorcycle competitively.

  At the age of 22, Rossi became the youngest rider to win the premier class title to date, dominating the 2001 season with Honda in his sophomore. season, where he won 11 out of the 16 total rounds that year.

  On the other hand, Spanish superstar Marc Marquez burst onto the scene in the 2010s, pulling off many breakout rides in Moto2 and Moto3 with the most notable being in Valencia 2012 when he went from 33rd place on the grid to taking the chequered flag in 1st.

  Upon promotion to MotoGP in 2013, he made a quick impression, finishing on the podium in his debut race and winning the next. He would go on to win the championship ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa in an intense title battle to become the first ever rookie to win the MotoGP world championship, and also became the youngest MotoGP rider to win the championship which was a record previously held by.. Valentino Rossi.

  Rossi heaped praise for Marquez for his impressive rookie season, calling his season "impressive", and even welcomed him as a future star of the sport. Marquez even cites Rossi as one of his childhood heroes, inspiring him to take up motorcycle racing.

  The future would quickly turn into the present as in the following year of 2014, Marquez would dominate by winning the first ten races consecutively and rounded off the year with another title under his belt which established himself as the new face of MotoGP.

  In 2015, the Honda bike would not reach the highs that Marquez was able to put it during his first two years in MotoGP, as the Yamahas would be the ones at the cork of the field which also meant that its two riders, Rossi and Lorenzo would engage in a title battle. 

  "The Doctor", which is Rossi's iconic nickname, would chase after his tenth world title across all classes and end a drought that had started at the beginning of the decade in 2010 while Lorenzo aimed to clinch a third world championship.

  This would not deter the young Marquez, as he would win a few races throughout the season including a phenomenal ride at Phillip Island. However, the impressive display would not sit well with Rossi, as the Italian would accuse Marquez of helping Lorenzo win the championship during the pre-race press conference in Malaysia. As Rossi felt that Marquez was purposely slowing him down, costing him an opportunity to have a go at his title rival.

  Though, the accusations were not completely valid as Marquez did eventually cost Lorenzo world championship points by overtaking him and the Ducati of Andrea Iannoe for victory on the final lap.

  The tension ultimately came to a boiling point at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, when Marquez and Rossi would once again engage in a fierce battle filled with tussling, cut-backs, ferocious overtake attempts through the sweeping high-speed corners that the circuit had to offer. 

  On lap seven, the two were neck and neck throughout the long right hander before the final straight, Rossi slowed down significantly and attempted to run Marquez wide off the race-track to make life easier for him. Unfortunately for him, Marquez hung around the outside line undeterred despite being pushed way off of the optimal racing line.

  Sensing that the Spaniard was still hanging on the outside line, Rossi looked at Marquez straight in the visor and appeared to move his leg outwards, resulting in Marquez being put into a lowside and subsequently retiring him from the race.

  The incident would land Rossi a grid penalty which would mean that he would start at the back of the field for the crucial title decider in Valencia, but kept his podium at the Malaysian Grand Prix meaning that he could keep the points he gained.

  Inevitably, controversy arose surrounding the incident itself and the punishment dished out to Rossi by the FIM.

  Many criticised Rossi, with Honda accusing the Italian of kicking Marquez's bike and offsetting his balance while title rival Jorge Lorenzo accused the FIM of giving Rossi preferential treatment, saying that, "If another rider did what Valentino did today, he would do minimum a ride through [penalty], minimum a black flag, minimum a race of penalisation. But it didn't happen, and I'm disappointed, very disappointed." Former MotoGP champion Casey Stoner expressed similar views.

  Race victor and team-mate of Marquez, Dani Pedrosa felt that Rossi's actions were "contradictory" to his motto of just racing hard and fair. 

  Other motorcycle riders such as Michael Laverty and a famous rival of Rossi's, Colin Edwards, felt that Marquez should not have even engaged in a battle with Rossi as he was not involved in the championship fight.

  Rossi's loyal following in Italy, including Italian journalists, also believed that Marquez was at fault for Rossi's hefty punishment. So much as to express their anger and frustration by breaking into his property in Barcelona and physically attack Marquez and his family and protest for the penalty to be removed.

