Valentino Rossi He experienced many successes during his sporting career, but also defeats and disappointments. In 2006 he was defeated by Nick Hayden in the 500cc world championship of the time and experienced one of the worst moments of his life. More than a week stuck in bed not wanting to talk to anyone.
He told it himself in the ‘MigBabol’ podcast, where he recounted what happened after Valencia 2006: “Something happened that I don’t know. Something technical, the tires …but who knows? In the Warm Up, I finished eleventh, and I started to have no more grip… and I started to say “what the hell isn’t it?”, maybe it’s the cold of the morning, but the race came and it wasn’t either. I was going through a difficult time. “Everyone was coming up to me everywhere.”
“I was slow, I was struggling. From that Grand Prix, I started another phase of my career. Until then he was invinciblethat is, in the end he always won. From there it started to get a little more difficult. But hey, it’s normal,” assures the former Italian driver.
And after losing this world championship, he experienced very difficult days locked up at home: “I wanted to show that I could still win world championships, but what a disappointment. I stayed at home for ten days without going out, I slept all day and tossing and turning in bed. “There was a lot of sadness.”
In this 2006 World Cup, Hayden won. “In 2006, I made a mistake and Hayden won, quite simply, because it’s sport,” admits Valentino who refuses to compare that with what happened in 2015. A year where he won Jorge Lorenzo…and in which the Italian has still not managed to overcome his confrontation with Marc Marquez and the famous kick.
