{"id":112360,"date":"2021-08-05T21:13:43","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T21:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=112360"},"modified":"2021-08-05T22:57:07","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T22:57:07","slug":"italian-moto-gp-great-rossi-calling-it-quits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=112360","title":{"rendered":"Italian Moto GP great Rossi calling it quits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Motorcycling great Valentino Rossi <\/a>is retiring at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

The nine-time MotoGP world champion announced his decision Thursday at the Styrian GP \u2014 at the venue where Rossi took his first grand prix podium in the 125cc class in 1996.<\/p>\n

"I have decided to stop at the end of the season," the 42-year-old Rossi said. "It's hard to make this decision, I would have wanted to race for another 25 years but the moment has come to say, 'Stop.'<\/p>\n

\"Rossi<\/p>\n

"So, unfortunately, this will be my last half season as a MotoGP rider."<\/p>\n

Rossi is regarded as one of the best ever racers, with the Italian having won seven premier class titles and nine overall across MotoGP, in 250cc and 125cc.<\/p>\n

He's won a record 115 grands prix \u2014 89 of them in the premier class \u2014 and his 235 podium appearances are also more than any other rider.<\/p>\n

But Rossi's last podium was more than a year ago and he hasn't won a race since 2017. He sits 19th in the season standings, with just 17 points after nine races.<\/p>\n

"It's a sad and difficult moment for me, to say that next year I won't race with a bike," Rossi added. "I have done this for nearly 30 years and next year my life will change from a certain point of view.<\/p>\n

\"<b>Italian<\/p>\n

"But it was great and I had so much fun … we still have half a season, I think it will be more difficult when we get to the last race."<\/p>\n

Nicknamed "The Doctor," Rossi is a colorful and entertaining character, whose name transcended the sport, and he will be widely missed from the circuit.<\/p>\n

"It was a long journey together, many people who support me today or race with me weren't even born when I started on the track," Rossi said. "It was an incredible support and sometimes difficult even for me to comprehend, but it makes me proud and I think we have had fun together."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Motorcycling great Valentino Rossi is retiring at the end of the season. The nine-time MotoGP world champion announced his decision Thursday at the Styrian GP […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112360"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=112360"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112362,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112360\/revisions\/112362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=112360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=112360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=112360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}