The exact moment Valentino Rossi decided to hang his leathers

MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi retired in 2021 when he was 42, thereby bringing to an end a golden era in the history of the pinnacle of two-wheel racing.

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He recently revealed that he did not decide hang up his leathers at the end of the season, but rather months before. Speaking on Gianluca Gazzoli’s podcast, "I decided to stop after Assen. I wanted to race again but I said to myself: 'Let's see if I am competitive because I can't come here to finish 12th'."

Rossi has won 10 times at Assen and he feels that it always has "been a bit of my home". But his last race at Assen did not go well. "In the race I had a bad start, crashed, I was fighting with Enea Bastianini, I wrecked the bike," he said.

It is at that moment he decided to stop. "When you are in the gravel you say: 'If I need a sign to stop, it is this!' Imagine my state of mind because it means giving up a life that you had for 25 years," added Rossi.

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When he returned back home that evening, until which point he had not revealed to anybody his decision to retire, Rossi was informed by his partner that he will soon become a father (he had a daughter in March 2022). "It happened all together - I found out I was becoming a father on the day that I decided to stop racing."