When Jorge Lorenzo entered MotoGP, he joined Yamaha with Valentino Rossi as his teammate, a situation that didn’t sit well with the Italian. The two had some animosity while sharing the garage, but those divisions are now in the past.
In the show Mary’s Place, the three-time world champion revealed Il Dottore’s resistance to his entry into Yamaha: ‘In my early days at Yamaha, Valentino Rossi was at the peak of his career, and they didn’t want a young rider alongside him. He did everything possible to prevent it, creating obstacles and challenges’.
According to Lorenzo, his relationship with Rossi evolved positively when they were no longer teammates: ‘Afterward, when he went to Ducati or when I left, things got better between us. But as teammates, we had a relationship bordering on enmity, both wanting to beat the other. Then, when one of us retired, the relationship changed completely. Now, we get along well and cordially. To me, he is a great champion, a very intelligent person with a high charisma’.
