The news that Italy’s biggest sports star and multiple MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi will ride for Ducati for the next two years is the achievement of a dream for many Italians (forgetting that fellow Italian rider Max Biaggi rides for Aprilia in the Superbike).
The “Rossi in Rosso” pun doesn’t come close to describing the euphoria that many feel over having their beloved Vale in the saddle of an Italian bike.
He might not win from the start, and it might not prove to be the fairytale many are hoping for, but for the moment the idea that Valentino Rossi will be coming to an Italian team is like having a favourite son back for dinner after years of being away.
If you’re interested to more about the Rossi to Ducati saga, you can check out Twowheelsblog where we’ve got stories on just how much marketing money Ducati will rake in off the back of the world’s most famous rider, and you can see Rossi’s handwritten goodbye letter to Yamaha and his beloved M1.
The real love story, in fact, is about Rossi and his bike but we’ll leave that for another time.
For our part, we’ll be eagerly following Rossi’s progress at Ducati from a cultural perspective – there’s nothing we’ll enjoy more than seeing how the Italians will cope with this new found patriotism uniting two of Italy’s greatest icons.
In the video above you can see Valentino briefly talk about his future with Ducati.