On this February 16, he is a pilot who blows out the 39 candles on his birthday cake, and he is a living legend Valentino Rossi. The Yamaha official will begin a new campaign at the highest level of motorcycle racing with the desire to win a tenth absolute title. Everything seems to believe that he will continue the adventure again in 2019, or even 2020, where, at 41 years old, he could swap his helmet for a team manager cap with the VR46 logo on it. A career that never ceases to amaze someone who is 14 years his junior: Marc Márquez.
The Honda factory driver is on a forced march to catch up with the Doctor since, at almost 25 years old, he already has six world crowns to his credit. In the furnace of a Buriram track that the MotoGP riders are currently discovering, and which will be the scene of the next Thai Grand Prix from October 5 to 7, the teammate of Dani Pedrosa comments on Vale: “ What Valentino is doing at 39 is simply very impressive ».
« This is something every pilot would want to do. He still has the motivation and he is still competitive after all these years. No one has been able to do this before him. He is capable of progressing each season. I just hope he calms down now because he's already fast enough! But he deserves a lot of credit because he works very hard ».
If the rumor of a extension of his contract with Yamaha for 2019 with an option for 2020 confirmed, Vale would be the teammate of Casa Particular in Viñales for the next two seasons on the M1.
