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Rossi to Race Rosso – Valentino Signs for Ducati!!

RossiDucati thumb4 Rossi to Race Rosso Valentino Signs for Ducati!!Ducati Snag the Greatest of all time

Rossi is Red! Finally the most inevitable switch of all time has been officially announced. Valentino Rossi has signed for Ducati to race in MotoGP. The greatest and most popular road racer of the modern era is now going to be teamed with the most passionate and storied motorcycle racing company ever. Ducati.

There are so many amazing moments in Ducati racing history, it is hard to pick the most significant, but let’s try for the modern era. Some critical moments in modern Ducati Racing History include:-

  1. Paul Smart decides to ride the new twin at Imola in 1972 and takes an unexpected victory catapulting Ducati from maker of small roadster to big bike stardom.
  2. Mike Hailwood returns to the Isle of Man after over a decade in retirement and takes victory on the NCR Ducati 900SS
  3. Marco Lucchinelli lays waste to the Japanese multis in the first ever World Superbike round at Donington Park.
  4. Loris Capirossi takes the first Ducati Grand Prix victory since 1959 when he wins the 2003 MotoGP race at Catalunya.
  5. Casey Stoner wins the 2007 MotoGP championship for Ducati in the new 800cc era.

And to that list we now add a sixth item.

Ducati lures Valentino Rossi, aspirant to greatest motorcycle road racer of all time, to ride their blood red Desmosedici MotoGP racer.

Today we are some very lucky Ducatisti. We are are witnessing one of the seminal moments in Ducati racing history, the likes of which are rare and extremely important. Talk of Valentino moving to Ducati was spoken of in hushed tones almost as soon as the factory decided to go MotoGP racing in 2003.

Taken for wishful thinking by the Italian press, Rossi instead switched to Yamaha in 2004, taking his master of a crew chief Jeremy Burgess with him, and turned a sow ear into a silk purse winning his first ever race on the bike and going on to take 4 more World titles. The announcement has been the worst kept secret in the paddock for some time and has been highly anticipated ever since it became clear that Casey Stoner was packing his bags for Honda next year.

n499768 rossi 5 0 thumb.original Rossi to Race Rosso Valentino Signs for Ducati!!Ducati let the worst kept secret in MotoGP out of the bag earlier this month when CEO Gabriele del Torchio reportedly told a Cycle World reporter about their latest hire, although the company swiftly issued a denial. Then, just this morning a post entitled ‘Rossi is Red’ on the official Ducati site once again tipped the news prematurely. Just after 6pm Central European time Yamaha announced that Valentino Rossi was leaving them and Ducati quickly confirmed where he was going (as if we didn’t know).

“We are delighted to announce that Valentino Rossi will be with us from 2011,” commented Gabriele Del Torchio, President of Ducati Motor Holding. “He is a paragon of excellence in the world of motorcycling, coherent with our Italian company which is a standard-bearer for “made in Italy” excellence. These are key values for success in technology, design and sportsmanship.

Ducati News Today has been predicting this move since last September when we penned a two part article entitled ‘Why Valentino Rossi will Finish his Career on a Ducati’. The short version of the argument is that Rossi wants to surpass his hero Giacomo Agostini on an Italian bike, cementing his greatness on a Ducati like Ago before him did on MV Augusta machinery. The growing threat from his team mate only pushed him further in Ducati’s direction. And now, nearly a year later it has come to fruition.

Rossi won’t get to ride the Ducati until the season finishes at Valencia and given his impressive debut on the Yamaha in 2004, the bar is set very high. Success for many will be a win in his first ever outing on the red machine in 2011. MotoGP racing is set to get a whole lot more interesting!

Image Credit: Alexander Bianchini-Kometer.

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Want More? Read More Posts on Valentino Rossi


Try These Related Posts:

  1. Look! Valentino Rossi in a Ducati Jacket
  2. Why Valentino Rossi will Finish his Career on a Ducati – Part I

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 15th, 2010 at 12:40 pm and is filed under MotoGP, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

14 Responses to “Rossi to Race Rosso – Valentino Signs for Ducati!!”

  1. [...] Rossi to Race Rosso – Valentino Signs for Ducati!! | Ducati News Today __________________ Waiting for the changes!! DD #67 class B [...]

  2. [...] and Opinion « Ducati’s Website Jumps the Gun with Rossi is Red Empty Post? Rossi to Race Rosso – Valentino Signs for Ducati!! [...]

  3. [...] Ducati’s official website contains a post entitled ‘Rossi is Red’ Since it contains no text other than “bla bla” it seems it could be yet another oversight by the company as we await the official Rossi announcement expected at 6pm Central European time.  We will bring you the official ‘Rossi’ announcement as soon as it is available.  In the meantime, keep up with us with Twitter and Facebook. UPDATE: Ducati have removed the post from their site but confirmed Rossi is Join Ducati!! [...]

  4. [...] Ducati News Today speculates that Rossi wanted to end his career racing for an Italian team. Furthermore, Rossi’s wants to surpass the number of victories earned by his hero, Giacomo Agostini, on an Italian bike. Agostini, who spent the bulk of his career with MV Augusta, also spent three seasons with Yamaha. ord=Math.random()*10000000000000000; document.write(''); [...]

  5. [...] Rossi to Race Rosso – Valentino Signs for Ducati!! | Ducati News Today http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=val…ed=0CD8Q5QUwAw __________________ Waiting for the changes!! DD #67 class B [...]

  6. [...] The contest has closed with the announcement that Rossi is to race for Ducati next [...]

  7. [...] all the excitement over Valentino Rossi finally being officially confirmed as joining Ducati for the next two MotoGP seasons, one matter that is still to be determined is the future of his [...]

  8. [...] the announcement that Valentino Rossi will join Ducati‘s MotoGP team for the next two seasons our ‘Support the Rossi Switch to Ducati and [...]

  9. [...] (and even before, when everyone already knew) it seems the most obvious thing in the world that Valentino Rossi is to race for Ducati in MotoGP beginning next year. However not so long ago the pundits were sure that Rossi would stay [...]

  10. [...] the big news finally out that Rossi is Red, talk will now turn to how competitive Valentino Rossi will be on the Ducati Desmosedici, a bike [...]

  11. [...] Rossi has debunked claims that he is moving to Ducati next year simply for the money. Speaking on his motivations for the move he noted the challenge of [...]

  12. [...] it wasn’t exciting enough that Valentino Rossi will be racing in red next year on board the Ducati Desmosedici GP11, there is something even more tantalizing. World Superbikes. [...]

  13. [...] Ducati announced they had signed Valentino Rossi to their MotoGP effort for 2011 and before Ducati announced they were leaving World Superbikes next [...]

  14. [...] Valentino Rossi will ride a Ducati Desmosedici next season we still don’t know when he will first sling a leg over the red machine. His [...]