#first time I wrote about MotoGP

[schumi-nadal]

So, I wrote a Mabio one-shot… 👀

If anyone wants to read it, here it is 😂

[motocorsas]

Nicky Hayden passed away seven years ago today. the last American to win a world championship, he was a hero of the sport and sorely missed. in his honor, i want to highlight a few of my favorite stories about him:

he got his start in dirt track racing, winning his first grand national dirt track race in 1999, when he was 18, at the Hagerstown Half-Mile in Hagerstown, MD, a place i've been many times. in the same year he won the AMA Supersport championship, and three years later, became the youngest ever AMA Superbike champion. i would argue having a dirt track background gave Hayden a unique talent for road racing -- riding on dirt imparts and requires a strong sense of the back tire. Hayden himself concurred:

while in AMA Superbike, Nicky wrote a column in Roadracing World magazine called Young Gun. i sorely miss these types of features: in the nineties, Kevin Schwantz also wrote for Roadracing World. they gave unique insights into the operations of a pro racing paddock. i unfortunately couldn't find any clippings from Nicky's column online. here's David Swarts, staff writer for Roadracing World, remembering Nicky's contributions:

Nicky's congeniality was his greatest strength. his first ever teammate in MotoGP was Dani Pedrosa, with whom he had a perfect television rivalry; hammer-and-tongs on track, but always respectful and fair to one another. Pedrosa crashed out Hayden at Estoril in 2006, almost eliminating his championship hopes. Motorsport.com reflects on their rivalry:

they were able to compete on track and be committed to beating the other while still remaining respectful, something that not every team could do.

just about everyone remembers Hayden for his kind personality, his skill on track and his trademark Kentucky accent. he was someone who was able to compete, win and lose, without the pressure warping his perspective. he took losses in stride: he credits his use of the number 69, which has now been retired in his honor, to the fact that his own father wore it while racing in dirt track, and constantly crashing out. whether he was upright or upside down in the dirt, his number read the same.

[starkwlkr]

Hiii,i really really love your work🫀Can you do something with Pecco cuz He’s winner today🇮🇹✊🏻

exist for love | pecco bagnaia

i’m going to do half social media and half written on this one :) thank you for the request!!

“Y/n! Pecco is on the phone!” Y/n heard her mother say as she started walking away from the grammy stage. She had just won producer of the year and all she wanted was to celebrate with her boyfriend, but he was on the other side of the world racing.

“Thanks, mom.” Y/n said and grabbed her phone from her mother’s hand to see Pecco on the screen. “We did it!” She yelled and held up her award for Pecco to see.

“I’m so proud of you, amore. But that’s your award, you did it.” Pecco replied.

“Francesco! You put up with me when I had the worst writers block of my life. And you did help with some lyrics so don’t discredit yourself.”

Pecco laughed. “So I’m a grammy winner too?”

“Only if I can be the motogp world champion too.”

“Deal.”

Y/n heard someone in the background say that Pecco needed to hang up the phone. She understood that their time was limited since the start of the race was soon. It wasn’t long until Pecco and Y/n would reunite.

“I love you more than anything in the universe.” Pecco said.

“Wow, that’s a lot. I don’t think I can compete with that.” Y/n teased.

“I’m hoping one of these days you’ll make me a song with my words.” Pecco said sarcastically. What he didn’t know what that Y/n was already writing a song with words that Pecco had told her on their anniversary. Her songs were always seen as the sad songs that you would put in a playlist and title it ‘crying at 3 am’ so many fans were confused as to why she would call Pecco her muse for sad songs.

“I’ll write all the songs you want, Pecco. Bye, good luck and be safe.”

Liked by pecco63, taylorswift and 4,273,278 others

y/nmakesmusic week after grammys and we’re back to work 🫶🏼 i even got some guy who drives a motorcycle in the studio and we made a pretty song. ‘exile’ featuring bon iver is out soon! (pecco suggested the bon iver feature🥰)

pecco63 you have a lovely voice ❤️

y/nmakesmusic love you, my muse ❤️

boniver you amaze me! it is truly an honor to work with you!

y/nmakesmusic no, YOU amaze me

taylorswift can’t wait to hear your beautiful voice, y/n!

y/nmakesmusic thanks for the lessons😭❤️

taylorswift ‘lessons’ she says but they were really an excuse for us to reunite and gossip

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Liked by fabioquartararo20, pecco63 and 647,839 others

y/nmakesmusic surprise! i made this song after our fourth date. i knew francesco was the one i would make my first love song about so while he was away, i wrote a little song for him and recorded it and now i want to share it with you all! ‘exist for love’ is my baby and i hope you love her. and to pecco, here are you pretty words turned into a song that you waited for.

pecco63 you’re incredible, amore. i love you forever❤️

y/nmymother imagine being the first person y/n wrote a love song about😭 pecco is winning fr

carolabagnaia love you and your amazing talent❤️

pecco63 what about me?

carolabagnaia did you write the song? no.

pecco63 but it’s about me 😌

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[batsplat]

do you have any more thoughts on sete&vale rivalry? ps. love your blog!

I ALWAYS have more thoughts about the sete/valentino rivalry and if there is one person on this website who wants to read them then let's fucking go. so my issue is that when I looked at this ask the first time I thought I could maybe give like. a few thoughts. just some casual fun takes. the problem is I've been doing that anyway in my other posts, but there's really only so much point in doing that if I'm not providing any context on events that are by this point two decades old. so. time for some actual context

this isn't going to be exhaustive by any stretch of the imagination. what I'm covering here is two/three incredibly interesting years of motogp that deserve to be experienced and studied in their entirety, but alas I am but one poster on one microblogging website. so this is very much going to be the whistle-stop tour of explaining feuds, before a little bit of analysis to cap things off. (would like to state for the record that I called it 'whistle-stop' when this post was a lot shorter than it is now, but I'm leaving this paragraph in because it'll get funnier the longer you scroll. it's still not exhaustive but it's a lot more exhaustive than I thought it'd be when I wrote those sentences)

this rivalry began in an odd, uncertain period of valentino's career, at a time when valentino had essentially won motogp. he had just concluded his 2002 season and sealed his second premier class title in the process, with his results that year consisting of eleven wins, four second places and a single retirement. it was more or less as good as it gets, crushingly dominant, the undisputed lord and master of all he surveyed etc etc etc. and yet it was also a time where he was ill at ease with his role within the sport and was struggling with motivation, so much so that he increasingly found himself no longer taking joy in his racing. he ended up being so disillusioned with the existing state of affairs that he decided to make a radical move to redefine himself, to control his own destiny, to take the step from a great to a legend

which is all very abstract, in a way, removed from the realities of racing or indeed competition. this was a time in which no other rider could come close to matching valentino as a competitor and everyone basically knew as much. it adds an odd flavour to the challenges an athlete faces, where the success is such that it warps everyone's understanding of what success even looks like (not helped by how the last dominant athlete in the sport, mick doohan, also had a silly good track record in his prime). you could say, if you want, that 2002 is all about sowing, all about vale having so much success that it's started to feel a bit too easy, where he was just coasting on a wave of his own brilliance. 2003? well, now we've gotten to the reaping stage, where he's suffering under the expectations he himself has created, and all this winning is maybe already getting kind of boring

the first task in sports is not to be better than everyone else - it is to win. being better helps, but it has never been strictly necessary. there was no serious question at any point during his rivalry with gibernau who the better rider was between the pair of them. perhaps even more importantly, there was no question who the stronger between the two of them should be. over the years, valentino would have to deal with more than his fair share of young talent who proved they could match him in ability, the riders who had already long been marked for greatness and had the potential to be valentino's successors to the throne. gibernau was not that man - he was older, he was less accomplished, he was a revelation rather than anointed. it's one thing to be challenged by an alien, quite the other to be beaten by a bog standard human. especially if the bar for what constitutes being 'beaten' is set pretty low - never mind full seasons, should you even be losing individual races to this new challenger?

the rivalry between valentino and sete is not one of two equals, neither in ability nor in how their success was measured. but it became one that spawned a close title fight, courtesy of valentino unexpectedly wrestling the yamaha into title contention against his former employers at the first time of asking. valentino's main pressures in those years did not come because of any other rider, including sete - they stemmed from external forces such as honda or the press, from his internal struggles, and eventually were self-imposed in his decision to take a step into the unknown and join yamaha. the shape that this rivalry took reflected the disparity between the pair of them at every stage. valentino's biggest enemy during those years only ever could have been himself - so could sete exert himself upon this narrative at all? was he only relevant as long as valentino let him be? has he been so conclusively beaten that he has allowed valentino to erase him from his story entirely?

the first task in sports isn't to be better than everyone else... but it usually isn't quite this low down on the order of priorities. when 'being better than everyone else' is taken as read, then where does the narrative tension come from? usually, this is the kind of issue that commercial stakeholders and broadcasters and journalists and fans care about - not the dominant athlete of the time. but valentino is a storyteller and he does care. he can't handle stagnation. he can't handle being bored. he needs something to fight for and someone to fight and he needs all of it to happen on his own terms. the rivalry between valentino and sete becomes about everything except who the better rider is - and they happen to be perfectly suited characters for a rivalry such as this. for something that feels a little removed from the typical pressures of competition, of simply doing all you can to win, to beat the other guy, in whatever way you can, to rack up one victory after the other... but what we're primarily talking about here isn't numbers, it's theatre. it's show. and it's about two men who are particularly in tune with the artifice of it all, who are particularly concerned with how the world perceives them. valentino always knows where the camera is, always knows to play to it - and sete knows where it is too, which is what valentino uses to unsettle him to the point of despair

so, that's the set-up. let's bring in the context. what I'll cover here is mostly limited to what transpires during the years in which the rivalry is at its most prominent, aka 2003-05-ish, and mostly stays away from its legacy or repercussions. the first bit covers sete's emergence as valentino's rival, then how he becomes honda's best hope of stopping valentino, then the controversy that ruined their relationship, and finally how sete falls apart. after that, I'll give some of my thoughts about the rivalry and how it functions as a narrative. but again, there's a lot that's being left out here - like the bits of my notes that are just a tally of every misfortune that befalls sete gibernau post-qatar 2004. remember, kids: curses are a nasty nasty business and should be wielded with care

becoming the challenger

sete's rise to becoming a legitimate title contender was in some ways as unlikely as the manner of his downfall. born in december of 1972, so six-and-a-bit years older than valentino, his grandfather was a titan in the motorcycling industry and he grew up both affluent and surrounded by bikes. he's unusually well-educated for a rider, proficient in languages even by paddock standards - and, like valentino, a bit of an aberration from the mould of the stereotypical nineties bike racer. the reputation he had was for being a bit too vain, a bit too metropolitan, too self-absorbed to be suited to the rough-and-tumble of elite motorcycle racing

by the time he signed with the gresini honda team in 2003, his track record was very far from that of a title contender. after various wildcards in the mid-nineties, he'd finally managed to get a permanent seat first in 250cc and then in 500cc. eventually racing for repsol honda and taking doohan's bike when he was injured badly enough to force his retirement, sete's initial promise remained largely unfulfilled and he was dropped by honda after the 2000 season. he joined suzuki, who were struggling immensely in the aftermath of their title courtesy of kenny roberts jr. sete did get his first premier class win in valencia in 2001 in mixed conditions - a rare race that year valentino did not win after making a conservative tyre choice at a track he's in any case always been dreadful at. in 2002, suzuki was still struggling, though the wet conditions in estoril gave sete a chance for an early duel with valentino until he crashed. valentino said afterwards he felt sorry for sete (in a nice way not a condescending way)

^sete's first ever win came in valencia far far ahead of valentino in a lowly eleventh place. incidentally, it was there that a year prior vale's late charge to an increasingly plausible rookie 500cc title came unstuck. it's fair to say it's not exactly his favourite circuit on the calendar, which some might call a sign of good taste

and then, the move to gresini honda in 2003 - to which he also brought his sponsor telefonica, who became the team's title sponsor for the next few years. as I'm sure fans of the current era are able to appreciate, while it might have been a step from a factory to a satellite squad it was a very obvious competitive upgrade. he may not have had the newest spec of honda, unlike his teammate, but he was still satisfied with his machinery and his new team

sete and valentino had already had a good relationship at this point, a friendship that extended beyond paddock walls. they'd get drunk together after races, party together on ibiza over the summer holidays - and of course there's the story of sete giving valentino advice upon his transition to 500cc. previously, valentino's most notable rivals had come from other factories, whether kenny roberts jr on the suzuki or max biaggi on the yamaha. but honda had poached biaggi for the 2003 season and - after a brief blip in 2000 -were establishing themselves once again as the overwhelmingly dominant force of the sport, boasting an embarrassment of riches both in the engineering department and in their formidable host of riders. they were the undisputed kings of motogp and were comfortable in knowing that their bikes were so good that the riders were far from essential, all easy enough to replace if they had to be. all of which meant valentino knew going into that year that his most significant challenges were likely to come from within his own house, though he would hardly have expected sete to lead the charge

but then, a tragedy in the very first race of 2003 changed things. in suzuka, gresini honda rider daijiro kato crashed and hit one of the walls, later succumbing to his injuries. kato had been a 250cc champion and was widely tipped as a future premier class champion, japan's best hope for a first in that category. even though gibernau and kato had only been teammates for a short time, sete had immediately felt welcomed within the team and had worked together closely with kato over winter testing, including helping him out in the wet conditions in which kato had long struggled

the brutality of racing is such that two weeks later, the grid were to line up again at welkom. and it was there that gibernau secured an unlikely, fantastical win from pole position holding off valentino along the way. he dedicated his victory to his fallen teammate - who he said had been with him when he was riding. he wore kato's #74 on his leathers for the rest of his career. whether rightly or wrongly, paddock consensus was that the events had transformed gibernau, had made him into someone who took his racing more seriously, had made him finally commit all his mind and body and soul to riding, to fighting, to winning

^pointing up to the sky at welkom 2003. the number 74 is prominently placed on his upper chest to the right

it also had another effect. kato's death sparked controversy due to the layout of the suzuka track, the decision of the officials not to halt the race, and the rescue workers who had failed to follow proper medical procedure in moving him. both sete and valentino reportedly said they would not race there again, and it did end up being the last year grand prix motorcycle racing came to that track. it also prompted conversations about what could be done to better protect riders - and sete was one of the main figures behind the idea that riders themselves should have more of a say in safety standards. this led to the establishment of the safety commission, which back then included fewer riders but both valentino and especially sete involved themselves in

^sete at a safety commission meeting

did the tragedy really transform sete's fortunes as a racer? perhaps, though the switch to honda and a team he grew so fond of surely would have helped in any case. still, the contrast in his results and how he went about achieving them is stark; we'll never know for certain, but it's understandable why it's such a popular interpretation. another factor, too - despite some initial resistance, sete ended up inheriting kato's factory-spec machinery and was now riding the same bike as the other primary contenders of that season. the first half of his 2003 quickly cemented his new status within the factory, winning again in le mans, and then in assen. by the time they reached the halfway point of the season after donington park, sete was in second place in the standings, just clear of biaggi and only 34 points behind valentino

which is where we get back to valentino and ask ourselves what the hell that man thought he was playing at. did he really believe that it was all right to sit on a mere 34-point lead halfway through the season? was valentino, at the tender age of twenty four, already washed? was he finished? was this the beginning of the end? had he already peaked? did he just not have it in him any more?

obviously the answer to all of those things is 'no' and also 'what?' - but these were questions that many, most notably in the italian press, were in all seriousness asking anyone who would listen. now, valentino had theoretically just won in donington, except en route he had overtaken under a yellow flag and was controversially stripped of that victory after the fact. which meant that - you may want to hold onto something here - valentino had gone for a whole three races without winning. that's right. three races. granted, he'd already secured three victories that season and had been on the podium every single race, but the pressure was beginning to mount on valentino to deliver. it wasn't just the three race losing streak, but also the emergence of sete as a serious rival and how he had gotten the better of valentino - first at welkom by holding him off, then at le mans by beating him on the very last lap. valentino had also separately fucked up in a duel against capirossi for the victory in catalunya (funnily enough not one of the valentino duels there everyone remembers), eventually making a big enough mistake he had to spend the rest of the race recovering to second. honda had expectations, the italian press had standards, and the sheer dominance of his 2002 campaign meant that even the slightest dips in form translated into criticism of valentino and speculation on the state of his mettle or lack thereof. and things were about to get even worse

last race before the summer break and they're headed to the sachsenring - and here we were provided with a classic valentino performance right until the very moment where it wasn't. when sete caught up with him, valentino let him go ahead to study him from behind and crack him at the very end. he made his move on the penultimate corner of the race and successfully got ahead - but made a mistake in picking a very tight line into the final corner and lost too much speed, allowing sete to beat him to the line by a mere 0.06s. the general perception was that this had been a winnable race, and that it had been lost, more than anything else, out of arrogance. he could have attacked earlier - and if he didn't, then at the very least he should have been smarter about the final corner. he had allowed sete to beat him in a straight fight for the third time that year, who was now on four wins that season to valentino's three. all this meant that valentino's winless streak had been extended to four. that's right. you heard me. valentino rossi, the man they call the goat, had the audacity to go a whole. four. races. without. winning. the italian press had a field day and were calling for blood, and who could blame them?

