Spielberg bei Knittelfeld (Austria) (AFP)

"The Michael Jordan of motorcycles" hangs up: Italian MotoGP icon Valentino Rossi, 42, will leave the World Championship at the end of 2021 and his sport says "thank you" to him for 26 years of loyal service.

"I decided to quit at the end of the season," announced the driver, nine times world champion in all categories, at a press conference Thursday on the sidelines of the Grand Prix in Styria, Austria.

"Alas, I'm starting my last half of the season as a MotoGP rider. It's a difficult moment, quite sad because that's what I've been doing for almost 30 years," said the man who has been losing ground since then. a few years.

"Next year my life is going to change. But it's been great. A very, very long trip, really, really fun."

However, we should not see the star disappear from the circuits: in addition to the management of his team (the VR46) engaged in the Motorcycle Speed ​​World Championship, Rossi wants to try his hand at car racing.

Italian motorcycle rider Valentino Rossi after qualifying for the Italian GP in MotoGP, June 2, 2018 at the Mugello circuit TIZIANA FABI AFP / Archives

"I'm a lifelong driver, I think," said one who has had the opportunity to test Ferrari and Mercedes F1 cars in the past.

"I'm just going to switch from bikes to cars, certainly not at the same level, but I think I will continue to race", particularly with the aim of taking part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

- "He changed the image of the motorcycle" -

A few minutes after this announcement followed by a long round of applause from the media present, Johann Zarco perfectly summed up the feeling in the paddock.

"You have to thank + Vale + for what it has brought. It has changed the image of motorcycles since the 2000s. All over the world, if you talk about motorcycles with someone who doesn't know it, he'll tell you Rossi's name, "remarked the French driver, before Spaniard Joan Mir compared him to basketball icon Michael Jordan.

The profusion of t-shirts and caps bearing the yellow VR46 logo (his race number) on all the streets of the planet is the best proof of this.

Hired in 2021 with Yamaha-SRT, Rossi had announced it: he would decide his future this summer based on his results.

But the "Doctor" had the most difficult start of his career among the elite, with only one top 10 in Italy and a sad 19th place among the drivers with 17 points on the eve of the 10th round this weekend. end.

“Unfortunately, the results were not what I expected, so I started to question myself,” he explained.

Rossi could have continued for a year with his own team, which will integrate MotoGP in 2022 as a Ducati satellite, but he decided otherwise.

"I would have liked to have raced with my team but I decided not to because it meant changing bikes (from Yamaha to Ducati, note)", he explained.

"For two or three years it would be fine, but for just one season it might be more of a risk than a positive."

Valentino Rossi during the San Marino GP MotoGP practice, September 8, 2018 in Misano Tiziana FABI AFP / Archives

- As an Agostini -

Arrived in the Motorcycle Speed ​​World Championship in 1996, the Italian was crowned for the first time the following year in 125 cm3 (the lower category), before returning to 250 cm3 (the intermediate category) in 1999.

In the premier class (500 cm3 then MotoGP), he was crowned seven times, a title less than the record of his compatriot Giacomo Agostini: at Honda in 2001, 2002 and 2003, then at Yamaha - with whom his name will forever be linked - in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009.

Almost stainless, still with the same laughing air and the same sense of humor and spectacle as in his beginnings, "Vale" then played the Top 3 in the ranking of the pilots until 2018, year of the last of his. 65 poles.

To find the last of his 115 victories, we have to go back to 2017.

Valentino Rossi after free practice for the MotoGP Italian GP, ​​May 31, 2019 at Mugello Filippo MONTEFORTE AFP / Archives

But in 2019, Rossi only signed two podiums and took 7th place in the general classification, then only one podium (out of 235 in all) and 15th position in 2020, even though he had never finished in- beyond the Top 10 since his debut in the World Cup.

The time to say "ciao" was approaching, it will arrive at the end of 2021. "I am at peace. Not happy but (...) it is the right time", concludes the idol.

© 2021 AFP