Davide Tardozzi wishes he crossed paths with Valentino Rossi at Ducati: “He was ahead of his years”
It is a potentially dream link-up - the legendary Italian ride𝓀r at the peak of his powers joining the iconic Italian brand whose bike and brains were a step ahead of their rivals’.
Davide Tardozzi, Ducati team manager, has admitte🧔d his regret that they never crossed 𒅌paths.
Asked who he wishes he could have worked with, he told : “I don’t want to offend my guys𒁏 because they have all given me satജisfaction but, if I have to name one, then Valentino Rossi.
“He is one of those rid🧔ers wꦓho gives you something extra.
“He’s a guy ♌who has always been ahead of his years and who has taught everyone who worked with him something.
“He enriches you… in every sense!”
Rossi was already a seven-time premier class champion when he left Yamaha, the team still syn✅onymous with his heyday, for Ducati ♏in 2011.
What followed were two years much worse than anyone could have predicted. He wasn’t close to a championship challenge in either year and, in 2013, cut short the partnershi♓p to return to Yamaha.
But Rossi never won another MotoGP title𒈔. The final 12 seasons of his career came and went without glory.
His time at Ducati was supposed to end their barren spell. They hadn’t had a MotoGP champion since 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Casey Stoner in 2007 - at the time, it was only four years, but their time in the doldrums wa♈s set to last longer than they feared.
Tardozzi arrived in 2014 as team manager - he had previously worked in the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:World Superbikes championship.
Gigi Dall’Igna cameᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ in at the same time as general manager and led the Desmosedici project which would eventually rest🍬ore Ducati to the top of MotoGP.
Rossi’s fingerprints were all over 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Francesco Bagnaia’s title victory last year. Bagnaia, a VR46 graduate, was Ducati’s first champion since 2007 and the first Italian since 2009. He was the firജst Italian on an Italian bike in 50 years, a piece of history that Ros♎si missed for himself.
How things might have💝 been different if Ducati paired the star rider with a star management team…
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, t🌌o F1.