^sete gibernau posing for a photo with a washed-up loser

luckily, valentino had the summer break to go off and clear his head and think about what he'd done. it was a good chance to get away from the constant scrutiny and criticism that had come during a year in which he'd already been feeling discontent with honda from the very beginning. the perception was that valentino had had it too easy and was resting on his laurels, no longer taking racing seriously enough, coasting on past successes that he was finding it hard to replicate - never mind his 29-point lead in the championship standings. so valentino ends up doing what is sensible in that situation. has a hot girl crisis. goes to ibiza. gets his hair dyed red. rocks up at the paddock for brno with his cool new hair as a bit of a throwback - he's still that guy who knows to have fun, he won't let any of this get to him, he's not going to take any of this too seriously

here's a more in-depth post on brno 2003 including, of course, his celebrations. to summarise - he won a tight thriller of a race and this time beat sete to the line, just about. then he celebrated by having a bunch of his fans dress up as convicts and donning his own cap and ball and chain - a 'prisoner of his own success', if you will. another step was taken that weekend on the road that would eventually lead him to abandoning honda and signing with yamaha. and here he is in his autobiography talking about his disillusionment with honda. he's not the first athlete to feel unhappy within his team, not the first dominant sportsperson to struggle to find motivation. still, when you consider how long his career ended up lasting, there's something remarkable to how quickly it threatened to turn joyless to him. if he were one of those athletes who just needed to win to be happy, he would have been fine within honda

but that's what valentino's all about, isn't it. within honda, under the ferocious glare of the italian press, he felt trapped. he felt imprisoned. he felt burdened by the expectations that his own victories had placed on his shoulders. it isn't enough for him simply to win. not if the winning isn't happening on his own terms. not if it's just another way in which honda can show off how superior their bike is. just another means for the italian press to ramp up pressure on him in the future. if valentino doesn't win, then well, it'll be gibernau. it'll be biaggi. who cares? valentino isn't essential to honda's success - the bike is. and vale decided he could no longer accept that. he returned to his roots in brno with the haircut and the celebrations and the candlelight meetings with yamaha that demonstrated his determination to forge his own path. winning is a part of him; when he wins he uses it to express himself, to define both who he is and who he is not - which is where, of course, the rivals enter the picture. valentino delineates his self against the other as much as anyone does, expressing his identity both as a racer and as a person by drawing the line between himself and his enemy and making a spectacle of what separates them. you can only win when you beat someone else, and valentino has always understood that the vanquished is very nearly as big a part of the show as the vanquisher

but here, the relationship between valentino and sete was at the very least outwardly still warm. they were both as gracious in defeat as they were in victory - helped along by the awareness that whatever the frothing italian press might pretend, valentino was unlikely to lose that year's title. still, were tensions beginning to creep in, given how valentino retrospectively speaks in his autobiography about how both biaggi and gibernau complained he had superior machinery? how about when rumours began to fly about valentino's impending move to yamaha and sete supposedly said valentino won't have so much to laugh about the next year? or the glee valentino read on sete's face at the thought of valentino's departure from honda? another point, on the ibiza trips - it's unclear when and how many times they happened, but one source suggests they had stopped in 2003. on the other hand, the brno 2003 race commentary makes multiple references to how they'd been partying together on ibiza during the summer break (which you'd have to say is pretty remarkable in itself after a race like sachsenring), and I'm inclined to trust the race commentary on this one. so maybe it's 2004 the trips tail off... at what point then did the relationship between the two of them begin to transform from friends to true rivals, however genial to begin with? how wary had valentino already grown of sete by the end of 2003?

^age old tradition. sete buddy that kid is going to ruin you

in any case, the remainder of valentino's season was close to flawless, winning five of the six remaining races. in sepang, having already decided he was going to sign with yamaha come what may, he sealed the title with a dominant win over sete - and brought back the convict celebrations, except this time he had a big novelty key to open the big novelty lock, presumably to signify how he could finally escape. which is charmingly on the nose, yes, but there's something enjoyable about an athlete who is so very committed to making the subtext text. how better to conclude his time with honda, who he had grown so very disillusioned with? tell them how you really feel and all that

^after vale has sealed the title at sepang. sete gives him a nice little kiss before assaulting him with champagne on the podium

or - not quite to a conclusion, not yet. after all, there were still two more races to go in 2003. in phillip island, he secured one of the more spectacular victories of his career when he once again fell foul of the 'could you please stop overtaking under yellow flags' thing - but this time, was informed of the situation and his ten second time penalty during rather than after the race. furious at the penalty, he flew off, setting a blistering pace that not only gave him the requisite ten second margin over his closest challenger capirossi, but eventually meant he crossed the line fifteen seconds ahead of his countryman. he had a point to prove that day, and proved it. he might have been on the best bike, yes - but he was laughably better than anyone else riding it, and the world still hadn't seen yet all that he was capable of

then came the last race of the season and the announcement honda and valentino would be holding a press conference together afterwards, widely expected to be announcing a split that for much of the year the paddock refused to believe might actually happen. one more ride on the honda that valentino must say farewell to and will dearly miss - that unfortunately took place at valencia, an ugly bore of a track that valentino has always been awful at, the only one on the calendar he had not yet conquered. but he needed to say goodbye to his beloved bike (decked in an austin powers-themed special livery) in style, and he went on to win the race before telling the world that him and honda were parting ways. time to go to yamaha and prove the haters and losers wrong - including one sete gibernau

^honda or yamaha, friendship can survive anything <3 quite like valentino's unorthodox spraying technique in the photo on the right - sete was admirably determined to drench vale at welkom

honda's next champion?

the thing about 2004, right, is that the dominant rider in motogp had very nicely taken himself out of the picture for at least a year to try and turn that useless pile of junk into title-contending machinery. maybe rossi would start turning things around in the second half of the year and snatch an occasional win. maybe he'd put together a title charge in 2005, though that was by no means guaranteed - it was entirely plausible that his failure would be as complete as it would be spectacular. what this meant for everyone else was that they'd basically been given a freebie. a clear run at the title, as long as they could beat all the other non-rossi challengers. for a number of blokes at honda, this was the big year. biaggi, gibernau, anyone else who was feeling brave - this was the time. and honda, right, were going all in on this. rossi had the audacity, the nerve, the sheer disrespect to turn his back on them and imagine he could win without them. every rider dreamt of being decked in their colours, and valentino had walked away. they were going to throw all the considerable money and resources at their disposal behind a small army of riders, tasked not only with beating rossi but humiliating him

this is all a bit of an exaggeration, but not too much of one. as then-yamaha rider and then-valentino friend marco melandri put it in 2003, "if valentino did come to yamaha at least he would be able to give them direction with development, but he would not have a chance of winning". the best-placed yamaha rider in the 2003 championship standings had been carlos checa in seventh, and all yamaha riders combined had achieved a grand total of one podium finish that whole year. generally speaking, however, once this kind of idle speculation of 'oh imagine if he moved' actually becomes reality, the conversation does shift accordingly, and so the initial consensus of 'surely he can't win on a yamaha' of much of 2003 was already beginning to crack by the time they actually arrived at welkom. and the relationship with honda really did end on a pretty sour note, not least because valentino's former employers refused to let vale test the yamaha before his contract expired at the end of 2003 - which is generally a pretty decent barometer of whether a rider and team are parting on good terms. as valentino put it: "their attitude pissed me off. it will cost me four races, but I always knew things would be like that". in the end, obviously he was still able to make good use of the pre-season testing he did have and he was not cost "four races" - and at the very latest people had to reassess their outlook on the season when he hit the track at welkom. if anything, his immediate pace that weekend was distinctly un-valentino-like - who needs to already be fast on a friday? - and he led every session and qualified on pole. and then, he went and achieved what still remains possibly the greatest victory of his career after a thrilling battle with old foe biaggi right to the very end. sete was a very distant third

^sete drenching vale at welkom. I am once again going to do 2004 prop and let you know that some of the best races are available free online: welkom, mugello, catalunya, assen and qatar are all on youtube (they should upload phillip island but ah well ed.: for some reason phillip island has been uploaded to facebook)

of course, valentino did not have it all his own way that year. of course, sete was not suddenly replaced by biaggi as vale's prime challenger. but yes, sete will have had to readjust his expectations of valentino's season the same as everyone else. after welkom, the conversation shifted definitively from 'surely not' to 'could he really...?' - and all other contenders were informed in no uncertain terms that they were not to be granted a rossi-free season. that being said, of course this still very much looked like sete's best chance. of course this wasn't going to be as straightforward as valentino's past titles. perhaps, even, welkom had provided a somewhat illusory picture of what the competitive landscape actually looked like that season. perhaps people had been too hasty to hand the title to valentino again after welkom. a wet weather specialist, sete secured victory in a rainy jerez, while valentino struggled to get his yamaha to work in the wet and finished fourth - his first time off the podium in twenty four races. at le mans, another race in tricky conditions, sete won once again and extended his championship lead while valentino took another fourth place. the spectacle of welkom might have been a flash in the pan; it might be time to reassess the kinds of results valentino could achieve on a regular basis with that machinery

^left: valentino having fun in the wet of jerez; right: valentino's wood-themed helmet for mugello, because if you finish fourth you get a wooden medal

what followed was a pivotal stretch of three races that turned valentino's 2004 title bid from a dream to something that felt increasingly plausible, even likely. all three of these races were extremely closely fought. all three of them are very enjoyable to watch. all three of them are freely available on youtube dot com. first, they headed to mugello, a big one for both sete and valentino. valentino had won the last two races at mugello and it was the race that was more important to him than any other - so if you're sete, where better to stamp your authority on the season? the race ended up having a little bit of everything: a ferocious multi-rider scrap, a duel between the two main title contenders, a red flag and a restart due to the worsening meteorological situation that resulted in another multi-rider scrap. valentino had to make full use of his skills as well as his composure to go out and in essence win two entirely different races. after the second start he fell back as far as seventh as he figured out the grip conditions, taking his time to fuck around before eventually fucking off (or as much as you can fuck off when you only have two and a half laps left). still, sete managed to salvage a second place result and limited the points damage

^2004 is as close to a perfect season as you can get, but there is one major factor that holds it back: the colour schemes of the title contenders. extremely similar combinations of blue with a little yellow from guys who aren't even in the same factory, let alone teammates - and jorge was always way easier to distinguish from valentino than this mess. what makes this extra stupid is that valentino's actual teammate that year, carlos checa, had a RED livery and RED leathers so. okay. great job guys. anyway, cracking race, split into two halves (or well. four fifths and a fifth). apparently, sete overtook valentino at some point under a yellow flag - or, at least, valentino says he did, which is something he remembers just in time for that year's sepang press conference

so a home victory secured and a hat trick of mugello wins - time to head back to sete land and fight it out in catalunya. top five valentino catalunya duel for sure, a pretty crowded category. sete had led every single session going into the race, but in the end he came out second best in a fight that went on until the very last lap. no longer was valentino willing to let sete get the better of him in head-to-head combat, and the victory was even sweeter coming as it did on sete's home turf - and indeed valentino would establish a bit of a tradition of beating spaniards at that track. the tide was turning and increasingly it did look like valentino might actually achieve the impossible

"One hundred and five thousand screaming Spaniards roar on their hero Sete Gibernau. He's something of an unexpected hero really. After so many years in grand prix, he lived in the shadow of Alex Criville. Criville's retired, Gibernau is on the Honda, and Gibernau is leading the world championship."

^excerpt from the catalunya 2004 commentary

and then, the next race: time for assen

^still friendly and chatting before the first real trial their relationship faces. by the by, the commentary for this race references a cartoon proposing that all that valentino needs to do to keep sete behind him is to attach a mirror to the back of his bike - because sete would be too busy posing. which gives you a general sense of the tone people used to discuss sete with

coming into this race, sete had gotten two consecutive second places to valentino. his championship lead had shrunk to five points. valentino had already gotten the yamaha into race-winning shape sooner than anyone had expected, and now it increasingly looked like he might be able to achieve the week-to-week results that won championships. it also did not help that sete's defeats had come in direct duels with valentino - in the early days of that rivalry, this exact type of duel had been how sete had announced himself as a serious threat. if it came down to another direct fight between the two of them, sete badly wanted to get a win over his rival, not just for points but for pride. and valentino, conversely, wanted to press home the advantage, to bite harder when his opponent was already bleeding. if you will

this turned into a bit of a three-way tussle between those two and barros, but then barros crashed out and it was just the two of them - going into the very last lap with sete ahead. valentino, who was having to risk far more on the yamaha than he ever did on the honda, made a lunge up the inside of turn 12 and almost binned it in the following corner. nearly losing the front resulted in contact with sete, where sete's front wheel hit the rear of vale's bike and damaged the front mudguard - and in the end sete backed off just a touch, allowing vale to cross the line with almost half a second in hand

valentino was enthusiastic in his celebrations, shall we say, whereas sete... well. sete did not look thrilled. gone were the usual parc fermé exchanges, no more hugs or friendly handshakes or kisses. sete suffered his way through the podium celebrations as the wettest of wet blankets, popping the champagne for about half a second and staying rooted in place while valentino carried on doing his thing. the natural assumption would be that sete was furious not just at losing but at the manner in which the pass for the victory was executed, out of control and in a way that could have easily resulted in a crash for both of them. valentino certainly assumed as much, saying that sete was "for sure a little bit angry" (clip here, also includes sete's statement). but when it was sete's turn to speak... he just said he was frustrated at losing, as anyone would be in his situation. which, well, doesn't quite fit in with his reaction, and also doesn't entirely match up with other statements he made at the time. there are two more sets of quotes from the protagonists of the race, though I can't determine with absolute certainty in which order these things were said. here's the first (article dated day of the race):

Gibernau lost vital time in that clash and was not able to challenge on the remainder of the lap but Rossi insists he did not deliberately block the Telefonica Movistar Honda rider. "I came into the bend a little too quickly and I slightly lost control of the front of my Yamaha, which explains why I touched him, but it wasn't intentional," he said. Gibernau did not use the incident as an excuse for his defeat. "To be overtaken in the final meters after dominating the race, it's obviously gutting," said the Spaniard. "I was angry about the way he overtook me. His manoeuvre really was risky. He said he didn't do it on purpose, but it doesn't take away my disappointment."

and here's the second (article dated the day after the race):

"I made a mistake and had to brake early or I would have crashed," said Rossi, explaining why he slowed so suddenly in front of the Spaniard. "I did not even feel Sete touch me. He was very angry, but I explained what happened." For his part, and after having chance to cool down, Gibernau appeared to accept that the contact hadn't been deliberate. "I had a good chance right until the end but we touched on the last lap - Valentino explained that he almost fell and, if that's the case, then there's nothing for me to say," shrugged Sete. "These things happen in racing. We had a good battle in another great race."

if that indeed is the order in which their statements were delivered, this whole episode feels like an interesting exercise in passive aggressive feuding - sete could have of course simply gone up to valentino, supposedly his friend, and asked for an explanation, or stated his objections openly when asked about them in the presser. instead, it seems to have been valentino who offered his explanations after sete had denied even having any issue with the overtake, with sete contradicting himself later by saying he had been angry. even then, sete said it didn't "take away my disappointment", which suggests not all was forgiven. from parc fermé to the podium to the press conference, he'd used every part of his body with full effect to express his displeasure with the notable exception of his mouth. this incident hasn't really been brought up by either party since, but as far as the eye test goes the relationship sure seemed like it was pretty strained by this. with the benefit of hindsight, it stands out as a turning point in their rivalry, the first time the veneer of the gracious loser was well and truly discarded and a sour note was added to the relationship. this was also the race where the championship lead was taken away from gibernau on countback, which incidentally was the last time an independent rider led the world championship standings until... uh... *squints at notes* argentina 2018

^already post-assen - but no reason not to be civil, right? what's a little last lap assen controversy between friends. scholars will note that this is the race after which valentino engaged in some unsavoury parc fermé activities with sete's then-teammate colin edwards

for the sake of brevity, the next part of the season is mostly going to be skipped over, but to give you the sparknotes version: sete's results grew more inconsistent, and valentino gained more of an advantage, despite still having to over-ride the bike in a way that helped cause his dnf in rio (his first dnf since brno 2002 and his first non-mechanical dnf since mugello 2001). apart from a brief period where biaggi seemed like he was going to reinsert himself in the title fight, plus a sete win in brno, for the most part the tide had clearly turned in valentino's favour and that yamaha title was looking more and more like a certainty. so let's pick up the narrative at the next major flashpoint between the pair of them, at motogp's first visit to qatar

I've already written up a post that gives more information on that race and the specifics of the controversy, so I'll forgo another detailed summary of events here. the basic facts we have at our disposal are that valentino's team, whether to his knowledge or not, rubbered up his spot of the grid, and he was then penalised for it. he worked his way up from the back of the grid before crashing out of fourth place. sete won, reducing the gap separating the two riders at the top of the standings to a mere fourteen points with three rounds to go. valentino was furious at sete, at honda, at the stewards, at pretty much everyone. here are some of his remarks:

"Gibernau's victory is not real. They stole the match from us with the shameful farce of the penalty. A truly incredible situation occurred. Everyone cleans the starting 'box'. Is there a written rule? In Rio we all went to wash the track, which was dirty. The same thing happened here. In F1 the cars skid, the asphalt is cleaned with the motorbikes. After Friday's practice [before the Saturday race] we saw Biaggi's mechanics cleaning the track and we thought it was a good idea. We cleaned the track and Honda screwed up. The others have to attach themselves to something. Gibernau and his chief suspension mechanic didn't hesitate to snitch like kids. Something ridiculous. I didn't expect to get to this point. In the race I gave a lot in the early stages, after two corners I was eighth and after four laps I was already in fourth position. I spent a lot and relaxed for a moment. Unfortunately I went wide and couldn't find the curb anymore. I made a mistake, but I wouldn't have made such a mistake if I had started from the front. I hope to make up for it in Malaysia, fortunately I didn't get hurt in the crash. It went well for the finger, when I saw the blood I was scared. But the finger didn't explode."

