Casey Stoner, former MotoGP champion, brought a new perspective to the controversial confrontation between Valentino Rossi and Marc Márquez, which continues to generate intense debate since 2015. The Australian, known for his frankness, addressed the issue in the Ducati Diaries podcast, assigning responsibility to Rossi for starting the dispute.
‘Marc [Marquez], to a certain degree, deserved his criticism. He tried to get in there’ Stoner began by saying, referring to the adverse reactions the Spaniard has faced over the years.
However, Stoner was clear in stating that the blame for the rivalry lies with Rossi, emphasizing that Márquez only responded to what he considers to have been an attack: ‘Although people blame Marc for everything, they forget that Valentino [Rossi] started it. Marc is Marc, we’ve seen him do this throughout his career, and then Valentino started a war of words’.
Stoner recalled how before everything turned sour both riders got along quite well, to the point of having a friendly relationship: ‘They were all friends, and everything else, then Valentino started something, and Marc retaliated because he didn’t like it. And, of course, everyone explodes because of that, forgetting that Valentino went to poke the bear’.
The veteran rider also pointed out that Rossi, by trying to mess with Márquez’s psychology, ended up rekindling a flame that he could no longer control, especially at a time when other talents like Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo were also ready to challenge the Italian’s dominance.
‘When Valentino was at his peak – before me, Dani [Pedrosa] and Jorge [Lorenzo] arrived – he could get into the heads of the riders around him, and I still think he believed that was happening. But all he did when we were there, the younger generation, was strengthen us. We learned his tricks, we learned what he was capable of, and then we learned how to deal with it’, recalled the Australian.
These statements promise to rekindle the debate among MotoGP fans, especially in a year when Márquez is set to join Francesco Bagnaia, Rossi’s protégé, at Ducati.