Retirement… In everyday life, we would like to be able to retire as soon as possible, but for high-level athletes excelling in their art, it is quite the opposite. Even if the age pyramid differs, the contrast is striking. And yet, at some point, you have to let go. On this sensitive theme, Giacomo Agostini confided. And also opened on Valentino Rossi.
An interview that can be found in the columns of the Gazette dello Sport. The one who won fifteen titles remembers: “ Everyone has their reasons for stopping competition. For example, Stoner could no longer stand the environment. I stopped because I saw too many comrades die on the track, a concern which is fortunately now less significant thanks to progress in safety. But above all I stopped because I couldn't win like I did before. And a journalist once wrote that I no longer knew how to win. This remark affected me a lot because I actually realized that I was no longer the same ».
A victory drought which has dried up the sporting heart... But precisely, Valentino Rossi didn't win anything in 2018. A sign of the beginnings of wear and tear, of the beginning of the end? Ago reassures about his younger brother: “ I don't think it's Valentino's concern to be beaten by younger people, especially from his academy. His decision will not be influenced, it will be his own. Being competitive and having fun will be the elements of his choice. Vale is in good shape, motivated, aggressive, at the level, otherwise he would not continue. Young people have courage on the track. He has some too, but above all, he has the experience, the real added value of age ».
He finishes : " there will be a day when someone will even say of Rossi “he can't win anymore”. But he will never forget what he gave before his 40th birthday and this final phase of his career. Its cessation is inevitable. Even though it will be difficult, this day will not be the end of the world or even the end of the world championship. The latter has survived the retirement of many excellent champions. He will miss the competition, the glory, the passion of the fans, but he must be intelligent to understand that he cannot continue forever, which is valid in all sports »
« He won't want to become a white-haired Peter Pan or an adult with inappropriate clothes. He's too smart. When he understands, he will stop. He will discover that there are different ways to have fun and many other things in life. Nothing that will give you the same taste, at least for me it was like that, but something different. But while we wait for this deadline, let's take advantage of it. And let's thank him ».