^some of these websites have a habit of collating a bunch of different answers into one paragraph of remarks but personally I am choosing to believe he did actually deliver this as a single monologue

valentino also said he had been looking for an excuse not to speak to sete, called him a child, saying sete had essentially stabbed him in the back. and of course, so the legend goes, he infamously vowed that sete would never win another race again

who snitched?

everything up until now has been more or less just summarising events as they happened - but now we enter considerably murkier waters. we do not definitively know one way or another what happened in qatar, who said what, who was responsible for what. let's get the less important mystery out of the way first: did valentino really curse sete?

no, not in the sense of 'did valentino rossi really perform black magic' - more the question of if he ever really said it. a lot of journalists who are otherwise at least mildly reputable seem to take it as read, but also a lot of journalists are motivated to believe he said it because it makes for a fantastic story. when did he say it? to whom? one source talks about it being at the press conference of the following race, which I know for a fact is not the case. here's a source that is one of the ones to have swayed me more to the side of 'yeah maybe he did say it':

Rossi then did an interview with Italian TV. He’d hurt his little finger, really mashed it up, in the crash. And he famously said “I will make sure Gibernau will never win another race because of this”. We’ve all got a soft spot for Valentino, and I can remember thinking ‘oh God, I wouldn’t have said that if I were you. I really wouldn’t have said that…’

I know this is objectively not a lot to go on, but at least it's a commentator/journalist who was there at the time, claiming they remember finding out about it, giving a little detail about to whom it supposedly was said ('italian tv') and having an immediate response to it that they are also remembering. obviously, this too could be bogus. but, well, at the end of the day I'm with the journalists here: I too want it to be true because it is indeed a fantastic story. there has also been the suggestion, again poorly sourced, that valentino has denied saying this - or, and this genuinely would be my favourite option of them all, that he said he only meant it for that year. hate it when I place a curse on someone and it accidentally lasts too long

now that I've done my due diligence, here's the good bit: beyond a certain point, it does not matter whether valentino actually said it or not. what mattered is that everyone thought he said it - and, crucially, as 2005 wore on, it became ever more part of the discourse. it was part of the reporting of races: could gibernau finally break the curse? it was discussed extensively in the commentary: we're back in qatar, do curses have an expiration date of a year or not? there is no way that within the claustrophobic world of the motogp paddock sete would have been been able to avoid it, let alone be unaware of it entirely. (incidentally, the fact that this is the case and I've not been able to find a better source of valentino denying it makes me again feel like he did actually say it - though I suppose it'd also be pretty funny if he hadn't said it but was like. actually this is working out quite nicely for me.) assuming for a moment that valentino is not capable of literally cursing people, the 'real effect' the curse can have is only in tormenting its victim through the mere knowledge of its supposed existence

but we're getting ahead of ourselves here. whether the curse existed or not, it could only have the effect it had if valentino fulfilled its initial promise - by denying sete another win that season while securing the title for himself. so let's just quickly recap where we're at: three rounds to go, fourteen points between the two contenders. valentino went back to italy to try and fix the fucked up finger and presumably to cool off a bit. the motogp media did what it does best and spent the entire week hyping up the drama. and there was, of course, another mystery everyone was still trying to get to the bottom of: was sete really involved in valentino's penalty?

let's first tack on another question: does it even matter? of course, the truth has never been established with 100% certainty either way, and all it does is give the two parties a reason to blow up a friendship that was already getting a little bit strained. either way, the relationship between them was ruined; either way, valentino crushed sete. not just that - whether it really happened or not is one thing, but I feel just a touch more confident in asserting that valentino believed it happened, just from my extreme vibes-based analysis of how genuinely furious he seemed and how he was still referring to sete's dirty games a whole eleven years later. which, of course, doesn't in itself really tell us one way or another what actually happened. valentino can convince himself of all manner of things. if anything, his track record as well as how ruthlessly he exploited the situation to his own advantage count against believing his version of events. and, at the end of the day, only one of valentino and sete can speak to sete's involvement in the protest that caused the penalty with complete certainty. it's not valentino

and in a way, it doesn't really matter. sete is unsettled either way - because even if he did have some hand in the penalty, this is the kind of low level petty snitching athletes and their teams constantly engage in. I cannot imagine he would have thought valentino would react as he did. quite honestly, I'm not sure sete could have conceived of a rival reacting like that to anything. if sete was responsible, then valentino still managed to escalate to a level of hostility sete would never have been able to match, let alone be comfortable with. obviously, it would not be in his interest to retroactively admit any involvement in the matter, not least because he saw how valentino responded to the mere assumption of sete's guilt. it does, however, still matter in evaluating sete's assertions that the relationship between them changed more or less from one day to the next (which *gestures at the above wall of text* I'm not entirely convinced by), and in judging whether this is a feud that's entirely built on the back of valentino's delusions. was sete really completely unaware and, a separate question - was it an unreasonable assumption from valentino that he was involved? if both of those questions are answered in the affirmative, then you do have to say what follows must have been absolutely bonkers from sete's perspective. I mean, it's kind of bonkers anyway, but. y'know. even more so

the problem with actually evaluating the claims are that basically every source about it frames the whole thing differently and often in contradictory ways, to the point where even valentino's actual allegation has been shrouded in the mists of time. different journalists and commentators and authors after the fact have confidently asserted that either hrc or sete's gresini team lodged the protest - some seem to take it as read that sete did indeed have some kind of role in it, and there is no indication whether they have some kind of privileged information that backs this up or whether this is simply valentino's influence making itself felt. hrc is obviously a likely suspect, given they canonically hate valentino and are praying for his downfall and have invested a whole lot already to bring it about. then again, gresini are the ones who are actually in this championship battle - and, of course, there's the distinct possibility that all parts of honda were involved in this together. other figures that have been brought up are gresini team principal fausto gresini who it has been claimed was personally involved in making the protest - this from the stuart barker biography, which treats it essentially as established fact. the barker biography also says that yamaha was not found to be breaking any specific rules, but race direction said it was against the 'spirit' of the sport, which... okay, I'd also be pretty annoyed to be penalised for that, especially at that stage of the season. while it is of course possible that sete was not involved in his own team's actions, it does seem a little less likely that he would not have at the very least been informed. to add another twist, one version of the story that has cropped up more than once is that valentino's allegation was that sete and his crew chief juan martinez went to hrc to get them to go to race direction. also, it may be that ducati protested both valentino and biaggi (who was definitely breaking the rules). which, good on them

unfortunately this is pretty inconclusive stuff and at a certain point it feels like you have nothing better than gut feeling to rely on to choose which narrative is more convincing to you. which is annoying! where's the substantial evidence! nowhere, it appears, not that I've been able to find it - but there is one more tangible source that I haven't brought up until now. you see, dorna, in their infinite commitment to the bit, have been kind enough to make the thursday press conference at the very next race one of the very few of that era that they have uploaded in its entirety. I am talking, of course, of the pre-event press conference at sepang

^posing for a friendly post-presser photo <3 two guys just chillin' having fun having a laff

if you are an aficionado of awkward and tense and kind of awful press conferences, then you will have an excellent time with this one. I've uploaded pretty much all of the relevant bits that I'll link to as I go; they're not obligatory watching to understand the rest of the post as I will be covering them here anyway, but they sure are interesting (and funny, which is really the most important thing)

first, let's set the scene: four blokes sitting at a table. the seat at its centre sits empty. the championship leader has not yet arrived when the press conference starts, removing the opportunity for one of the most sacred rituals that preempts any motogp press conference: the vibe check. a lot has happened and a lot has been said since the relevant parties last saw each other face to face and it is unclear where the vibes will be at when the reunion happens. will they acknowledge each other? make eye contact? shake hands? speak to each other? the journalists have not had a chance to find out. and one of the two involved parties has not either

after some softball questions relevant to 'racing' and 'points' in 'motogp' and its 'title fight', the moderator finally gets to the bit everyone's actually here for: the drama [1]. at this point, sete dates both the presser and himself by saying he's been trying to block everything out with his "mp3", before expressing his sympathy for valentino and saying he doesn't hold any of valentino's words spoken in the heat of the moment against him. at some point, he delivers a couple of lines that possess the kind of concentrated narrative juice you get a sugar high from, saying "we all know valentino. I know how he really is, he's a good guy". just as he finishes answering the question, his eyes flick over to the side - and the camera pans over to valentino entering the room with a slight smirk and of course his big ass sunglasses still very much adorning his face

nicky hayden sits to valentino's left and is interviewed before valentino is - while valentino does not acknowledge sete, who is sitting to his right. when he is questioned [2], valentino initially sounds like he is intending to turn the page on the whole affair and if anything doesn't particularly want to comment any further on what has happened. he also manages to deliver a truly classic motogp rider line, saying "I have a hole in the finger, but I think it is not a big problem for ride this weekend". right! but already here, it becomes swiftly clear that he is still furious at what happened and aggrieved by the penalty. he caps things off with a nice line saying that at least he wasn't actually slower than 'gibernau' in qatar, before turning around and shaking hayden's hand and chatting to him

it immediately becomes clear that all the questions from the floor are going to be about the same thing [3], and sete looks miserably uncomfortable while valentino just comes across as incredibly surly, his smile at times taking on a mildly murderous quality. one journalist fires off an all time classic presser question with "in qatar you say you were searching for an excuse to not talk any more with sete" and again valentino side steps, half-making it sound like he's willing to move on - while sete continues to strike a conciliatory note, continues to stress how it was all just the heat of the moment. but a follow-up question to valentino gives the journalists and sete the clearest indication that this, in fact, is really happening. valentino says this is not in the past, that he'd already said what he thinks last week and is standing by it. sete looks over at him - with disbelief, with incredulity, with the air of a man who really can't quite believe the turn this has taken

if there had been any lingering doubt at how unfairly treated valentino feels, he dispels it in his answer about stewarding decisions [4]. at the end of his exchange with the reporter about it, he brings up an incident where sete overtook under a yellow flag in mugello - which, quite honestly, I had not known about and I haven't found any reference to, so maybe nobody did spot it at the time if it indeed happened. remember, valentino had gone through not one but two bad run-ins with the yellow flag situation the year before, costing him a win at donington and making him ride at his limit to reclaim the win at phillip island. did he speak about this mugello situation at the time, or has he really just carried it around with him silently for months? a professional grudge-carrier, you have to say, a true master at the art. at the next question, valentino continues putting space between himself and sete [5], saying they have been rivals for a long time and that "it's the same condition" (i.e. situation). the friendship isn't just gone, it's so gone it might as well have never existed. if you really want to read more into this than the short response deserves, you could argue he's saying the facade has been lifted, that the true nature of the rivalry has been revealed at last

and now, we get to the critical part: sete is invited to explain himself and tell the press whether he had any involvement in the penalty or not [6]. he's clearly put a lot of thought into this in the past week and decided what he should focus on is that he wanted all the grid slots to be cleaned in the interest of safety. interestingly, he says "they" blocked him from doing that, but it's unclear whether he means gresini or someone else within honda. (presumably honda couldn't have known valentino's team would fuck about with a scooter, and remember camel honda rider biaggi also got a penalty so probably not some kind of company-wide internal memo.) (I mean I guess it'd also be funny if there had been a company-wide internal memo but nobody had thought to send it to biaggi.) sete's argument is basically that he'd be a hypocrite if he'd helped lodge a protest after he himself wanted the grid slots cleaned up - but given that valentino is quite literally calling him a backstabbing bastard, I imagine he wouldn't consider adding the hypocrite tag a bridge too far. the safety commission element of it all is kind of interesting, given as we've established valentino will likely have attended too. if sete raised this at the meeting and valentino did end up discussing it with his team, did vale end up feeling suckered into making a bad choice? probably not, just a thought

anyway, back to gibernau's response. as the journalist who asked the initial question notes, this is all a lot of waffling without a clear, firm denial (I'm paraphrasing) - and a clear, firm denial would generally be a good way to go about these things. in his next answer, sete again fails to just keep things simple, though again he denies any personal involvement. and then, the journalist asks sete to account for his team, including the fact that apparently one of sete's mechanics gave evidence to race direction... and sete says he can only speak for himself

so there we have it. that's the best singular piece of actual evidence I've got for sete's involvement, and at least comes close to confirming that somebody in gresini was involved in the protest, however tangentially. obviously, this in no way confirms sete was himself involved. at least it does give valentino an ever so slightly more reasonable basis of suspicion, though obviously it all just raises more questions like 'why was a gresini mechanic even giving evidence and what about'. that bit is then of course immediately followed by an exchange that's as good a confirmation as we're going to get that it was hrc not gresini who made the protest. so. yeah. I've got nothing. we don't know. draw your own conclusions. the presser ends with another question for good measure about the relationship between the two riders. sete first tells them, more or less, that it's none of their business before sharing a nice laugh with valentino about how valentino is never going to talk to him again

cursed

the thing about that press conference is that it's all well and good and fun to use it to try and piece together what really happened at qatar, but there are more interesting things to say about it. it is in that press conference that valentino well and truly begun the process of breaking sete, and he did so completely deliberately. it's quite the little show featuring two guys who are entirely aware that they are surrounded by cameras and reporters and are reacting accordingly. sete is committed to being dignified, to being unflappable, to being magnanimous: whatever valentino said, he will forgive him. he is happy to move on. but as the press conference progresses, he is slowly made to realise that his opponent is the one who is not ready to forgive and is not ready to play nice - not even for the cameras. especially not in front of the cameras

^his poor pinkie finger :(

sete must have felt on top of the world after qatar. he had clawed back 25 points. a championship that had already seemed lost suddenly felt like it might be in his grasp once again. valentino could complain and whine and be furious for italian television, but surely this is the kind of thing that blows over. for too long, sete is under the mistaken impression that they will move on from this. for too long in that presser, sete is playing at respectability while valentino has already progressed to open hostility. it's unnerving, of course it is, to suddenly be completely cold-shouldered and ignored by a man you had thought you were on reasonably good terms with a week ago. it's unnerving for it all to happen in front of cameras, when for so long you have been striving to present a cordial, friendly, civilised image of a rivalry. him and valentino don't do all that nasty business, not like valentino and biaggi. sete's better than that and valentino has grown up a bit - this is one of those ideal rivalries people are always going on about, the ones that are ferocious on-track but respectful and even warm off it. and so, despite everything valentino had said to the press over the past week, he still manages to completely blindside sete in the moment. he still manages to leave him unsettled, and even disoriented

and so we get to the race itself, pivotal for sete and his championship hopes. to still have a chance at clinching the title, he really needs to be fighting at the sharp end of all three of the remaining races. alas, it is not to be. valentino is reinvigorated after the humiliation of qatar and coasts through the weekend on a wave of irreverent indignation - telling reporters after qualifying on pole that this result had been important "especially since it means we know which part of the grid to clean tonight". he thrives in the chaos and the frenzied speculation and the seething tension - whereas sete is nowhere to be found all weekend. valentino wins with a comfortable margin while sete finishes a lowly seventh place. a healthy thirty point lead in the championship has been restored. now, then, in victory valentino has been provided with the opportunity to really twist in the knife. sete comes up alongside him on the cooldown lap, clearly wanting to shake hands - and valentino completely ignores him, does not as much as glance in his direction. then, he stops for one of those whimsical planned celebrations that he's ever so fond of, and he cleans his grid slot with a helpfully provided broom. as valentino says afterwards, "this time I wanted to destroy the morale of everybody". and if that wasn't enough, he adds in the post-race press conference "for me, sete did the best race of the season. he has given me a lot of points, which is like a big present. I am really grateful". charming as ever

^he also came up with his own cleaning crew founded with his trusty crew chief jerry burgess, 'la rapida', and had shirts mocked up - to 'eliminate dirt from motogp'. so nice to have a supportive crew chief, isn't it? from valentino after the race: "I've been working with jeremy for four years, together we've seen all sorts of things and when I arrived here I saw him with an incredible face, disgusted, saddened. he and the team said we had to react and so we did". and as jb put it, "valentino is the sort of rider I wouldn't want to get angry. he can take you apart on the track". the text on the shirt: "we clear out rats. we disinfect, clear drains and clean starting grids. we also do night jobs - all done in six seconds [aka the qualifying penalty he'd received]"

two races to go, and it's match point rossi. he finishes first or second at phillip island and the championship is his for certain - if he doesn't do so and sete wins the race, it's hello title decider. there is barely any doubt left in people's minds, then, about who the 2004 champion will be... but it's not a done deal. in the very worst case scenario, valentino enters the final round with a slender six point advantage. he's not safe yet. he's not safe yet on the very first lap, which, it has to be said, is a lot of fun. vale gets a better start than sete does from pole, but sete overtakes him around the outside and vale is quickly pushed to third - then fourth, at which point he runs off track and makes a risky excursion into the dirt. at the very next corner, he makes a downhill overtake on two ducatis at once, and sets about hunting down sete who has built up an advantage of over a second

so, in fittingly dramatic fashion, the race comes down to a duel between the two of them, valentino stalking sete around the track lap after lap. if valentino holds his ground, the championship is his - but sete takes the win and can go into the next season with new confidence and self-belief and hope for something better. valentino does not just want to avenge the injustice of qatar; this is an investment for the future. a way of telling sete that he has not just lost this season but that he will always lose, when fighting valentino. there is a promise to be kept, after all - whether it was only supposed to apply to that season or not, valentino refuses to let sete win another race. they exchange overtakes but sete is still just about in the lead when they enter the final lap. it is here that valentino makes his move, not once but twice to make it stick. his riding in that last lap isn't egregiously reckless but certainly not risk-free, and could have ended with him in the gravel and the championship still undecided in valencia. but he's not and it isn't - and just like his first premier class title (a comparison valentino himself makes in his autobiography), his first title with yamaha is sealed on the last lap of phillip island. his championship-winning shirt is uncharacteristically stark, reading simply 'che spettacolo' ('what a spectacle/show') - and he's not wrong. this has been a show, it's been a miracle, and in the end it's been theatre. he's sealed the title in style while also getting his revenge. it's winning in the most satisfying manner you can win anything: by beating somebody you loathe. celebrations are nice, but isn't there just something special about seeing the person you despise look so wholly miserable?

sete puts on a brave face, determined to be above valentino's pettiness. he goes over, shakes valentino's hand. valentino accepts. of course he does - he's won. sete was a few corners away from denying valentino's curse before it had ever really sunk its claws in. would it have changed things, if he could simply have regained a little confidence and found his bearings again after the psychological onslaught of the sepang weekend? maybe, maybe not. of course, looking at valentino's 2005 season, you have to say valentino was almost certainly operating on a level no version of sete would have been able to match. but there's still a lot of room between 'fighting for a championship' and 'becoming a shell of the rider you once were' - and if things had gone a little differently, you do also have to say that a championship as open as 2006 was could have represented opportunity for all manner of rider. if only he'd been able to cauterise the wound in phillip island, rather than letting valentino dig his teeth in even further

^at least capirossi's having a good time :D

the championship sealed and there's but one round to go. once again the paddock must regrettably visit a track that some critics have described as 'drab' and 'soulless' and 'the enemy of good racing', and one at which valentino has only won once before. but the way to tease out a special performance from valentino is generally to give him a point to prove, add in a little spite to get the fires spitting, and he wins at the circuit for the second (and last) time of his career. in front of the spanish fans too, which must have felt particularly satisfying - and the race itself isn't all too bad in the first half (the way valentino gets past gibernau/biaggi is quite funny). home hero sete takes fourth, and that's a wrap on the 2004 championship

there's something deceptively comfortable about the final numbers: 304 points to 257. 47 points. no problem. but sports isn't just numbers; it's the story those numbers tell. valentino was furious in qatar and he made a mistake and he ended up in a position where things don't have to go all that differently for him to lose the title. the momentum was on the side of his enemy, whose confidence and morale had been given a much-needed boost. the genius of the entire sepang weekend, from the press conference to his jibes in interviews to his dominance performance-wise to the cold shoulder to the pointed celebrations, was that they all worked together to stop that momentum cold

maybe it didn't make much of a difference - valentino was always in the stronger position given he both had a points advantage and was the faster man. but faster men have lost championships before. ignore raw pace and performance edge and all of that: valentino wrested control of the intangibles - momentum, self-belief, all of those abstract things that defy rational analysis - and brought them firmly back onto his side. sete spent the entire weekend off balance, unsettled, forced to discuss things that made him uncomfortable, engulfed in a media storm he was ill-suited to coping with. all the while, valentino relished it and used it to spur himself on. by the time sete had regrouped in phillip island and was far cooler - if still respectful - towards valentino, it was already too late

in the interest of eventually finishing this post, we're not going to cover sete's downfall in that much depth. but there is still one last critical blow that valentino has to inflict to truly bring an end to the gibernau experiment. the very first race of 2005 was one that valentino particularly wanted to win - not just to inform his competitors that this year would be more of the same, but also because they were once again on sete's home soil. time for jerez

