Throughout his motorcycle racing career, Marco Melandri competed for titles against many top riders, including Valentino Rossi. Once good friends, their relationship deteriorated when they faced off in MotoGP – and it never recovered.
Speaking to Moto.it, the Ravenna-born rider revealed: ‘In reality, we have no relationship. We’ve practically never seen each other again. For better or worse, I have stayed on good terms with everyone – even [Max] Biaggi and I exchange messages from time to time, and I have always had an excellent relationship with Loris Capirossi’.
Things were different with Rossi, from whom he drifted apart in MotoGP: ‘We were really good friends as kids, and we stayed close until I reached MotoGP. Then, naturally, our paths had to diverge because when you are fighting for the same goal, it’s completely normal. But for some reason, we never reconnected, so I went my way, and he went his’.
That said, Melandri clarified that he holds no grudges against Il Dottore: ‘I have no problems, no resentment towards anyone because I now understand that the past is the past, and the future is the future. I have always tried to separate my personal life from the sport. The fact is, we were friends before, and maybe that made it harder to separate things – but time heals everything’.