And, he is back. The seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi will ride another day with Yahama for the 2013 and 2014 MotoGP seasons. Rossi left Yahama in 2010 to ride for the Italian manufacturer Ducati. He was the great Italian hope. The goal was for the Italian rider, who already has championship titles on Honda and Yahama, was to gain another with Ducati and become the first rider in history to win on three different bikes. Unfortunately for both parties, the dream was a bit more of a nightmare.
Although Ducati created a new bike for the rider and devoted as much as it could to the bike, Rossi's best finish was a rain-soaked second place. With Audi's recent acquisition of Ducati, the assumption was that even more energy could have been put into MotoGP. However, in the end, seeing Yahama win week after week on the bike that Rossi developed proved too much for the rider who is used to winning. The return of Rossi to Yahama will hopefully also be the return of the infamous scraps and make for exciting podium fights. These next two years will also answer one defining question: Does the man make the bike, or does the bike make the man?
Written by Kate Erwin