^new year, new sete! this time he's going to show that italian upstart what's what

as ever, the media had done its best to hype up this new season. sete would be getting full support from the factory (which, yes, feels like maybe they should have considered providing a touch earlier) and he made it clear he was ready for the challenges ahead, ready to get revenge and all that. the spanish had grown fonder of their unexpected challenger too, and showed up in full force to support their man in the opening race. of course, a lot of people quietly agreed that realistically speaking, the competitive picture was looking pretty ominous. 2004 should have been the season in which valentino got the yamaha project up and running, setting up a title challenge in 2005. but he was ahead of schedule and surely the yamaha would only get stronger. still, you never know, right? that's why we line up on sunday etc etc

valentino stole pole position from sete right at the end of qualifying, but crashed in warm-up and ended up using his second bike, which is never ideal. the start was already feisty from both parties, and for a while valentino was relegated back to third. but sooner rather than later, he assumed his familiar position sitting right on sete's rear tyre, showing sete his wheel here and there just to remind him where he was. remember the whole sachsenring debacle after which valentino told himself that he wasn't going to leave it that late again? well, he was actually nice and sensible here, and made a move with two laps to go, successfully passing sete for the lead

which should have been the end of it. nice and clinical, a lovely relatively stress-free culmination of a whole race's work where valentino had diligently studied his opponent's strengths and weaknesses and had formulated his plan accordingly. job done, another win on the board to start the season. except then valentino decided to make things interesting again on the very last lap by out-braking himself on the back straight and running it wide into turn 6, allowing sete back through. there's a slightly frenetic energy with which valentino immediately hops back onto sete's rear wheel, already a touch of desperation about his lunge on the inside of turn 11 where he briefly goes past - but he's in too hot and sete's back in front

what all this means is that valentino really only has one opportunity left at turn 13 and barely any time to conceive of it. there's no planning or calculation or strategy here. valentino has one option to attack if he wants to win this race. it's a dive that is instinctive rather than planned - the only calculation here is that he would rather crash them both out than let sete win the race. back then (and a bit ironic from a modern point of view), valentino's infamous dangled leg was seen as evidence that he was out of control, doing anything he could to get the bike stopped while going for a gap that wasn't really there to be gone for. they make contact, valentino manages to get the bike turned and sete goes off into the gravel, but can get the bike back on track to finish second. valentino does a wheelie over the line. sete makes a thumbs down gesture

the spanish fans decide pretty quickly whose side they're taking in this. there's booing, whistling as valentino completes his victory lap, going full ham as he pumps his fists and claps at them and does a thumbs up and waves and puts his hand on his hip and all the rest of it as they scream at him. parc fermé is tense, the eye of the storm in the midst of the deafening roars of the crowd, with sete giving vale a couple of long looks as he gets off the bike. it's all big drama, everyone consulting their teams, talks of appeals to race direction, valentino grimly satisfied while sete is aggrieved, furious - stretching out his arm, clutching it, shaking his head while shaking teammate melandri's hand. he approaches valentino, says a few words to him as he walks past - valentino is not particularly interested in engaging in conversation. the crowd demands valentino's disqualification, and also call him a son of a whore. they're also obviously still booing. and whistling. lots of noise

on their way to the podium, sete is making tortured progress, pausing for a moment in the stairwell to clutch at his arm. at this point, valentino takes a moment to take the piss out of his rival, turning to the camera with a big smile and gesturing at sete. eventually they make it to the podium and vale laps up the displeasure of the spanish crowd. valentino smirks while sete goes for a sort of pained dignity, thanking the spanish crowd for their support, claiming the moral victory and all that. the italian anthem is almost inaudible

^sete always tried to go for a kind of stoically disapproving vibe, helped along this time by his pain in the shoulder. unfortunately for him, he does just come across as thoroughly defeated. which he was

the problem that sete faces here is that, while valentino is obviously more accustomed to a rather friendlier reception, it's also not like he particularly minds the spaniards giving him a hard time. valentino has claimed his fourth victory in succession, and has done so by once again denying sete on the very last lap. he has sent a message that this new season will be exactly the same as the last and that he remains exactly as determined to make sete's life miserable. while he does seem to think sete is playing up the shoulder injury, in general sete's solemn grimaces are like catnip to him. just before the anthem, he reaches out to shake first melandri's hand and then sete's - and sete hesitates, before extending his arm to the fullest extent to shake valentino's hand with about as little proximity as is physically possible. it's good sportsmanship, but it does also as good as tell valentino he's not going to kick up too big a fuss. in a way, whatever choice he made would have played into valentino's hands. even though this time sete may have directly confronted valentino, he's still not prepared to escalate things beyond that... and valentino knows it

^one of the classic rancid vibes podiums. the hands on hips at the ceaseless spanish booing is a nice touch

this choice to avoid further escalation is one sete continues to abide by in the press conference, echoing the assen presser from the year before beat for beat. again, valentino comments that it was a great battle, that sete is surely angry but, essentially, it is what it is ("this is the racing"). again, sete congratulates valentino for the win, but refrains from complaining about valentino's actions during the race. he has since said that he talked to race direction about it and was incredibly disillusioned about their choice not to penalise valentino - but again, not a whisper of it to the media with valentino sitting next to him

the one thing he did say was that he hoped he'd be fit to race in estoril because of his shoulder. remember the whole clutching at his arm routine where valentino (and the commentators) were kinda taking the mickey out of sete's comically pained expressions? well, um, turns out he did have a lot of pre-existing shoulder problems, and indeed that was the bit of his body that caused him considerable problems for the rest of his motogp career:

Gibernau dislocated his collarbone when he crashed out of the lead of the 2002 Portuguese Grand Prix on a Suzuki GSV-R, suffered a left shoulder tendon injury during his last turn clash with Valentino Rossi at Jerez 2005, then damaged the same shoulder further when he fell in practice for the following Estoril round. At the 2006 Catalan Grand Prix, Gibernau broke his left collarbone after spectacularly tangling with Ducati team-mate Loris Capirossi at the start of the race. Gibernau required a further operation shortly after when the titanium plate inserted to help his collarbone heal was found to have weakened. The new plate was in turn damaged when Gibernau hit Casey Stoner's fallen Honda in the penultimate round of the season, again at Estoril, marking the end of Gibernau's factory Ducati - and, it seemed - MotoGP career. Before making his 2009 MotoGP comeback, Gibernau had the metal plate removed from his collarbone, only to suffer shoulder ligament damage during training - forcing him to miss the final pre-season test.

well, anyway, after the controversy has had two weeks to continue on full steam, valentino does strike a somewhat more contrite note in the estoril pre-event press conference. he says he hadn't been aware of the whole shoulder situation and that sete had been unlucky given it had been a light touch in a slow corner... but having rewatched the footage he can see how, yes, maybe the contact could have hurt sete. these things happen, right? and at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter for valentino, because the controversy blows over. what remains is the blow (psychological rather than physical) he dealt sete. what remains is that he won and sete lost, again, and sete has still failed to win since qatar

"And I really think that as long as he wins this race, even if he only takes five points back off Valentino Rossi, he will be happy with that, because it's all about getting back to winning ways. He hasn't won since Qatar last October. He's got to take a victory, just to get his season back on course. Valentino Rossi is going to take a lot of stopping, and really all he can do is try and win this race in front of his home crowd." [...] "That race in Qatar, and the problems they had in that race with Valentino Rossi crashing out after having to start from the back of the grid was really when all the problems started, didn't it, for Sete Gibernau. [...] But really that's where his problems started, both on and off the track for Sete Gibernau after that race victory in Qatar. I really can't believe he would've believed that was going to happen. He was so, so pleased to win that race." [...] "This is a big big thirteen laps for Sete Gibernau, isn't it. If he can hold off Valentino Rossi, psychologically, it would be a very very big victory for him."

^excerpts from the catalunya 2005 commentary, the sixth round of the season. valentino had said in the presser after the preceding race that he expected biaggi and melandri to be his main rivals that season. sete leads for almost the entire race before valentino makes his race-winning overtake with three laps to go and smashes the previous circuit record on that lap

what remains is one failure after another. an important thing to stress when we talk about a 'curse' is that sete gibernau did not suddenly stop being a frontrunner after qatar 2004. he qualified on pole five times in 2005 (same as valentino, funnily enough - his average grid position was actually better than vale's, 2.82 v 4.12). even so, things go from bad to worse for sete. often valentino does his own dirty work in stopping sete when he's getting a bit too close to that elusive victory, winning a close duel in catalunya, pressuring sete into a mistake at the sachsenring, that kind of thing. often, he does not even have to. sometimes he took himself out, like crashing out of the lead in the wet conditions he was once so very skilled at in estoril (not helping his injured shoulder) or in donington park, where valentino went on to deliver perhaps the finest wet weather performance of his career to take the win

"I don't think anyone can be to blame for crashing out in these conditions, can they. [...] It really is at that stage of the season for Sete Gibernau where it's all or nothing, really just got to try and win races. We're now twelve races since his last victory at Qatar. Valentino Rossi promised after that race that Gibernau would never win another race and well it seems to be coming true so far."

^excerpt from the donington park 2005 commentary, the ninth race of the season, where sete crashed out of the lead in horrendous wet conditions

valentino's favoured way of winning races played into his hands here. pressure, pressure, pressure - preferably exerted from right behind his victim, with the knowledge that valentino is waiting and studying and ready to pounce on any mistake. even if you don't make any, he'll probably get you anyway. the effect of these defeats becomes nicely cumulative, where even the knowledge that valentino will be coming (even if he isn't there yet), that eventually he will try and pass you (even if he hasn't done so yet), is enough to make his opponents self-destruct before he even has to lift a finger. what he does to sete is the most extreme version of how that tactic typically works, by slowly eating away at sete's confidence and composure and self-belief until the eventual error feels increasingly inevitable. valentino knows it is coming, sete knows it is coming, and they both play their parts accordingly

"But Rossi straight after Gibernau, now he'll start those pressure games. Pressure is on Sete Gibernau. He has not won a race for a year; the last race win was here. And the man he doesn't speak to, he doesn't speak back to him either, Valentino Rossi, behind him, and Rossi will start exerting the pressure Rossi-style as we know." [...] "A year ago, wasn't it, it doesn't seem that long ago, doesn't it, that Sete Gibernau was so delighted to win the race here. And Valentino Rossi really left in a strop, didn't he. But there we are, Sete Gibernau - but we've seen it before, and Rossi seems so have this ability to faze him, out at the front, put pressure on him." [...] "Well, Nick, you said at the start of this race that Valentino Rossi has plenty of motivation to win this race here. He wants to take ten wins for Yamaha, it would be the first Yamaha rider ever to do that in the premier class. He wants to end a drought almost in his terms, certainly since he became a Yamaha rider - he's never gone three races without winning a race before, but that could happen today if Gibernau holds this out. And of course the one thing he really wants to stop is Sete Gibernau from winning a race one year on from the day that Rossi said he would never win another one for the rest of his career." "How long does a g-'s curse take, I mean, is it just a year, the g-'s curse and then does it come off? Because if it is then he's just about right, isn't he? [...] Perhaps the curse is gone; perhaps this is just what Sete Gibernau needed."

^excerpts from the qatar 2005 commentary, the fourteenth round of the season. sete looked like he was making a break for it ahead of valentino and then melandri. six laps to go melandri almost causes valentino to crash and costs valentino over a second, but it doesn't matter. this time it's melandri who has the honours of coaxing a mistake out of sete, who goes off into the gravel as melandri passes him. valentino overtakes melandri for the victory

sometimes, he did just seem cursed in the truest sense of the word. his bike running out of fuel on the last lap while he's still fighting valentino for the victory. mechanical dnf's. other riders barging him out of the way before valentino even has the chance to. he switched manufacturers for 2006, getting a spot on the ducati factory team: his last race with honda was ended by an engine failure and his first race with ducati was ended by an electronics failure. a freak boot protector malfunction that left his foot bleeding halfway through the race. a nasty crash in catalunya, followed by his ambulance crashing into a bus fifty metres in front of the hospital entrance. in the end, it was probably the injury caused by casey stoner bringing him down in estoril that pushed him definitively into retiring - after he was dropped by ducati in favour of casey. so it goes

obviously, valentino cannot be held responsible for anything in that last paragraph. you can't mind game your opponent into having their engine blow up, at least I don't think you can. the stuff before that is fair game. what valentino did in jerez essentially stopped the title fight before it could even get started. it was ruthlessly effective in removing sete as a significant player at the top of the sport. sure, it's always hard to attribute a competitive decline such as this one to any single factor. but if ever there was a time to maybe just blame one person...

sete more often than not has kept his silence about the rivalry. in 2005, he generally did not go much further than saying that the whole thing was one-sided and started by valentino, see this (from one of oxley's books):

But don't ask me about him as a person, I'll only speak about him from a professional point of view, that's about it. I don't know why he's got a problem with me because I've never had a problem with him. I've always had a lot of respect for everyone on the grid, I just wish everyone shared that respect, because once you lose respect you lose everything.

on a similar topic, at some point he has also spoken about the qatar controversy again, saying the following:

He blamed me but it was nothing I did. Of course I didn't report him - I didn't even see what happened. I'd had a very good relationship with Valentino for many years but after that it just came around.

in 2009, at the time of sete's ultimately short-lived motogp comeback, he went along with the slight farce of a reconciliation, shaking valentino's hand and talking to him with cameras watching - the season after valentino had regained his crown in '08. but it is fair to say not all is forgotten. at times, he has done his best to draw a line under jerez and continues to refrain from criticising valentino publicly, like this from 2017:

The Catalan avoids criticizing the Italian for any controversial maneuver, such as that of Jerez 2005. "At the time I was living, based on my values, principles and education, I tried to do things as well as I knew how. And I am very proud of what I did ." Sete explains what it means to battle Vale. "We did very nice things fighting against a phenomenon, he may be the best in the history of motorcycling. I am proud to have fought face to face with a guy who is a phenomenon," he explains.

(obviously, you can read this as valentino not following whatever values, principles or education he might have possessed.) at other times, he's been a little more openly critical. in 2020, he still did not criticise valentino as much as he did the response to the overtake, which he felt set a bad precedent and has contributed to the normalisation of a more aggressive style of racing in the years since:

I don't know how many times we've talked about that corner, but the more time goes by the more I understand after that, things change. Many people were seeing that move, and from that moment on it opened the door for it to happen many more times. At the end of the race, both of us did what we thought was best for the championship, and my opinion can be whatever. But since then things have changed in MotoGP and racing is understood, which I don't agree [with].

he also adds this:

When asked if race direction would have looked into that incident had it happened today, Gibernau responded: "To tell you the truth, no. I don't think so. "I've got different thoughts on that side, which are mine, and like I said I don't need to be right or wrong. Everyone has his own thoughts, and if I put myself now in a situation where I was watching a race and I saw what happened there [at Jerez] where two guys risking their own lives touched each other in a difficult last corner, and I was looking at it with my son who would like to become a road racer, and everyone would give the victory to a guy that has touched another one, I wouldn't be wanting that to happen. "I don't want anyone to get hurt. It's one of my priorities and it's how I understand sport and racing. MotoGP is already so dangerous that in my opinion we should all put together our know how to avoid these type of situations. Is it difficult to do? Yes. Is it impossible to do? I don't think so. It's responsibility to whoever is in charge of the championship and to put the rules where we need to stay away from this type of situation because, like I say, we're risking more than just a crash."

and even more recently, in 2023, he's spoken about the jerez race being the source of his disillusionment:

If I'm telling the truth, Jerez 2005 made me lose my enthusiasm for being in the races. I tried to maintain it until the beginning of 2006, with Ducati, and when we could have won, a mechanic left a gear screw unadjusted and the gear lever fell off. That day, in Jerez 2005, I mentally retired. Valentino went inside and took me out. They didn't penalize him. It's my personal opinion, everyone will have their own opinion and it must be respected, but I think that this is not a contact sport.

also in 2023, in a separate interview, he said this:

But he didn't get a punishment or anything, and then I started to lose my faith in the sport. [...] I couldn't understand how, y'know this was not a contact sport, I couldn't understand... things happen in the championship and things had been going on inside and everything and I just lost my - started to lose my illusion in the racing.

which is later in the same interview followed by this (which is partly about his woes in 2006 - he also talked about the moment with the gear screw, but I think pinpoints that rather than jerez as the day he mentally retired):

I had done such a big effort to put myself to a position to where, I was fighting against my own demons, I was fighting against the championship, I thought no one's helping here. I was fighting against one of the top guys in the history of racing, which was Valentino, and I just thought, but, Valentino doesn't even need to do what he's doing to win, and no one is saying nothing. There was many things there and I just couldn't understand... I'm fighting against everything, you know, and I was expecting the championship to just be a little more neutral on that side, just to say, if someone does something wrong you've got to say, in my opinion, it's not a contact sport; it's already dangerous enough to being able to say you can hit someone and say, wow, that was a great move. [...] Everyone is brave on a MotoGP bike. Moto3, Moto2, MotoGP, from the first guy to the last guy, you cannot pinpoint on TV and say how brave this guy was by hitting another guy. Because if I'm a dad watching that I would not want my son to be in a championship like this. Because it's not bravery, it's not about hitting another guy - if you want to do that, go boxing. [...] And from a guy like Valentino, which is, a superstar, why accept that? I think it was wrong, in my opinion, he didn't need to do that. Since then, many things have been happening because of that movement. Because kids saw that and said that's the way to do it. And then Marquez is doing it to this guy, and the other guy is doing it to the other guy, and you get killed in racing. It's already dangerous. We should stay away from that. That's why I never understood - it got to a point where I just - oh man. It's nothing to do with me here any more, you know, and I just left racing and I retired.

