Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images
Jorge Lorenzo has been away from motorcycle racing for six years since he retired from MotoGP at the end of 2019.
The three-time MotoGP champion was arguably one of Valentino Rossi’s biggest opponents throughout his career. A handful of people managed to beat him while racing for the same team, but no one was as infamous as the Spanish native.
The two were teammates for two separate spells at Yamaha, back when the team were one of the most dominant forces in the championship. Lorenzo could have in…
Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images
Jorge Lorenzo has been away from motorcycle racing for six years since he retired from MotoGP at the end of 2019.
The three-time MotoGP champion was arguably one of Valentino Rossi’s biggest opponents throughout his career. A handful of people managed to beat him while racing for the same team, but no one was as infamous as the Spanish native.
The two were teammates for two separate spells at Yamaha, back when the team were one of the most dominant forces in the championship. Lorenzo could have insisted he shouldn’t rejoin them in 2013, but he was unbothered and went on to win another title in 2015 alongside him.
Lorenzo thinks MotoGP has changed for the worse over the last few years, insisting that it lacks the same sort of intensity that it once had, with aggressive battles on track. Lorenzo spotted something no one mentions about Rossi about his duel with Marc Marquez in 2015, which raises an interesting point.
READ MORE: Valentino Rossi once saw ‘very strong’ sign Marc Marquez would be a MotoGP champion before his debut
Photo credit should read MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP via Getty Images
Jorge Lorenzo insists Valentino Rossi deserved to have his ‘licence revoked’ in 2015
Lorenzo thinks Marquez can be beaten, and he knows that it’s possible given how he managed to do so in 2015. It was the only time in his career that he would manage to, before he bounced back and won the following four championships in a row.
Lorenzo was annoyed with Rossi in 2015 and has spoken out before about how he believes the Italian should have received a stronger punishment for his leg kick on Marquez at the Malaysian Grand Prix that season.
Instead, the title battle went down to the final race, with Lorenzo just about managing to hold on over Rossi. Speaking to DAZN in their Decoded documentary, he cited how he feels that his Italian rival deserved to have his ‘licence revoked’ for his actions.
“Seeing the two of them six meters off the racing line and Valentino looking at him, moving his leg,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it.
“It was an intentional, completely unsportsmanlike action. If a Moto3 rider did that, at the very least they’d have their licence revoked.”
Photo by Europa Press/Europa Press via Getty Images
What punishment did Valentino Rossi receive for Marc Marquez leg kick?
After the matter was reviewed post-race, it was determined that Rossi was at fault for the incident and was handed a punishment.
It resulted in three penalty points being placed on his licence, as well as a back-of-the-grid start for the finale in Valencia.
That would be detrimental to his charge and ultimately cost him another title, managing fourth in Sunday’s race. He had the pace to win, and finishing second would have been enough for him.
Effectively, he lost a championship for it, which feels like a stronger deterrent. Lorenzo, however, protests otherwise.