  Moreover, the prime minister of Italy at that time, Matteo Renzi, called Rossi on his telephone and offered his support to him.

  All of this cumulated in the pre-race press conference in the final round at Valencia to be cancelled due to ongoing safety concerns for the riders involved in the debacle. 

  For the final round itself, Rossi recovered track position from last place up to fourth to try and achieve a miracle comeback for a tenth world championship. However, he was far down the road to progress further up the field and to keep his championship dreams alive, he must hope that whoever was close enough to challenge Lorenzo for the win would cost him the positions and points.

  To his dismay, Jorge Lorenzo was leading the race ahead of - you guessed it - Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa.

  The top three would remain stagnant all the way to the finish line, meaning that Lorenzo clinched a third MotoGP title ahead of Rossi by five points.

  Post-race, Rossi would accuse Marquez of helping Lorenzo win the championship by purposefully holding ground at the runners-up spot tucked in behind Lorenzo as he had uncharacteristically sat back and attempted any overtakes throughout the race, a contradiction to his aggressive all-or-nothing attitude that Marquez usually displays. 

  Though some may think that Marquez had taken the criticism that he shouldn't race riders who are in a title battle he is not a part of too literally and did not fight Lorenzo, who was in the title battle. Furthermore, Rossi's comments after Malaysia may have inspired Marquez to do all he can to ensure that he would lose a tenth world championship.

  Had Marquez won the race, the Yamahas would have been tied in points for the championship, though Lorenzo would have won on count-back anyway.

  For 2016 and 2017, MotoGP would revert to the typical Marc Marquez consecutive championships. Rossi and Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso would rival the 93 for the title, but to no avail.

  In 2018, Rossi had just experienced a winless 2017 season and age looked to finally catch up to the doctor. 

  At the second round in Argentina, Marc Marquez was pushed to the back of the field after being penalised with a ride-through penalty. Slicing through the field, Marquez would display aggressive riding which included a lot of shoving and pushing others off the road. 

  When it came to Vale, Marquez would do what he did to the others but Rossi would not be so lucky as he understeered into the run-off area and fell off his bike, eliminating him from the race. 

  Many saw this as Marquez's avenging the fateful day at Sepang.

  An enraged Rossi did not want to speak to Marquez, as the Spaniard attempted to go into the Yamaha garage to apologise for the incident, he was denied access by his staff.

  In front of the press, Rossi made his feelings clear that Marquez was only going to show compassion in front of cameras and that feelings were inauthentic. Moreover, the doctor said that Marquez had "destroyed our sport."

  During the press conference for the next round, Marquez had attempted to shake Rossi's hands to show everybody that there were no hard feelings between them, but Rossi declined. This meant that underlying tensions between the two were still present and that their relationship may never be rekindled.

  Fast forward to the present day and it seems like things have not been patched up, as Rossi felt that Marquez's headline move to the factory Ducati team for 2025 was a joke and doing Pramac rider Jorge Martin a disservice as he has been making an impression on the MotoGP world and currently leads the championship. 

  Though, Marc Marquez has played the role of the bigger person as he never slated Rossi in interviews and even said that the Italian was MotoGP's "biggest part" when Rossi announced his retirement.

  The liability could be placed on any of the two parties involved, Rossi could have acted his age more and stop the mind games that he has been well-known for as it backfired by inspiring Marquez to not fight Lorenzo at Valencia. Or perhaps Marquez should have simply not put his nose in a championship fight he was never involved in, though he was just racing.

  All in all, the feud between Rossi and Marquez is an entertaining one to experience and reminisce on. The rivalry engaged fans from all over the world into the world of MotoGP as their collision in Sepang is one of MotoGP's most viewed YouTube videos. So the real winner of this rivalry was the sport itself.

  For Rossi, it was another rival to play mind games with and flush their confidence down the drain, but for Marquez, it was the image of a person he looked up to as a child forever tarnished after undergoing a rude awakening to the reality of the sport he gives his whole life to.