for the most part, then, sete is still quite contained in his criticisms of valentino, focusing on the jerez incident and not really delving into what happened the year prior to that. he mainly questions why valentino even felt the need to do what he did to sete, and suggests valentino set a bad example to others - especially kids watching, especially future riders. his criticisms also concern motogp as a sport, those who set the rules and those who regulate them, in not doing anything to stamp down on this kind of racing. he says he felt like he lacked support from the entirety of the sport and eventually decided that he'd had enough

I haven't added this block of text just because I enjoy transcribing large portions of three hour long podcast interviews that didn't really need to be three hours long (apparently the most tried and tested method of getting riders to share their more candid thoughts about anything) - but because this, uh, average-length tumblr post wouldn't really feel complete without it. it's all very well and good to talk about how sete was mentally 'broken' by what valentino did to him. you can have whatever opinion you want about the thoughts sete expresses here on riding standards and acceptable levels of aggression. you can also maybe doubt whether it really was just 'disillusionment' with race direction's approach to valentino's jerez pass that caused his competitive decline - obviously, three hour confessional podcast interview or not, this is a narrative he's still chosen for a reason and it sells himself and his career in a certain way. but - but - especially given the exact circumstances in which his rise to title challenger status occurred and how heavily he involved himself in the safety commission... well, at the very least I'm not going to leave it out. should he have made his complaints publicly known at the time, if this is something he felt so strongly about? is this level of criticism warranted by that specific jerez move? it's tough, because from the modern perspective of course I too have gotten used to a kind of racing where that level of contact is fairly normalised - which two riders this century have played a disproportionate role in bringing about. on the one hand, valentino is right in his defence that relatively speaking, this is far from the fastest or hardest contact out there. on the other hand, it's a move that was made with the knowledge it would result in contact. and in doing so, he injured sete, because that's what can happen even as a result of relatively 'light' touches. make up your own mind! it's not an easy topic to address, and I most certainly wouldn't be able to do it justice here. let's wrap this up

of delusion and despair

valentino has always been intensely aware of the power of narratives and takes care in how he tells his own story. the most literal version in which anyone can tell their own story is, obviously, by publishing an autobiography - which he did in 2005, covering everything up until his first title with yamaha at the end of 2004. it is not presented in chronological order and is instead organised in a far more loose thematic manner, with valentino not feeling any compulsion to give all parts of his life anywhere close to equal attention. still, when you read it, certain omissions do jump out at you - and the exclusion of gibernau is perhaps the most remarkable. you could say it's because he doesn't want to speak ill of his rivals, but he has no problem going into a fair bit of detail about his feud with biaggi. you could say it's because the gibernau rivalry was still going on at time of writing, but the same is more or less true about biaggi who placed third in the 2004 championship. there is not a single paragraph in his autobiography devoted to the relationship with gibernau. every mention of him is just that: a mention. a name thrown in without care when discussing something else entirely. you are told vale passed gibernau to win the 2004 championship - but if you read the autobiography without any other knowledge of valentino, you'd be forgiven for not realising gibernau had been his title rival at all

yes, within the grand context of his career, biaggi does have to be seen as a more significant rival... but this narrative was still being written in late 2004, at a time in which valentino had committed himself to destroying sete. maybe valentino doesn't want to comment on controversies that are still bubbling along, but the sheer extent of the erasure feels far more deliberate than that. this is somebody who had been valentino's friend for years, enough so that they spent time with each other outside of work, went on holidays together, blokes who for all intents and purposes truly liked each other's company. somebody who had been his closest rival for two years, who had pushed him closer than anyone else had in his title runs, who he had experienced some of his greatest career defeats and victories against. according to the narrative presented by the autobiography, he might as well be just any other rider. it's worse than fury, worse than loathing: it's disinterest

(it has to be said, quite possibly the funniest omission is when he's talking about how "angry and disappointed" he was after qatar because of, and I quote, "honda having lodged an appeal". ... anyone else you thought was involved, valentino? .....?)

which is quite the punishment to enact. one reason why this rivalry is so tricky to analyse is, yes, it's one that's quite old by now, but also because we are drawing from a far smaller sample size of valentino comments - almost all of which were provided at the time - when you compare it to any of his other major rivalries. sure, he still talks about jerez 2005, when he's asked about it - though it might as well just have been another fun race, another dramatic victory, another controversial overtake, rather than anything that had any greater significance. (of course, there is also a clip of him forgetting about the race entirely when thinking about last corner overtakes in the premier class with sete in the room - which you can read into if you so choose.) he's talked plenty over the years about his first yamaha title in 2004, but not about the man he beat to secure it. this was his closest title battle of the ones he won (just pipping 2009), but he might as well have won it against a faceless amalgamation of the honda corporation rather than an actual living breathing rival. it's as if that title battle started and ended in welkom, where it was biaggi not gibernau who valentino had to best. even though publicly the two of them set aside their feud in 2009 and valentino even said then that they could be friends again, this feels like lip service more than anything else. in 2015 at jerez, valentino was questioned about the parallels to his relationship with a certain other rival, who was friendly with valentino at the time but had crashed out while battling vale in the previous race. valentino in response acknowledged his past good friendship with sete, but said it was different: after qatar his relationship with sete had gotten worse as a result of how sete had "played a dirty game". if he had not changed his mind about sete's character eleven years after the fact, why would he have reevaluated in the years since?

it is fair to say that gibernau was the least talented of valentino's major rivals, the least substantial figure in terms of his accomplishments in grand prix racing. biaggi is a four time 250cc champion; nobody needs to be reminded of the achievements of stoner, lorenzo or marquez. sete is the rival who wasn't even supposed to exist; he was catapulted into the position essentially overnight by tragedy. and yet, even acknowledging that, it feels like he is under-discussed in the canon of valentino feuds given the sheer quality of their on-track output (let's face it, there are more great vale/sete battles than there are for say vale/casey) and the high drama of their closest title fight. yes, you can say that's because it is one of the older and less well-remembered rivalries, because it is not quite as dramatic and significant as the biaggi feud... but still, it's quite the disparity. given the power valentino holds in writing the stories within the sport, how can you not conclude that he has played a helping hand in this erasure? being ignored is a far greater indignity than being despised - and after 2004 valentino has barely even offered sete the honour of his hatred

^sete tried to breathe new life into his motogp career by switching to ducati, but his campaign was derailed by injuries. it was probably scant consolation in his miserable 2006 season, but valentino himself was pretty cursed that year. their last on-track battle came at phillip island, in the series' first bike swap race while valentino was fighting tooth and nail to save his doomed title defence. it's admittedly one of like twenty things that happen in that race, but it is quite funny how sete really came back to life just in time to make valentino's life harder when he really didn't need him to. valentino overtook sete on the final corner of the race for the final podium spot

of course, it is a hell of a lot easier to erase a rivalry when you win it so conclusively. in truth, as an opponent, valentino got the measure of sete fairly quickly. he never lost another direct duel against sete after sachsenring 2003, having essentially vowed as much to himself even when they were nominally still on good terms. the 2004 championship was as close as it was because of valentino's unequivocally inferior machinery and the somewhat less consistent results he achieved as a consequence - but even there, when they fought directly for the win in mugello, catalunya, assen and phillip island, each time valentino came out on top. (you can argue about brno '04 - I'd say it doesn't really count since sete ended up running away with the race with a massive tyre advantage.) still, you don't have to be winning all your direct duels with your opponents to be winning the championship - and at the end of the day, sete did come tantalisingly close to a title, or at the very least forcing a title decider. whatever it is that differentiates 'very good riders' from 'champions' is what sete is lacking. he has something in him... a self consciousness, a self awareness even, that is lethal to professional athletes. he was stuck trying to manage the image of his rivalry with valentino, when valentino was moving in for the kill. valentino too is heavily aware of image, is heavily invested in how he tells his own story - but more often than not, he manages to use it as a weapon to spur himself onwards to further success. when valentino did so once again in late 2004, sete stumbled

it is not novel to suggest that valentino needs enemies to motivate himself. plenty of people within the sport have said it, including his fellow riders. that's what's always worth remembering about the 'mind games' - sure, it's great if he unnerves his opponents, but often it is about providing himself with someone to hate though there are exceptions to this, which I have a lot of thoughts about relating to one casey stoner. valentino needs to have a reason to do what he does; it's not enough to win for the sake of winning if there's no story. in 2003, he had more or less won motogp and was finding it harder and harder to motivate himself, admitting repeatedly that he was losing his joy and passion for racing. yes, this was one of the main factors that led to the move to yamaha: to give himself a reason to keep going. but it was also just the right moment for another rival to emerge from nowhere and give valentino somebody new to focus his attentions on. when you read the limited autobiography mentions of sete and his interactions with valentino in 2003, it seems hard not to conclude valentino was already feeling a little less kindly towards sete by the end of that year. the relationship did not survive contact with a true title fight, where valentino found himself pushed closer to the limit than he ever had before. the moment he was in real danger, he blew up the relationship and walked away with literal full points for the remainder of the season. at the very next race to start off the new season, he made sure sete would never be a threat to him again

it's natural to conclude from all of this that the feud was built entirely on the back of valentino's delusions, of valentino inventing a concrete reason to despise sete that was based on his mental list of sete's past transgressions, imagined or otherwise. and maybe it was. did sete really snitch? did valentino really think he did? what was it that convinced valentino of sete's guilt? and even if sete was involved, was this really a proportionate response? this is where a lack of evidence and both parties' reticence to discuss the incident in the years since works against us. but - looking beyond the specifics of what happened in qatar, it does feel likely that the relationship would have deteriorated beyond what we saw in assen anyway. that's what a close title fight tends to do to the people involved. isn't it?

sete makes for a suitable foil to valentino because he too intensely concerns himself with how he is perceived. when vale takes on sete, one pretty boy to another, they are both a little too aware of the artifice of what they are doing, a little too concerned with the optics, the image, the spectacle. rivals, friends, enemies - how far apart are any of those things, really? can we be friends if you desperately covet what I have? if you take pleasure at the thought of my downfall? is this oft-touted ideal of a 'respectful' rivalry inevitably nothing but a facade for the ugly reality that lies beneath? 2004 is what happens when their relationship is actually tested - because now they are finally fighting for something real and they both know it. this is what happens in assen, when valentino decides he needs to win at any cost, when sete realises they are not playing the game by the same rules. sete had been performing graciousness and valentino calls him on his bluff

the best rivalries transform both parties; neither side should be allowed to emerge unchanged from the battle they share. sete entered valentino's life as a competitor at a time when everything was a little too easy and as a result a little too hard for valentino. at a time when valentino felt dissatisfied, underappreciated, judged harshly from all sides and pinned down by the weight of the world's glares. the blows sete inflicted on valentino were primarily symbolic, hurting valentino's pride and reputation rather than his title bid in 2003, which was never under any realistic threat. when valentino was at his lowest that season, he responded by bringing the joy back, reverting to type, with a new haircut and an ironic gag of a celebration and a daring victory to boot. in 2004, however, valentino changed. he had to - he was on a worse bike than his opponents that he was wrestling towards a title it had no right to be winning that year. he didn't have the kind of margin for error any more that he could afford in his honda years, no more foolishness like at the sachsenring. so he became a little tougher and a little meaner and a lot more aggressive in his racing. he shed some of the insouciance that both him and sete have at times been accused of and got down to the serious business of winning. not joylessly - after all there are few things more enjoyable than crushing the enemy. still, it's fine to be a clown prince in your downtime, not when you're barging title rivals aside in assen

it is here, then, at assen, that sete makes a critical, fatal mistake. because sete is torn in two: he wants to be the gracious rival, but he also thinks what valentino did is wrong and wants to communicate as much to the world. maybe it's because it clashes with sete's understanding of racing, maybe it's simply because sete is bitter that he lost - who's to say. except sete can't bring himself to actually say any of this. he chooses the worst possible strategy against valentino: silent disapproval and annoyance and frustration, played up for the television cameras, but without offering a single word of actual complaint until later, when valentino had already offered his explanations and half-apologies. so what valentino takes away from this is twofold. for one, he comes to believe that sete has a problem with his racing and cannot graciously accept his defeat, entirely failing to match valentino's magnanimity on the (rare) occasions when he loses. but unfortunately for sete, what valentino also learns is that - when it comes down to it - sete will not stand up for himself. valentino knows he can do this again

in sepang sete attempts to take the high ground once more, to allow valentino his transgressions and foibles and temper, to be calm in the face of vale's fury, to be the better man. in australia sete pulls himself together to shake hands with valentino, to be respectful of his rival's accomplishments and graceful in defeat, to be the better man. in jerez sete is beyond angry, furious enough to actually approach valentino in parc fermé and say a few words to him, but he still shakes valentino's hand on the podium and refuses to complain directly about him in the press conference - because he is determined to be the better man. does he think he can shame valentino into being different from what he is? if so, it is an unfortunate miscalculation. you cannot claim a moral victory against somebody who does not give a shit

for valentino, at least half the joy of racing has always been about beating the opposition. a new rival is presented to him out of nowhere - and out of him valentino fashions himself an enemy. sete was one of the first people to offer valentino advice when vale entered the premier class, but this was not the last thing valentino learned from him. because what valentino did to gibernau was different than what he did to biaggi. this was not just trying to get a rise out of a bloke he disliked every time he got half a chance. this was not valentino slowly chipping away at his victim's patience and self-control and sanity. what valentino does to gibernau is far more sudden and far more targeted and gets a far more immediate effect. he emerges from qatar weakened and on the back foot and within eight days flips the situation so that he is once again the one in command. sete, who had very much exerted himself in presenting the relationship in a certain way to the world, who wanted so badly for this to be a certain kind of rivalry, ever so respectful - well, valentino found out just where to hurt him. he did it with his sudden public coldness towards sete, with carefully chosen remarks to the press to make clear that nothing had been forgiven, with the jibes and the taunts at each and every stage of his victory. he married the off-track theatre with on-track strategy as well as pure performance, directly disrupting and disturbing sete whenever necessary - the kind of combination he would later find so useful in fending off first casey then lorenzo. it's no coincidence that his three most famous career overtakes are ones that are also so significant in how they affected valentino's fortunes in the aftermath of his victory. laguna 2008 and catalunya 2009 represent complete shifts in momentum within their respective seasons that his rivals never quite recovered from. jerez 2005 ends the title battle at the very first race. and it's not just sete's season that didn't recover - it's his career

of course, it's easier to mess with someone when you have the measure of them in performance. that's always something to keep in mind when talking about mental resilience: it's easier to bounce back from your rival being an asshole to you if you're just really, really good at what you do. valentino always understood himself that any 'mind games' had to be backed up by on-track performance; he's openly stated that all of his off-track "work" on his opponents only gets results if it's paired with being strong on the bike. and he himself lost his cool in qatar - but it helped that he knew he had what it took to bounce back. this was never a rivalry of equals; there was never any question between the two of them who the better rider was. all that being said: it's a really good rivalry! guys, there's some really great races. sete was a serious challenger and he did pose a serious threat to valentino, which you can tell because otherwise valentino never would have needed to do any of this. he made valentino grow as a rider and... do you make someone 'grow as a person' if you make them better at psychological warfare? yes, I think so. actually

valentino became a more accomplished rider for having experienced the sachsenring debacle, and he became a more accomplished rider as a result of the qatar fiasco. he motivated himself to become better because he wanted to defeat sete so badly, and isn't there something compelling about that? valentino was willing to take risks at phillip island that could have resulted in a title decider, was willing to make himself extremely unpopular with the spanish crowd at jerez (not something he has typically had much experience with) - all because he needed to crush sete, to destroy him so completely he could erase him entirely. at the end of the day, there's a bunch of reasons why this rivalry doesn't get the attention it deserve. one of them, however, is that valentino seems to be pretty happy with this state of affairs, and has spent the better part of two decades deeply disinterested in paying sete his dues. don't let him have his way

[marquezian]

‘Some PRs won’t be happy until MotoGP is just a corporate event, stripped of its beauty and soul’

(OP Note: Mat Oxley has a new article out about his battle with KTM's PR but its behind a paywall so I grabbed it since it's a great read! here's the original link)

The MotoGP paddock can be a battlefield between PRs and journalists, who have opposing goals. Once again Mat Oxley has a MotoGP PR machine coming after him and this time the fallout is gloriously entertaining

A couple of years ago I had a disagreement with the PR people from a MotoGP team who tried to stop me doing my job.

I wrote a blog about it. Because a journalist’s only power comes from his or her laptop. If we don’t tell these people to back off, pretty soon there’ll be no point in journalists attending races, so you’ll all just have to enjoy the PR releases instead.

Also, these stories offer fans an interesting insight into the weird and occasionally wonderful dynamics of a journalist’s life in the paddock.

Even better, this latest story is hilarious in its craziness. The team’s PR machine started out complaining that I hadn’t used a certain word in my story (even though I had), while banning their engineers from using that word.

Freaking weird.

It seems like PRs like these won’t be happy until MotoGP is no more than a soulless corporate marketing event, stripped of all its joy and beauty, existing purely to sell you stuff, with a bit of motorbike racing on the side. Just like Formula 1.

Most MotoGP PRs do a great job. They arrange interviews and generally help us to write about MotoGP. Back when I started, in the late 1980s, the only way to talk to a rider was to go knocking on his motorhome door. Or his tent.

Now some PRs behave like we’re there to help them do their job (flog product), rather than the other way around. If any PRs are in doubt about this, the clue is in their job title: PR, for press/public relations.

I still love MotoGP for the racing and technology, and I enjoy talking to the world’s greatest riders and engineers, but the layers of PR bullshit grow thicker and stickier each season.

Clashes between journalists and PRs are inevitable, because they have contradicting objectives. Journos want to dig into what’s going on, while a PR’s job is to protect the brand. Truth isn’t their number-one priority.

Like George Orwell wrote, “Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations”.

The world’s first PR person was American Edward Bernays, who during World War I was hired by the US government to sell the idea of the country entering the war, when most Americans weren’t keen. He was so successful that he set up the world’s first PR agency after the war.

Among his numerous corporate gigs, Bernays was employed by the US tobacco industry to get women smoking, because at that time few women smoked. He consulted a Freudian psychoanalyst and promoted cigarettes to women as ‘torches of freedom’. This campaign was another big success.

Bernays’ work spawned a global PR industry that now works in every sphere of human endeavour.

