Valentino Rossi: The Doctor Series Episode 2/5 — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:04(The helmet hides feelings that cannot be understood...)
2. 0:22If ever there was a race track that could sell you MotoGP
3. 0:26or showcase the frenzied scenes that Valentino Rossi can create,
4. 0:30it would be Mugello.
5. 0:34Picturesque, historic and very fast:
6. 0:37there is much about Mugello that is distinctly Italian.
7. 0:45Somehow over 100,000 fans find space on the banking
8. 0:49and create an electric atmosphere that
9. 0:51sweeps over the shallow hills.
10. 0:57Every rider loves this track
11. 0:58but when you ride it then it is very difficult,
12. 1:01very demanding physically and – especially - it is very scary
13. 1:04because it is very fast.
14. 1:06For an Italian rider Mugello has a couple of tenths in the hand.
15. 1:11When you arrive here you are faster than normal.
16. 1:20The special thing of Mugello is that in the end the number of people around the track
17. 1:25is like another track!
18. 1:27When you ride the bike you feel more the people
19. 1:32and you feel the people very close.
20. 1:52They have been coming to Mugello for decades.
21. 1:54The circuit groups fans together in the amphitheatre setting.
22. 1:58Dedicated areas exist for particular riders’ fans
23. 2:02and the famous Italian passion for racing means the Gran Premio d’Italia
24. 2:06is motorsport at its most spine-tingling and tribal.
25. 2:29Every year when you arrive the pressure comes very heavy.
26. 2:34It is a good pressure and I am very happy to come here in Mugello.
27. 2:39It is a difficult race for him because being his home Grand Prix
28. 2:43he has a lot of distraction around and a lot of attention for him.
29. 2:52Many people don't really understand that for us it is an important weekend.
30. 2:58All the fans are coming crazy in Mugello.
31. 3:01When you are on the bike and the track
32. 3:05it is special.
33. 3:09It is something special but the price to pay is very high.
34. 3:13We have a lot of guests and a lot of people into the paddock
35. 3:16and we think Mugello is one of the worst!
36. 3:17When you exit everything happens!
37. 3:21People that give the child like this [gestures] for the picture
38. 3:25or try to take the cap.
39. 3:28So it is a battle; is a battle also outside of the racetrack! [laughs].
40. 3:36The passion that you get from having all these fans here:
41. 3:38you have to get up at the crack of dawn to get in here to the circuit
42. 3:42but as you drive through there you just see all these
43. 3:45people arriving, arriving, arriving.
44. 3:47When they all arrived, It is chaos at the gate.
45. 3:49It is classic Italian.
46. 3:52This it is what MotoGP is all about: the passion seen at this particular racetrack.
47. 4:00Mugello is THE race.
48. 4:09Mugello is Valentino’s house.
49. 4:12Every year for the last twenty,
50. 4:14Valentino has in one way or another at thrilled the adoring fans at Mugello.
51. 4:22Valentino Rossi and Mugello go hand-in-hand.
52. 4:24He owned Mugello.
53. 4:27I won many times in Mugello,
54. 4:30seven times in a row
55. 4:32and a lot of times the motivation makes the difference.
56. 4:34I feel the race more, no?
57. 4:50Many, many races in Mugello fighting with Valentino.
58. 4:53We saw what he did for seven years in a row.
59. 4:56In that time in 2006 it was a special weekend for us.
60. 5:00In the beginning I tried to go,
61. 5:01to push him and to keep the advantage but Valentino was always there.
62. 5:06We were fighting a lot in the last couple of laps,
63. 5:08a lot of overtaking and in the end he win.
64. 5:10I fight a lot of times with Capirossi, Loris.
65. 5:122006 was one of the only times in my career
66. 5:16that I don't remember the last lap.
67. 5:18With Valentino you never know.
68. 5:19It is really easy to lose and it is not so easy to win the race with him.
69. 5:25We were both without any breath because there had been already fifteen overtakes
70. 5:31and from that moment I don't know what happened.
71. 5:34He knows that when I am on the back of him then I try and he do the same always.
72. 5:39Since the turn of the century there is one rider that has made the Mugello experience
73. 5:43truly unmissable for many Italians.
74. 5:46They wave his flags, wear his colours, stick a 46 on their bikes, cars and trucks.
75. 5:53They wait hours for a glimpse of him and storm the fences to catch a droplet of podium champagne.
76. 6:03Now for me it is impossible but a lot of years ago
77. 6:06sometimes I go up the hill Friday night
78. 6:10or Saturday night and it is like hell.
79. 6:12The people are completely drunk from like three days
80. 6:16but it is something like the Woodstock of MotoGP.
81. 6:34In 2010 the dark side of motorcycle racing final caught up with Rossi.
82. 6:39A violent crash on turn thirteen during the second practice session
83. 6:43led to a broken right leg and his first major injury
84. 6:46in thirteen years of Grand Prix racing
85. 6:49It was a very bad experience because a lot of pain
86. 6:53but after I felt a lot of great energy
87. 6:57and this was very important to come back very soon.