Press relations – as Bernays proved – is a psychological game: you tell journalists selective truths, giving them information you want them to have, while hiding information you don’t want them to have. You cultivate friendships with journalists, because if they like you, they just may be nicer to your brand. And you stay friends, even if you hate their guts, because that’s a game.

Also useful is the possession of a vague idea of how journalism works. That’s why some of the best PRs are former journalists, who swapped sides to make more money. “Journalism is more fun,” one journo-turned-PR told me. “But PR is much more lucrative.”

The Red Bull KTM team is one of MotoGP’s best – hugely dedicated, massively hardworking and well looked after by its management. It enjoys possibly the best morale of any factory team. There’s always a buzz in the KTM garage – the mechanics really enjoy what they do and usually give a friendly nod when you walk down pit lane.

Its riders Brad Binder and Jack Miller are great to talk to and its engineers are generous with their time when you want a quick chat behind the garages. And I’ve had some great interviews with motor sport director Pit Beirer, engine designer Kurt Trieb, technical director Sebastian Risse, crew chief Paul Trevathan and others.

I last interviewed Risse (whose nickname in the team, which includes several Sebastians, is Clever Seb) during last November’s Malaysian GP.

The full interview was published on this site a while back, running to more than 2200 words. The print magazines I work for – in Europe, the USA, Australia and Japan – are more restricted on space, so I had just 500 words to cover each manufacturer, including rider and engineer quotes.

If an editor says he or she wants 500 words, you write 500 words, not 499 or 501. Magazine writing has to be tight, with quotes edited for clarity and brevity. I’ve been doing this for more than forty years, so I think I have the general idea.

PRs who try to control me by telling me what to write is like me walking into the KTM garage and telling the mechanics how to tighten the RC16’s brake bolts. I’d rightly get a slap.

And yet a KTM PR thought it a good idea to tell me how to do my job. This PR accused me of making “misquotations” in my magazine story and asked me to contact my editors, so they could make “the necessary corrections to reflect what was said accurately”.

At first, I thought it was a joke because I still have the tapes and transcripts of the interviews.

But I take the attack seriously. KTM asked these magazines to correct my text. I have no contracts with any of the magazines that publish my stuff, so I’m only ever as good as my last story. And why would an editor want to employ a journo who changes quotes to alter their meaning? Because that’s a serious crime in this job.

The attack seemed especially perverse because my story was very complimentary about KTM’s MotoGP project – “It’s a fantastic motorcycle to ride,” said Miller

To make sure I wasn’t being wrongheaded, I forwarded KTM’s email to two renowned MotoGP journalists, who between them have covered the championship for eighty years.

“I can’t understand what the complaints are about,” wrote Michael Scott, the doyen of MotoGP journalists, who started covering GPs in the early 1980s. “It is a journalist’s job to edit comments for brevity and comprehensibility. However, if someone is going to nitpick about exact wording, you either have to adopt the approach of [a former MotoGP journalist] and publish every ‘um’ and ‘er’ and every half-finished sentence and end up with overlong garble, or report in indirect speech, to preserve clarity and ensure brevity. They are nitpicking because they are nits.”

Sounds like a carpet stroller trying justify their existence,” wrote my other colleague, who covered his first GP around the same time. “It’s astounding, just mindless nitpicking. The really baffling thing is that the context of your story is 500 words of positivity about how KTM are tech trendsetters!”

I would’ve published the rest of this email, but it was way too rude.

I even contacted Britain’s National Union of Journalists to ask its opinion. “I can’t see anything that changed the meaning,” replied an NUJ advisor.

So why is KTM so mad at me?

The first complaint concerned my magazine headline and subsequent discussion about the RC16’s carbon-fibre frame.

(Italics denote their words.)

“We note that in the headline you included ‘CARBON’ whereas in the text itself you’ve removed this and kept it to just ‘frame’.”

A quick read of the story – below – reveals that the word ‘carbon’ did indeed appear within the story. Twice. Whatever they’re smoking is making them paranoid and confused. And a bit sleepy too.

Next, KTM complained about this.

“We are convinced that sooner or later everyone will have carbon frames,” says Risse.

This sentence was edited for clarity from the original, “We are convinced that sooner or later everyone will end up on this”. This was Risse’s answer to my eighth consecutive question about the RC16’s carbon-fibre frame, so there was no doubt that “this” referred to carbon frames, so the meaning hasn’t been changed.

Their last complaint concerned this Miller quote…

“We’ve been able to find more grip with the carbon-fibre frame, so the thing I’ve been working on is understanding the front end to carry more corner speed.”

This quote was subbed for clarity and brevity, from 49 words to 28. Cutting text is a major part of a journalist’s job – in fact it often takes longer to edit a story down to the required word count than to write the first draft.

This was Miller’s full quote…

“We’ve been able to find quite a bit more grip with the new chassis, so that’s the biggest thing we were trying to chase and we’ve got some steps coming to keep improving that and trying to understand the front end a bit more, to carry some corner speed.”

Again, both quotes say the same thing: the new frame gives more grip, but we need to find more corner speed.

What the PRs would’ve liked me to write was something like this, to signal each of my edits to the reader…

Risse, “We are convinced that sooner or later everyone will end up on [have] this [carbon-fibre frame technology]”.

And…

Miller, “We’ve been able to find [quite a bit] more grip with the new [carbon-fibre] chassis [sic, the swingarm was already carbon-fibre], so [that’s the biggest thing we were trying to chase and we’ve got some steps coming to keep improving that] and [Ed: what he’s been working on is] trying to understand the front end a bit more, to carry some corner speed.”

There’s a reason you never read quotes like this: because they’re ugly to read, they make the speaker sound ridiculous and they use twice the space, so the story would contain half the information.

This is why I don’t like PR people telling me how to be a journalist.

As already noted, the story praised KTM’s valiant attempts to beat Ducati. Perhaps its PR geniuses would’ve been happier if I’d more accurately reflected KTM’s recent efforts in MotoGP and written this instead…

Despite massive investment from KTM and Red Bull, working with Red Bull Advanced Technologies (arguably the world’s foremost motor sport aerodynamicists), having one of the best riders on the grid and taking some of the key brains from MotoGP dominators Ducati and Öhlins, KTM is the only manufacturer not to have won a single dry-weather grand prix in almost three years, since June 2021. Even Honda and Suzuki have won more dry GPs in that period.’

During the Sepang tests I had a lively, er, conversation with KTM, in the hope they’d realise their accusations were false. The PR doubled down, so I suggested KTM sues me, so we could go to court and let the experts decide. My offer was declined.

When I got home from Sepang I contacted the magazines that had published the story, because KTM wanted them to make corrections, where possible.

And this is when things got really funny.

The first of my editors that contacted KTM’s PRs told them he had reviewed the transcripts and story and saw no need for any corrections. It provoked this response from KTM’s motor sport PR chief.

“To be clear on this – nobody from KTM clarified that the new chassis was a carbon fibre chassis in 2023 and we were surprised and disappointed to read it as a quote from an official KTM spokesperson.”

So that’s it! KTM engineers weren’t allowed to use the term carbon-fibre to describe the RC16’s new frame, even though everyone was talking about it.

Risse and I spent more than three minutes talking specifically about the carbon frame. He went into some detail describing how it improved the bike but couldn’t actually say carbon-fibre.

How wild is that?!

KTM’s PR wonks had gone wonky – they were in a terminal tank-slapper, triggered by diametrically opposing brainwaves.

What I would’ve given to be sat in that PR/marketing meeting…

“Ladies and gentlemen, our genius MotoGP engineers have designed a genius new frame, so our genius marketing plan is to ban our genius engineers from mentioning their genius creation to anyone. Even though everyone already knows about it.”

“Dude, you’re a marketing genius!”

High-fives all round.

I assume that following this great meeting of the minds the KTM PR team gave KTM’s actual chief MotoGP engineer a bollocking for not telling me that the carbon-fibre frame didn’t exist.

Talk about the tail trying to wag the dog.

And now the crowning glory to this comedy wild-goose chase.

A few weeks after my chat with Risse, another journalist interviewed Risse and he did say the word that should not be said. (I wonder if the crack PRs returned to the office of their actual chief engineer to give him another bollocking.)

So, the PR boss was being economical with the truth when he told me that, “nobody from KTM clarified that the new chassis was a carbon fibre chassis in 2023”.

These people have their knickers in such a twist that I wonder how they get out of bed in the morning.

One last thought: a PR’s job isn’t only to establish good relations with journalists, it’s their job to promote MotoGP to a wider audience.

Considering that motorcycle racing is currently the world’s 30th most popular sport (after horse dressage!), I believe these PRs would be better spending their time trying to grow the sport – by getting stories in mainstream magazines and so on – instead of chasing after journalists for petty nothings.

Finally, I’d like to wish Red Bull KTM all the best for the 2024 season. They’re a great bunch of people (mostly) and I’d love to see them winning GPs again.

[dolce-tenebra-toscana]

If requests are still open, Ghiaccio and ideal date headcanons please?

Oh hello sugarplum! My first Ghiaccio request yay, i hope you like what i wrote. My general idea is that our blue haired kitty like really has no idea what he’s doing, but at least he tries hahaha

Request: Ghiaccio x reader ideal first date

Ok the first thing that the reader has to know is that “ ideal first date “ and “ Ghiaccio “ don’t work in the same sentence.

This short tempered mafioso has a very rough and kind of rude idea of what romance is, mostly because of his workplace and the fact that he was raised in the context of a loveless marriage.

But you liked him very much and after some time of “ dropping hints “ you decided to ask him out yourself, needless to say he was speechless.

“ UH?! THE F*CK DO YOU MEAN Y/N?! DON’T YOU DARE PLAY TRICKS ON ME, I SWEAR TO GOD I’LL FREEZE YOUR SORRY ASS TO DEATH!!” After a good half hour spent on the couch with him, explaining that: no it wasn’t a cruel prank and yes you wanted to go on a date with him, his brain started to reboot and of course…panick

You told him to surprise you, and you assured him it was gonna be great whatever he had in mind; but Ghiaccio sat on the edge of his bed thinking “ WHAT DO THEY LIKE?? Ok Ghiaccio think…Oh i could get tickets to take them see MotoGP!! Nah that ain’t first date sh*t…OH MAYBE SOME DR*GS! Ok no that’s a stupid idea….AAAAAAAH WHAT THE F*CK AM I GOING TO DO?! ”

The day of your date, you waited for him wearing your favourite outfit and happily humming the latest radio hit of the month when you saw him….and he looked terrible and adorable at the same time: eyebags that were darker than Risotto’s room, blue hair with some of his curls spiking out like cute springs and he was slightly trembling in his casual outfit he chose to wear for the day.

“ Hey…sh*t…i’m, i’m sorry ok? I really tried to think about what normal people do when they ask their s/o out, but i couldn’t find anything that worked!! AND I LOOK LIKE A LOSER WHILE YOU ACTUALLY PUT EFFORT TO DRESS CUTE AND SH*T TO GO OUT WITH ME OF ALL PEOPLE!! L-listen, forget it…just go have fun with your friends and leave me be. It’s for the best.. ”

You looked at him the entire time, trying to find even the slightest hint that he meant what he said to you in that moment…of course what you saw was actually a trembling young man, scared of let you down and still perplexed about why, of all the more charming and “nicer” member of La Squadra…you chose him

After taking his hands into yours, and reasurring him that whatever he wanted to do with you it was gonna be amazing (your heart melted when his glasses got a lil foggy because of him blushing at your words) you hopped into his beloved red Mazda and darted into the depth of Napoli’s countryside

During the ride his attitude relaxed a little bit andafter some time the two of you were bickering, laughing and talking about everything and nothing. At a certain point he parked the car by a small lake, helped you get down and using his White album froze the entire pond in front of you

You were so surprised you didn’t even notice him creating a pair of blades under your boots, only when he mumbled “ so..you skating or not? C’mon dumbass we don’t have all night” and as you took his hand, he slowly guided you into a very awkward but sweet ice skating lesson

After an hour you were under an old blanket he kept in the back of his car, drinking some cheap hot chocolate you heated up with the help of a small camping stove and stargazing away from the city lights

When you felt his hand caressing yours under the soft fabric, you turned your head towards him “ So…did you, did you have fun?” His cerulean eyes looked into yours, asking for an affermative answer to calm down his insecure heart. Only when you kindly pressed your lips on his he knew, he knew he did a good job in the end.

[safetycar-restart]

🏍 again. The answers to my ask? Perfection, i love it. Particulaly Yamaha being afraid. They should.

Random thoughts, Enea kidnapping his dom for the summer break, cause he just want to continue to spend time together when he can now let go of the anxiety of if he would be able to ride again

As for Bezz, well periods can sync up so in abo would heats as well? Or ruts?

All the yes to what you wrote about Fabio, he def would need intense scenes and subspace to truly relax now. Def think he'd want to stay collared. In this au what kind of relationship milestone would that equal? Also Fabio def has several collars to match different outfits.

Love the thoughts about Marc. Can def see a picknick by a lake so swimming is possible, he sure post a lot of swimtrunk photoes. Also he deserves all the fun and relaxation. That bike truly scares me.

I'm really vibing with the Motogp riders at the moment and I love all of these thoughts so much! So lets discuss :))

ENEA:

You know those people who raised kittens in quarantine who now have cats with extreme separation anxiety and no personal space?

Yeah that's what happened with Enea. Cause he got injured in the first race of the season, you barely even knew him at this point. But you were not gonna make him recover on his own, so you went home with him and that's where you two bonded while he recovered. Which was amazing for him, because he really needed a dom that he could fall back on during his recovery.

But it also meant that the foundations of your relationship were built on Enea always having you near and now he just flat out refuses to do things on his own. You're a team now!

So absolutely you get kidnapped during the summer break. He doesn't even consider the idea of you two being separated during the summer break, not even for a week or two. Because no! No you raised a kitten during quarantine and now you must suffer the consequences!

He's in a much better headspace though, and it's very clear to see that. He's so much more relaxed, able to actually have fun and enjoy his break and yes okay get fucked nice and hard because he's a horny little shit.

And like, you can go visit your family and friends and stuff, that's absolutely fine he would never stop you from doing that. (As long as he can come with)

BEZZ:

I never even considered the notion of ruts synching up but oh my god maybe?? Which immediately made me think of this... the omegas in the pack helping you and Bezz through your ruts together. You two are their pack alphas, so of course they're gonna be there ready and wiling.

So it's you and bezz fucking them right to next each other, trading kisses and watching each other and the entire pack is obsessed.

FABIO (wow this was way longer than I expected but I just love this):

So I think of collaring similar to a marriage. You can be married and not wear a wedding ring, but then no one would know you're married?? Same thing here. You can be collared and not wear a collar, but then no one would be able to tell. Except there's a little more emphasis on the possessiveness for collaring.

How I see it at that point for fabio is that you had kinda collared fabio for a long time, in the sense that he wears collars during scenes and he knows he's yours and wants no one else.

But during the summer holidays, when it's just the two of you and he's staying in subspace for much longer, you allow him to wear collars outside of scenes as well. And he just... he never wants to take them off. He LOVES wearing your collar full time, loves the weight against his neck, the way people don't try to flirt with him, loves being owned and feeling so so loved.

So yeah, he doesn't want to go back to the way things were. You try to almost wean him of his collars towards the end of the summer break in preparation for going back to the way things were because you assume fabio doesn't want to be collared when he's at races.

But every single time you try to limit his collars, he just breaks down and begs for them back. Like one morning he's gonna go out for breakfast with some friends and you aren't going, so you think it's the perfect time for him to not wear a collar again. You don't mention a collar as he gets ready, not offering him one or anything. But then once he's dressed, he comes to you with a big smile and two of his collars, asking you which one you think matches his outfit more and when you say he doesn't need to wear one, his smile drops.

"No?" he asks, confused, "you don't... you don't want me to wear a collar? Do you not want people to know? Did I do something wrong? I can cancel breakfast and we can talk about it, yes? Lets talk, please?"

And just... yeah you can't do that to him. So he wears his collars full time, and he loves buying new ones to match his outfits.

MARC:

Yes Marc LOVES picnics. Honestly I think Marc loves anything that involves being in the sun and swimming. He ADORES sunbathing with you (you two fall asleep outside one afternoon and Marc has a in the shape of your hand across his chest for a week).

And absolutely NO bikes for at least three weeks. NONE. ZERO. He needs to relax and relax only!!

[kingofthering]

MM9 x FQ20

Going to assume this is about Marc & Fabio and they’re my first MotoGP ship so that already makes them very dear to me. I’ve written them, went through their whole AO3 tag, wrote a whole primer for them, it’s— yeah.

Obviously, Fabio loves Marc so much. He has heart eyes every time he looks at Marc and he praises him so much and obviously he looked up to Marc a lot when he was a teenager so there is this little hero worship turned friends thing here.

Marc on the other side, is obviously more reserved as a person and he’s not as easy going with other riders as Fabio is but he truly respects Fabio a lot as a rider but it’s obvious that they enjoy each other company. Look at them in parc fermé together where Marc gets to be his playful self several times with Fabio. Also, among the list of things I live for : their little debriefs after races and the knowledge they call each other to do them over the phone.

I think it can be easy to see this as a one-sided thing because Fabio’s crush can be seen from space (the FP3 thing in France, I let him do what he wanted… you know) but when you take Fabio as a full character with his flaws and qualities (and not just young gun with a silly crush on an older guy he admires) (yes that boy is a himbo but I like to project him as emotionally smart sometimes) and you do the same with Marc (especially shit like his vulnerability and the fun side of him) I promise it works.

Marc scrolling back to like Fabio’s insta post after announcing his 4th surgery still stupidly lives rent free in my mind. Also, I love your pants and the helmets exchange (and Marc’s stupid laugh in the video).

Oh, and I love a dynamic where you can make some parallels between the two guys, that’s always fun.

and like, the Rosquez and Mabio parallels can be fun to make, bye

send me a ship and I’ll give you my opinion on it

[schumi-nadal]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you @yoellglia, @shambolicchaos and @rafasbiscuits for tagging me (I'm very late, but you're used to it), I love reading your answers and more, I love reading your works, please go on with writing sweeties ♥

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I have eight works but two of them are just translations of two so my works.

Ce que la vie nous prend/What life takes from us (Titanic 1997 & Titanic 2012)

Not just a game (FR)/Not just a game (ENG) (Formula 1 RPF)

I will always believe in you (Tennis RPF)

Caught in the storm (Tennis RPF)

And baby makes three (Tennis RPF)

It's just a bad day, not a bad life (Tennis RPF)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

Wait, I need to do maths? 😫

114859 words if I'm correct and if my phone works 🧐

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I wrote a Titanic fic and a Formula 1 RPF fic an eternity ago (I really need to post the next chapters btw), some Tennis RPF too and I just started writing a MotoGP RPF oneshot.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Not just a game (ENG) - 80 kudos

Caught in the storm - 37 kudos

Not just a game (FR) - 29 kudos

I will always believe in you - 25 kudos

And baby makes three - 18 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, I always do! I write fics in small fandoms, we are a family so of course i'm answering to everyone! ❤

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Didn't finish it yet but probably: Ce que la vie nous prend/What life takes from us.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I don't know... maybe Caught in the storm. 🤔

8. Do you get hate on fics?

The only hate I get is from me Never, my readers are the best! ❤

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I tried, but I just can't, even if I'm the first one to read smut. 😂

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Well, Ce que la vie nous prend/What life takes from us is a crossover with the Titanic 1997 movie and the Titanic 2012 minseries. But it was not crazy I guess.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope, who would want to steal my garbage? 😂

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes. By myselft. That's it.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I would love to if someone wants! 👀

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Well, I wrote a lot about Casper and Matteo (Ruudettini) power and at the moment everything is about Fabio and Marc (Mabio supremacy) BUT my all time favorite ship will always be Drarry (yeah, nothing to do with what I'm writing 😭).

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I WILL FINISH MY WORKS IN PROGRESS, IT'S A PROMISE!

16. What are your writing strengths?

Knowing that people enjoy what I'm writing is my biggest strenght 🥰

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I am unpredictable and irregular: a day, I can write 6-7 pages in a row in a few hours and the day after, I'm just staring at a blank page. 🥴

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I love it, I do it in English when I translate my works haha.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

First since I start writing for myself in middle school was a Bleach think. 🤣

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I don't really know, I love my writing for Ce que la vie nous prend/What life takes from us but Not just a game holds a special place in my heart too and I need to finish those works fr. 🤩

Tagging: Nobody, i'm so late doing it so I don't even remember who already did it 😂 but if you want to do it, feel free to tag me!

[lucy90712]

Hello! Can you write a plot with Fabio Q meeting a jornalist? Thanks

Fabio Quarararo- Crush

A/n: a lot of this will be Fabio's POV

This year is starting like most do with me flying out to Qatar to report on the first motogp race of the season. I have been doing this since 2019 but this year is going to be slightly different as usually I am there just as a journalist but this year I have a job with a tv broadcaster and so I will be doing some presenting and my usual interviews but they will also be filmed for tv now. The whole reason I'm in this position is because after finishing school I used the money I had from working part time to travel to races and trying to combine my passions which are writing and MotoGP. When I tried it I thought I would only make it to a few races but for some reason people actually liked what I wrote and I was able to make some money off it which meant I could keep going to races. Over time I kept building on what I was doing and now I'm very proud of everything I created but it's time to change things up a bit and try presenting as well as journalism. 

As much as I'm very nervous about the switch as writing something to post online and appearing live on tv are very different things I know I just need to do what I always do and I will be fine. It also helps that the first person I'm going to interview is my favourite rider Fabio, I know I'm not supposed to have favourites but he has always been super kind to me and always smiles at me when we see each other in the paddock. I know that that isn't anything special but most people don't acknowledge me when I'm walking around the paddock as I usually keep myself to myself but Fabio always acknowledges my existence which is nice. Having him be the first person I interview for tv is keeping me calmer as I know that he will be patient with me if things go wrong and he's always happy to answer questions when we did media last year so hopefully he'll be the same this year. 

When I arrived this morning I was given a schedule and joined by a camera man straight away so that we could go and set up our filming spot for the day. I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to be doing as I have never had to film interviews before as I always just use my phone to record the audio but luckily everyone else knew what they should be doing so I just had to prepare my questions and notes. As we had a bit of time before Fabio would arrive for his interview I sat down and started to write down my own questions to add to the few I was given for each interview as I like to make interviews more interesting than just the basic questions everyone asks. Quickly I realised that I was doing that as a distraction because as soon as I stopped I got incredibly nervous and had to walk away from where we had set up to calm myself down and tell myself it's just like any other interview. 

Fabio's POV

Being back to racing is great but I can't say I've missed the media side of things as that's always my least favourite part of a race weekend but it comes with the job. The first interviews of the season are usually the worst as no one really has anything to ask as we haven't been on track yet so usually questions are about testing or last season. When I first arrived to the track we had a team meeting to discuss the finalised spec of the bikes and just other general things but then it was time for my first interview so I headed there with the team media manager while looking at my phone to reply to some messages. While we walked I was given a briefing of the schedule for the day which was pretty packed but honestly it wasn't really any different to usual. 

Finally we reached the media centre where I had my first interview and just as I was about to sit down I almost stopped dead in my track when I saw who was doing the interview. Ever since I joined motogp there has been this girl who is always at every race and usually she is there with all the rest of the journalists recording and writing notes on our briefings. To everyone else she is probably just a normal journalist but from the second I saw her I thought she was incredibly pretty and always loved to see her at the debriefs. When walking around the paddock I always smile at her when I see her but we haven't spoken because I haven't been brave enough to strike up a conversation. None of that matters now as I'll have to speak to her for this interview and who knows maybe that will make me actually talk to her more often. 

Thinking about it more I don't know why she's doing this interview as normally she just writes about the sport which I know because I like to read whatever she puts out as it's actually interesting to read. As this is an interview for tv I'm quite surprised to see her as it's not something I ever expected her to do but I'm actually quite happy to see her as if this is something she's doing all season I think media is going to be a lot better. I also felt somewhat proud that after these last few years of just seeing her sit quietly and work hard on her skills that she got the recognition she deserved and is now working for a tv broadcaster. 

As I sat down she looked very nervous as I could see her biting her lip and tapping her pen on the notebook she had in her hand but I was hoping I could make her feel less nervous once we got started. She offered me a smile as she handed me a microphone which I could tell wasn't on so I quickly turned it on so that she didn't get embarrassed about doing something wrong before we even started. Once we started rolling and got a few questions out the way she definitely settled down and started to have more fun with it by asking more interesting questions which I enjoyed as I know for the rest of the day I'll be asked the same question a million times. We definitely went over the scheduled time but it was well worth it as it's the best interview I've done in a long time. After we were done with the interview I was determined to actually talk to her so I went over to her before realising I didn't know what to say. 

"Hey I just wanted to properly say hello as I've seen you around the last few years" I said 

"Well hello I should probably introduce myself I'm y/n" she said 

"Lovely to properly meet you y/n I'm Fabio but you already knew that" I joked 

We talked for a bit longer and I learnt that she started all of this on a whim after turning 18 and has since made it a career which I thought was really impressive. She talked about her new position a bit and how now she'll be doing more interviews and some presenting so I should see even more of her than usual. With how tight our schedules are we didn't really get chance to talk about anything other than work but it gives me an excuse to talk to her again. I didn't even get chance to properly say goodbye to her as I was made to go to my next interview and she had to talk with one of the other presenters about something. 

~~~~~~~~~~

After the first race I have seen so much more of y/n as she does all the interviews for the broadcaster she works for so I get to see her on media day and throughout the weekend. Doing those interviews has become my favourite parts of the day as she always has a smile on her face and always has something positive to say about the session even if it hasn't been the best for us which I like. I have also been trying to speak to her a bit outside of interviews which isn't always the easiest thing as we both have other things to do all the time but I try my best. Because I keep trying my best to speak to her I have learnt a bit more about her as a person like I know that she is a year younger than me and can speak bits of many different languages as she learnt them to speak to people around the paddock. She's just such a cool person and has so many stories to tell but you would never know as she just does her own thing and no one else cares enough to find out more. 

As much as I enjoy when I have interviews with her and getting to talk to her a bit in between I would love to spend time with her outside of work when there isn't such strict schedules to stick to. This is why I've been trying to build up the courage to ask her to go for drinks or something after a race weekend but its not been going quite to plan. Every race weekend I tell myself that I'm just going to ask her as the worst that can happen is that she says no but I just can't make myself do it. However this weekend I have promised myself that I will do it and I have told Jake (Dixon) so he will hold me accountable no matter how nervous I get. I don't know why I'm so nervous about it as I've never been like that before but something about y/n just makes me nervous in general. 

This weekend has been pretty chaotic as it is Le Mans which means I've had more interviews than usual so I haven't really had chance to speak to y/n but today after the race I'm determined to do it for myself and to avoid being ridiculed by my friends for backing out. Once the race was over my mind went straight to thinking about y/n like it usually does just this time I was worried about seeing her not excited. Through all of my other interviews I wasn't really paying attention as my one with y/n happened to be my last one which felt like the universe was trying to push me to ask her as well. 

When I got there she was all smiles as usual but there was no time for us to even say hello before we had to start as we were both running late so we quickly got on with the interview. After we were done she began to pack up all of her things and thanked the camera crew as they were now done for the day while I let my media manager go so that I could be alone with y/n. As I stood there waiting I began to get incredibly nervous again but I knew I had to do it especially when I got a text from Jake telling me that if I don't do it he will do it himself which I definitely don't want. Once she was ready I made my way over to her and psyched myself up to ask her but before I could start the conversation she did. 

"Hey there I feel like I've barely seen you this weekend how has your home race been?" She asked 

"Its been amazing even if I would have liked to have won the atmosphere has been incredible it's so weird to see so many people cheering for you" I replied 

"I could hear the crowd earlier and it was pretty loud from here so I can only imagine what its like actually out on track" she said 

"Yeah it was really cool, I wanted to ask you if at some point you would want to go and get drinks or some food" I said 

"I would love to when were you thinking?" She asked 

"If you are free now I know somewhere quiet we can go" I said 

"I'm free" she said 

~~~~~~~~~~

We agreed for me to pick her up from her hotel at 6 which is why I'm currently sat outside waiting for her to come out the door. Since I asked her I've been a lot less nervous as I know we get along and there is a lot for us to talk about so it shouldn't be awkward at any point plus she agreed to come out with me so it's not like she doesn't want to be here. At exactly 6 o'clock because y/n is always on time she walked out of the hotel front door looking absolutely stunning. She wasn't wearing anything particularly fancy but her hair was down and looked incredible and she had taken her makeup off so you could see how naturally beautiful she was. Once I saw her I got out of my car and went around to open the passenger door for her which she thanked me for after she said hello and got in the car. When in the car we got straight to talking like we had been friends for years which made me feel a bit conflicted because as much as it's nice that we are so comfortable with each other I would love to be more than friends but I'm not sure if that's what she wants. 

When we got to the little bar/restaurant I picked for us to go to we got given a table pretty quickly and then ordered our food and drinks before getting back to our conversation. Immediately we started joking and laughing with each other which had some people in the restaurant staring at us but neither of us cared as we were having fun. We told stories from our lives outside of the track the whole evening which was really nice as we haven't had too much chance to get to know more about each other's life. She kept saying that she hasn't lived the most interesting life but I loved every story that she told as I haven't lived a very normal life so it was interesting to hear what she had done with her life and family. 