88. 7:02Like for a golfer this is St Andrews, for a tennis player it is Wimbledon. For
89. 7:06MotoGP it is Mugello.
90. 7:08Out there is another world but in here we try to keep it normal.
91. 7:13Vale does not change his demeanour at all. He is incredible like that.
92. 7:16We can be under the pump, really struggling
93. 7:18but you wouldn't be able to tell from what is happening by him
94. 7:21and coming here and it being one of his races; it doesn't change at all.
95. 7:28A natural showman, Rossi began playing up to his fans and the media with dedicated liveries
96. 7:33at Mugello around the turn of the century.
97. 7:35In collaboration with friend and designer Aldo Drudi,
98. 7:39Rossi has since made a tradition of unveiling a special helmet each season at Mugello:
99. 7:442016 is no different.
100. 7:46A long time working with Valentino and many times in Mugello
101. 7:50and I think this is one of the best we have made
102. 7:55We are talking about the official colour of Valentino Rossi.
103. 7:59Full yellow is the base of the helmet
104. 8:02and as you can see it the word Mugello and changing the
105. 8:06meaning to Mugallo and that is the trust of Valentino for tomorrow.
106. 8:13He want to have the whole circuit yellow to have the extra energy for the race.
107. 8:18Another famous helmet was the face. Fantastic face of Valentino’s smiling.
108. 8:24That helmet was one of the most difficult because until Wednesday night
109. 8:29we didn't have any idea.
110. 8:30He explained to me the feeling of riding at Mugello, up and down the hill
111. 8:36and talking about Casanova Savelli which is a famous corner
112. 8:38he makes this fantastic face
113. 8:40and I said ‘whoah stop!
114. 8:42Do it one more time’ I took one picture of his face and I said ‘OK, that is the helmet’.
115. 8:47With the face I think that is the best one and the helmet that made the difference.
116. 8:58Mugello carries a special resonance. It is the one to win
117. 9:02and every victory has been celebrated in Rossi style
118. 9:05with a surprise on the cool down lap.
119. 9:07Italians and coffee, Italians and Mugello, Italians and MotoGP; I don't know there is
120. 9:13just…they are made for it. They just love it.
121. 9:16When you drive in here they are crazy.
122. 9:18They love it, they love being crazy.
123. 9:19You know that it has to be calm.
124. 9:22You can be in the deepest pile of poopa ever
125. 9:25and you have to look like it is under control…and it is not like that.
126. 9:28There are times when we’ve had a crashed bike and we are rolling it out and putting stickers on
127. 9:31and he’s there ready to go.
128. 9:36A win in Mugello is
129. 9:41as good as you can get really.
130. 9:48He is so popular in Italy but then he is so popular in the rest of the world.
131. 9:51Valentino is not just an Italian hero; he is a worldwide hero.
132. 10:06Many Grand Prix riders are hooked to the sheer adrenaline of Mugello.
133. 10:10In ‘94 we came with the scooter. When you arrive here it is a dream.
134. 10:14You say maybe one day I will race inside and have all this crowd around.
135. 10:20You hope but you don't know if it will happen in reality.
136. 10:27After securing pole position on Saturday afternoon
137. 10:29Valentino lit the touch paper to the level of fervour around Mugello.
138. 10:41Upon waking up Sunday morning,
139. 10:43if indeed the thousands who camped on the hills alongside the track did even sleep,
140. 10:48there was a carnival-like atmosphere to greet Valentino’s first appearance on the race track.
141. 10:52Running at the front alongside eventual race winner and teammate Jorge Lorenzo:
142. 10:57Valentino was dealt a cruel twist of fate when His Yamaha M1 suffered a catastrophic engine failure
143. 11:03costing off to the side of the track and rolling to a stop
144. 11:05he watched his challenge for the win, and a seemingly certain podium,
145. 11:09literally go up in smoke.
146. 11:11We came here with a lot of hope and expectation
147. 11:13and the Pole Position he achieved on the Saturday was pretty sensational.
148. 11:17The cruel luck with the mechanical failure and the engine on Valentino’s bike
149. 11:23and what can you say?
150. 11:25We are all terribly disappointed for him
151. 11:28because the race appeared to be his to win.
152. 11:31Vale was well within himself and riding behind Jorge waiting for the right moments
153. 11:36and cruel luck happened where the engine broke.
154. 11:39That’s sport, especially a mechanical sport.
155. 11:43You can’t control everything and sometimes we don't have those things under control
156. 11:47So I’m really sorry for him for the problem that occurred today.
157. 11:52When the chequered flag appeared
158. 11:54we once again witnessed how big a part the crowd plays in Italian motorsport
159. 11:58and were reminded of the immense scenes that Mugello produces each year.
160. 12:30After all the commotion of Mugello 2016, Valentino returned to the relative peace of Tavullia
161. 12:37where the routine continued back at his own private race track: The Ranch.
162. 12:41We’ll pick up the story for the next episode right there