After we finished eating and had a few drinks I paid even though she wanted to split the bill and then we went for a little walk around the town as its a small place so not too many people should be around. As time went on it got colder outside which y/n clearly wasn't prepared for as I could see her getting a bit cold. We walked for a bit longer before I could see that she was really cold so I took my hoodie off and gave it to her which she refused at first but I made her put it on before we went any further. Eventually we made it back to the car and I drove her back to her hotel where we said goodbye to each other and said we would do this again at the next race which happens to be next weekend.

~~~~~~~~~~

It is Thursday again which means its media day but luckily I'm almost done for the day and next I have my interview with y/n. I haven't seen her since we went out together last Sunday so I can't wait to se her again and maybe properly agree to do that again. I was so in my head thinking about plans for this weekend that I didn't even realise that it wasn't y/n doing the interview it was one of her colleagues. It took me by surprise but I told myself that she must just have something else to do or maybe her flight got delayed both of which are very reasonable things but in the back of my mind I couldn't help but worry about her. 

As the day went on I hadn't seen y/n around at all which wasn't how it normally is as usually we run into each other all the time and because I hadn't seen her my mind has been running wild with a million things that could of happened some of which I know are ridiculous but I can't help but worry about her. Typically we have never exchanged phone numbers as most of the time we only talk in the paddock so I can't just text her to make sure she's ok. I tried to just ignore it as its only one weekend but it was bugging me too much so I decided to find one of her colleagues to see if they had her number as they know we get along so they should be ok with giving me her number. 

I found one of her colleagues quite quickly and they were happy to give me her number and didn't even ask why which was great as I didn't want to admit that it's because I like her so much that her missing a race weekend has me worried. Once I got out of the conversation I went straight back to my motorhome and typed the number in and clicking the call button. Straight away I kind of regretted it as if she answers and has some good reason for not being here she's going to think that I'm weird for calling her and being so worried. I was beginning to hope that she wouldn't answer which is quite likely as to her it will just be a random phone number. With each ring it was looking less like she was going to answer but just as I thought the universe had saved me from embarrassment the ringing stopped and I heard her voice come through my phone. 

"Hello, who is this?" She asked 

"Hey y/n its me Fabio I'm really sorry for calling you but you weren't at the track and I wanted to make sure everything was alright" I kind of rambled to try and make myself look less weird 

"Oh hi everything is fine I just caught an awful sickness from my nephew when I went to help my sister out and they told me not to come to this weekends race even though I wanted to" she explained 

"That sounds awful I hope you feel better soon" I said sympathetically 

"Thank you but I have to ask who did you get my number from and why did you phone?" She asked 

Those were the exact questions I didn't really want her to ask as I know I'm going to have to tell the truth which could be awkward.

"I got your number off your colleague and I phoned as I was worried about you I mean you are always here and when you weren't I couldn't stop worrying about if you were ok" I said 

"Why were you so worried?" She probed 

"I'm just going to admit it as it will make things easier I really like you y/n and as more than a friend which is why you are always on my mind and why I was so worried when I didn't see you today as I just want to know that you are ok and happy" I admitted 

"Well I like you too" she said 

"Oh thank god I was worried I would ruin a good friendship how about we go on a proper date once you feel better" I suggested 

"I would love that I'll text you now that I have your number" she laughed 

With that I ended the call with the biggest smile on my face. It probably would have taken me months to actually ask her on a date if this hadn't happened so I guess her being sick has a good side to it. 

[neonlaynes]

fic + writer appreciation post !!

 @ritahaeworth is /everything!!!/ any time she uploads/updates? the speed at which I drop everything to read her fic is incomprehensible. her work is evocative, raw, rips out your heart and I adore every second of it. lipgallagher on ao3.

@flippyspoon //The Buddy System 

I remember reading this back when I got into Harringrove in Feb 2018, Billy and Nancy friendship combo is something I never knew I needed but they are absolutely savage and a Menace!! love that for them. flippy is fantastic at serving up that sweet sweet fluff with a dash of angst!

@tracy7307 // Take Me with U

another fluff master; they go CAMPING!! tracy captures the tentative first few steps before a relationship so well for steve and billy; that slow burn is so rewarding!! imagining them under the stars, gazing into each others’ eyes...how blissful!

@granpappy-winchester // cherry 

full disclosure I do and I Will love everything sara does ... be it art or fic. cherry brings forth such a lovely imagery of a soft billy getting in touch with who he is and who he wants to be, and as always the interactions between him and steve are delightfully bantering!!

Little Beast by retoxification // the first few chapters broke my heart with how they wrote the tenuous relationship blossoming between steve and billy after how much billy hurt steve, and how billy navigates his guilt. lots of tender, raw moments.

@twobrokenwyngs // the only thing constant

the quintessential fic of “show, don’t tell”. they weave enough of an image of what billy and steve were like -- and leave just enough holes for you to fill in the gap, to wonder about their past. it’s what keeps you on the edge of your seat and waiting with bated breath. billy’s pining is so palpable, I just want that boy to be happy!!

@yolo-contendre​ // east of eden (and going west)

childhood friends AU.......and billy forever pining.......my god. it’s unhealthy af for him to be so over the moon on steve and dependent on him that he’s self-sabotaging in order to gain a scrap of steve’s attention....but I live for it. I’m anxious as to what will happen!! 

@pretendimstraight // i haven’t forgotten you yet

looks like I have an inclination for “lost love regained” relationships......ugh!! steve admitting billy was the best thing to ever happen to him ... billy’s rightful indignation at steve’s departure, them reconciling!! the dialogue is so well written!!

 @eternalgoldfish // tides will bring me back to you

I should Not spoil anything so basically: ghost billy. the interactions between characters and the characterization of everyone is just pure joy! so excited to see this fic update in my inbox, and I’m holding onto the hope that...it’ll all work out in the end. 

Yourself or Someone Like You (aka Steve and Billy are In Love) series by halfempty // currently 700k of slow, simmering tender love. I am so amazed at their dedication and the fact that when they update it’s usually 10k+ a chapter? so it’s always a treat to get comfortable and savor their writing!! I promise this series is well worth your time.

@highon85 // Kill me with your smile

this was so so sweet!! always love the secret admirer leaving gifts trope, and v did such a lovely job with billy’s pining -- my favorite kind of billy!! also, of course if you’re more comfortable with it -- I would LOVE to see more of your art too, your work is exquisite!!

@hoppnhorn​ + @the-copperkid // if you don’t like the company, let’s just do it you and me 

🔥🔥🔥 what a combo, what a duo. billy’s gross pining + steve indulging the man - chef’s kiss. both authors also have stellar portfolios of solo works, so please check them out!! some personal favs: rachel with her motogp AU, and the-copperkid with a modern missed connections AU!

@brawlite +  @toast-ranger-to-a-stranger // Wicked Game(s)

another dynamic duo!! I LOVE it when ABO tropes are subverted!! as always, they excel in crafting such a heady and sensual air whenever billy and steve interact in any capacity beyond being just friends. some personal favs: lane with and plenty of seeds in a lemon where billy pretends to be steve’s weed dealer and cass with Under the Covers which is Basically a classic now? and also there’s nothing wrong with me (loving you, baby) , which I only NOW discovered?? coworkers steve and billy is just so good!!

come on (you stranger, you legend, you martyr) and shine by buckyjbarnnes

post-s3 tender goodness -- billy’s got some powers! you feel as if you’re a present bystander during scenes - you can feel the train of thought running through both billy and steve’s heads -- and isn’t that something!

@hexlikesramennoodles // This Jelly

super hot and heavy, mysteriously attractive man turns up and is Practically a neighbor with how often he’s there for work anyway, and gradual falling in love? sign me up!! I also have to thank hex for the imagery of billy covered in beautiful tattoos as well...what a vision!!

@ihni // we stan a multitalented star...what can moa NOT do?? fic, art(both realistic/stylized/cartoon), poetry, sewing....wowow!! check out her art here and her writing here ; you can feel the love she puts into all her work!!

truly, this fandom has been so wonderful to share in!! there’s a plethora of amazing fics and writers that I simply cannot fit all my thoughts into one post -- I appreciate every single one of you. happy fic writer appreciation day!!

[batsplat]

Former MotoGP winner Marco Melandri has had a pop at reigning world champion Valentino Rossi via his Italian online blog marcomelandri.it. Melandri believes Rossi was fed bespoke tyres by Michelin before the French company were ousted from the MotoGP series after Bridgestone tyres won the sole supplier contract. Moreover, Melandri believes this is the reason Rossi's domination of the series is slowly diminishing: 'This is down to the fact that they don't make tyres anymore just for him,' wrote Melandri. 'This statement is meant to say that maybe Michelin, in 2004, had more than a small hand in the results. More like an arm.' There's more: Melandri goes on to say he believes Lorenzo's 'armchair' celebrations at this year's MotoGP from Le Mans had a more sinister message: 'Taking a closer look at it, you start to see more: the chair was yellow... like Valentino's yellow... which would say: "I, Lorenzo, am taking your place on your yellow chair".' When questioned about the stunt at yesterday's MotoGP press conference, Lorenzo looked puzzled, replying: "But the chair was green."

x

more of the blog entry under the cut

"Lorenzo's celebration was serious stuff, with a subtle yet biting message that only some will pick up on. Did you get it? Let's take a look at it together," Melandri wrote on his official website marcomelandri.it, with his words subsequently translated into English by Italian website GPone.com.

"When I rode by on the cool down lap, I saw Lorenzo sitting in front of the video screen and my first thought was: 'He is enjoying the sight of his own victory.' But noooooo!!!

"Taking a closer look at it, you start to see more: the chair was yellow... like Valentino's yellow... which would say: "I, Lorenzo, am taking your place on your yellow chair."

"Am I sitting down with the popcorn to enjoy my spectacular victory??? No, I am sitting here watching you cross the finish line, because I already passed it..."

Melandri also blasted Rossi for his response to the celebration and comment about the one-tyre rule.

"Valentino's statement: "I did it ten years ago"... Weak... followed by: "Now, with spec tyres, the rider can't make such a difference." This is down to the fact that they don't make tyres anymore just for him," wrote Melandri.

"This statement is meant to say that maybe Michelin, in 2004, had more than a small hand in the results. More like an arm.

"I don't want to say that anyone is right or wrong, but only put forth my theory that aliens don't exist," added the San Carlo Honda Gresini rider, referring to the label applied to MotoGP's present big four of Rossi, Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa.

And Melandri wasn't finished yet. He also gave his opinion on Rossi's 2011 plans and thinks it is simply too dangerous for Rossi to leave Yamaha if Lorenzo stays.

"I really want to see Valentino on the Ducati next year, but I think it is more likely he would go to Formula 1!" he wrote. "Not because the red bikes aren't competitive; I actually think they are much more competitive than you think. It is just hard for him to leave Lorenzo alone on the Yamaha, now that the bike has an incredible balance. It is too, too, too large a risk."

The Italian Grand Prix, the home event for both 2005 title runner-up Melandri and reigning seven time MotoGP champion, starts on Friday.

"In Italy they have a unique way of presenting bike racing to the general public: when Valentino wins and stages a celebration, it is an incredible show. But when others do it, they downplay the whole thing... hmmm!!!" said Melandri.

[neighbourskid]

Fratelli d’Italia

(original date: 24 April 2016)

I have always had a strong affiliation with all things Italian, with Italy as a country itself. For those of you who don't know, I'm 1/4 Italian. My dad's mother, my nonna, was Italian. She came to Switzerland in her twenties and has lived here her whole life.

Although it is only a quarter, I have always felt a much stronger connection to my Italian roots than to the Swiss ones. That quarter is very important to me. I don't speak Italian, though. Well, not yet anyway. I'm going to learn it someday.

This love for that part of my descent draws a line through quite literally everything. Through cultural things, through sports, food, people, scenery, everything. My favourite foods are Italian, I like all sorts of pasta, I love Pizza, I love coffee. The only thing that I don't like about Italian cuisine is the enormous amount of cheese. I like that it is simple, that it doesn't need so many ingredients. Short anecdote, I remember a day when my brother and I were at my father's and we went to have a late lunch at McDonalds. And I ate a lot there. And then we drove two hours to visit Nonna to eat dinner with her. And when we arrived I was still so full from McDonalds, but when we stepped into her house it smelled so good and strong of Spaghetti Bolognese that my mouth literally watered. I think I ate about three plates full of that delicious food that evening. Italian cuisine is marvellous. Even better when it is made by an actual Italian.

I love Italian architecture and scenery. Switzerland shares borders with Italy, and whenever we're in the south, Locarno for example, I instantly feel at home. I just love how they build houses and how they structure cities and villages. I love that country-side like feeling even their cities have. It's cozy and I love it.

Whenever I find out that people I know are Italian or have Italian roots, I tend to find them more sympathetic than before. Because it gives us a shared ground. It gives us something to talk about. A good friend of mine is also 1/4 Italian, and that really connected us. He's my Italian brother now.

I think the thing where my love for Italy becomes most obvious is when it's about sports. I have always supported Italians in every sport ever. Especially in football. I remember well how we always watched World or European Football Championships at Nonna's and we have always rooted for Italy. For Switzerland as well, of course, but my main focus has always been the Azzurri. I think the one event that stands out most to me is the World Championship in 2006 in Germany, where Italy beat France in the finale and won their fourth (and until now last) title. I remember vividly how we all sat on that brown leather sofa, my dad and us, his four siblings, some of their children, my nonna and we all cheered them on. That is one of my most precious memories.

Even now my love for that team hasn't stopped. It has never stopped over the years. Whenever I have collected the stickers, I only cared about them. This year I can't afford to buy any. But I have two. Two Italians. My favourite two Italians. Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and midfielder Andrea Pirlo. I have always loved those two, and I still do. I own these two stickers thanks to a little boy from the church I'm going to. He walked up to me one Sunday and handed me the Buffon sticker and asked if I knew him. And I melted. I told him that, of course, I knew him and that I liked him very much. Him and Pirlo. He was astonished to find out that they both had already played for Italy when I was his age. The next Sunday he walked up to me and handed me the Buffon sticker again. He had it twice now and wanted me to have it. This was probably the only time I've ever said the words "I love children" and my friends will always tease me about that because I don't really like kids that much. Now last week he was in an activities week where I was one of the people involved and he saw me on the first day and his whole happy expression fell and he said, "Oh no, I forgot Pirlo." The last day of the week the parents visited and so his mom came and brought it with her. He gave it to me full of pride, "finally", and I was so, so touched. I later found out that he didn't even have it twice. He didn't care if he had it, all he wanted is to give it to me. And I am so grateful. He's such an amazing little boy.

I have always supported Italian sportsmen. This weekend Valentino Rossi won the MotoGP race in Spain. An Italian that I have loved and watched since I was little. I always root for Italy. Always. And I don't think that will ever change even if the people I have grown up watching won't be active anymore.

I don't know why exactly I feel so much more connected to Italy than Switzerland, but I do. Sadly, I have only ever been once, but I'm planning to go sometime in the future. I want to visit my nonna's birthplace, I want to visit the big cities. A roadtrip down there would be awfully nice.

In his play Attila, Giuseppe Verdi wrote "Avrai tu l'universo, reste l'Italia a me." You can have the universe, let me have Italy. I can relate to that.

Ciao a tutti.

[sbknews]

Martin reigns the Red Bull Ring for magnificent maiden win

The wait is over for Pramac Racing as the rookie puts in a stunner for his first premier class win and the team's first with Ducati. Ladies and gentlemen, there's a new MotoGP™ winner in town! From injury to pole position to top step of the podium, comeback stories don't get much better than Jorge Martin's (Pramac Racing) first weekend back from the summer break. The Spaniard broke the lap record for pole on Saturday and then put in an imperious performance to outpace reigning Champion Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) on Sunday, taking his first premier class win and becoming the first Independent Team rider on a Ducati to win a MotoGP™ race. And for Pramac Racing, the wait is over as that victory with Ducati finally comes their way. Mir took second and his best result of the season so far, with Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) completing the rostrum to do some impressive damage control in the standings at a tougher venue for Yamaha. The first race start of two saw Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) take the holeshot as Mir and Martin slotted in behind, but it wasn’t long before a huge moment of drama would interrupt proceedings. A couple of laps later, MotoGP™ Legend and wildcard Dani Pedrosa (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) slid off out of Turn 3 – and his bike was then struck by Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini). Both riders were up and ok after the crash, but the bikes burst into flames and the Red Flag came out immediately – leaving a clean-up job to do. Savadori headed for a check up and was found to have fractured his right malleolis, therefore out of the restart – but Pedrosa was able to get back out. After a considerable wait for the track to get cleaned and race ready, a new distance of 27 laps was set and the grid lined up again. But again, more drama hit – this time for Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) as the number 12 couldn’t get away on the Warm Up lap and was forced into pitlane. That left a gap on the grid, and the lights then finally went out for the second time. This time around, Martin took the holeshot but Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) struck at Turn 3, with Mir slotted into third and a gap back behind the trio already. Quartararo was on the chase, with another – after the same in the first start – moment between Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) slightly shuffling the pack just behind as El Diablo took the inside line and the room ran out. At the front though, Miller led Martin led Mir, but Quartararo was homing in – and closest Championship challenger Zarco was the last man going with the front group. Bagnaia, meanwhile, had dropped behind both LCR Honda Castrol’s Alex Marquez and LCR Honda Idemitsu’s Takaaki Nakagami. Another rider of note was Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), as the South African started to ignite his Sunday charge, up into ninth and looking like little would stop further progress. Up ahead, by the braking zone for Turn 3, Martin was into the lead and past Miller though, and Quartararo and Zarco switched and switched back. Mir then got past Miller to get on the chase for victory, and a gap started to open up behind the leading duo. By 21 to go, Quartararo moved past the Australian too, and Miller responded at Turn 4 before El Diablo elbowed his way back through. With that, the gap to the lead duo only grew... Quartararo managed to hold on in third, but then more drama hit behind him to assure it. Martin and Mir had disappeared in the distance and Miller was starting to put the pressure on the number 20 in the fight for the podium, but disaster hit for the Australian with 10 laps to go. Suddenly sliding out at Turn 7, his rostrum hopes were over and the Yamaha ahead was released into some solid breathing space. From there on out, the key question became: Martin or Mir? But as the laps ticked down, the answer became clearer. The number 89 was edging away, and then a mistake from Mir at Turn 3 just took the gap over a second… and that was that. If Martin could keep it clean, his first premier class win was there for the taking. Keep it clean he did. Mir did too from there on out, but it wasn’t quite enough as the Pramac Racing rider in the lead just pounded on. Over the line, the comeback fairytale was complete and Martin took the flag with a second and a half in hand, making some incredible history with an emotional victory, from a pole position lap record no less. Mir was forced to settle for second but was right back in the hunt – and moved up to third in the standings – with Quartararo a distant but valuable third as Ducati territory didn’t play out that way for his closest challengers in the points. Fourth place, meanwhile, looked set for much of the race. But Brad Binder had other ideas, and the South African absolutely smashed the final lap. Beginning it behind both Nakagami and Zarco, the KTM rider wanted more than sixth and that’s exactly what he got. Dispatching the Japanese rider AND the Frenchman in just one lap, the number 33 took fourth and the honour of top KTM on home turf. Sunday rider can also be a compliment! Nakagami then snatched fifth and Zarco was forced to settle for sixth, losing out some ground to Quartararo. Alex Rins slotted into seventh, with Marc Marquez able to salvage eighth after some dramas for the number 93 on Sunday. Alex Marquez faded in the latter stages to ninth but still took a valuable top ten… as did Pedrosa, in the end. Bagnaia was given a time penalty for not taking a Long Lap – he exceeded track limits – and that puts the number 26 back into the top ten in Grand Prix racing. An impressive achievement for any rider, but especially more than two years after retirement. Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama) took P12 and managed to stay ahead of Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT), who in turn held off Luca Marini (Sky VR46 Avintia). Iker Lecuona (Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing), after a stronger start, completed the points in P15. So that’s all she wrote for Styria… but not for the Red Bull Ring. The stunning venue welcomes MotoGP™ back for more next weekend for the Austrian Grand Prix, and there’ll be a new premier class winner lining up: Jorge Martin. Will the deck shuffle again or can he go back to back? We’ll start to see some answers on Friday! MotoGP™ podium 1 Jorge Martin - Pramac Racing - Ducati - 38:07.879 2 Joan Mir - Team Suzuki Ecstar - Suzuki - +1.548 3 Fabio Quartararo - Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP - Yamaha - +9.362 *Independent Team rider Jorge Martin: "I can't believe it, for sure I think I still don't believe it so I'm still not so excited! What I did today was amazing, I kept a really constant pace throughout the race, in the same tenth, and I was super focused. Even if I made some mistakes, my target was to win the race. Joan was impressive today too, he was behind me almost all the race but in the last laps I tried a bit more to brake a bit harder even if the front tyre was destroyed, and I could take a gap for the lead. On the last laps I was thinking a lot of things, about everything and everyone who helped me to arrive here and that's why I was a bit worse in the last laps! But I had the gap to manage. Thanks to all my family, this is one big step towards my dream of being World Champion. Today is one big step, we're a bit closer and I want to dedicate it to all the people who've helped me and also to my grandfather who is still fighting, this is for you. I hope to keep this line for next weekend, it'll be more difficult but I think we still have some margin to work and we'll try for the win again." For more MotoGP info checkout our dedicated MotoGP News page Or visit the official MotoGP website www.motogp.com Follow us on social media: Instagram: @superbikenews Twitter: @sbknews Facebook: @superbikenews SBN Directory - add your motorcycle related business here

MotoGP™ podium L-R: Mir, Martin and Quartararo

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[fyeahitalianskaters]

Interview - Matteo Rizzo: “To give my best at Pyeongchang”

Matteo Rizzo, 19 years old, born in Rome but moved to Lombardia when he was little, learned how to skate even before walking since skating is common in his family. His father Valter Rizzo has coached international athletes from three decades and has worked alongside Nikolai Moozov with great champions such as Adam Rippon, Javier Fernandez and Miki Ando. His mother Brunilde Bianchi skated competitively in pairs with her husband. She’s now a respected choreographer and has worked with Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali, Alessia Aureli and Andrea Vaturi, Isabella Pajardi and Stefano Caruso.

Hence, it was inevitable for Matteo wearing boots and blades. He now trains at IceLab with Franca Bianconi and his dad Valter, while Corrado Giordani and Massimo Scali refine his choreography and programs.

With a fourth place and a total of 223.27 points at Nebelhorn Trophy, he not only qualified a spot for Pyeongchang but allowed Italy to have a representation in all four discipline and to compete in the Team Event. Then, after winning National Championships, he officially wrote his name on that ticket for Pyeongchang. His personal best score is 232.98 with a Free Skating of 157.34 at 2017 Warsaw Cup.

Matteo: Since I was little, I started wearing skates for fun or to stay close to my parents. But it was in 2006 when I did my first competition, I liked it so much that I decided to keep competing.

What kind of advice do your parents give you, from their experience as athletes and then as coaches?

Matteo: They adviced me long time ago, when I started my career, and their pieces of adviece have been fundamental.

What’s your relationship with your team?

Matteo: With my coach Franca Bianconi there is a good relationship based on trust, understanding and a willing to work. Achievements come as a result. With my father we have a great bond, we understand each other very well, and this is basic in order to succeed.

What’s skating for you?

Matteo: It’s now a full time job, but before it was just for fun and an occasion to stay with friends.

At the beginning of the season, your only goal was to improve, when did you realize it was changing?

Matteo: This season started with many goals and an Olympic dream, but everything escalated after my first competitions. I could improve during the summer and show my progresses in competitions. It was a great start and now I will give everything to conclude at my best.

What’s the first thing you thought after you realized you had qualified a spot for Italy?

Matteo: I thought: “Ok, now we have a spot and I have to make it mine”. I was very happy, it was an honor to be able to take this spot for my country.

Now that the spot is yours, what are those elements you have to work on the most?

Matteo: The preperation for Olympics will be the same I did prior to Nationals. I like my programs very much and I’m covinced I can express them at best.

But before you have European Championships, how are you preparing? What is a result you think you can realistically achieve?

Matteo: European Championships will start soon and my preparation won’t change. I work very hard adn I try to do all I can at avery training session. Surely 10th place is a possibility, but it’s not obvious. I need a good level of performance, this sport is very difficult.

Quadruples? Can someone be competitive without them?

Matteo: Quadruple jumps are needed if you want to be among the best, but they are not enough to win: you have to be complete in everything. Anyway, I’m working on them to increase my technical weapons.

What do you like to do off ice?

Matteo: I’m a pretty simple boy, I like being with my family and my girlfriend (Micol Cristini, who also trains at IceLab). I am also a fan of other sports, I always try not to skip any Formula 1 or MotoGP race. I also like football, I cheer for Milan.

In conclusion, would you tell us a something about you?

Matteo: My day is pretty intense, it starts at 9am and is never over before 5pm. I train 3 hours on ice and 2 off ice. In my free time I take care of my pets, two Border Collies and a kitten. I like being with them a lot, and I also like to mantain a good relationship with all the people who support me and believe in me.

(from sportface.it)

[youandi29]

For the first time, I am going to blacklist a tag, the MotoGP tag, it sounds stupid, but I can’t deal with watching pictures anymore, with reading texts when I wrote one myself.

For the first time I am going to try protecting myself from all of this, selfish decision, I know, but I can’t face the reality anymore for today, I can’t stop thinking about Jason’s family and friends, and seeing people suffering here makes everything so much real and worse for me. I don’t deal very well with lost, and all of this send me back to old memories I thought that they were gone.

I prefer run away than facing the pain