Valentino Rossi names his best MotoGP rivals… but omits one big name

MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi has named who he considers the biggest rivals of his career during an event in Indonesia, but excluded Marc Marquez from his list.

Last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix saw Marc Marquez equal Valentino Rossi’s career record of seven MotoGP world titles and nine championships overall.

In the aftermath of Marquez’s 2025 championship, many comparisons have been drawn between the careers of the Spaniard and Rossi, who bitterly fell out during the 2015 season.

Over the course of Rossi’s career, he engaged in many on-track battles with Marquez, though their relationship collapsed towards the end of the 2015 campaign when the former accused the latter of conspiring to sabotage his championship hopes.

Rossi’s racing career featured a number of major rivals, but Marquez was not one he cared to name during an event in Indonesia where is VR46 team launched its special livery for this weekend’s round at Mandalika.

“I had a lot of great rivals in my career and I think it’s between [Casey] Stoner and [Jorge] Lorenzo and [Max] Biaggi and [Dani] Pedrosa,” he said.

“It’s difficult to say the bigger one.

“Maybe Lorenzo because we were in the same team and we were team-mates for a long time. So, it was not just a rivalry - it was like a love story.”

Read more: Why Marc Marquez 'closing the circle' has ended MotoGP's GOAT debate

Rossi and double world champion Stoner’s relationship has improved massively in recent times, with the Australian making several visits to the VR46 Ranch over the last year.

During the Misano weekend Stoner was also seen offering advice to Rossi’s Academy riders, in particular Pecco Bagnaia.

After winning the title last weekend, Marquez told Spanish media that it was an honour to have joined Rossi and Giacomo Agostini as the only riders ever to win seven world titles.

Earlier this year, when asked to name his dream grid, Marquez did pick Rossi as one of the riders he’d like to face.

Rossi retired from MotoGP at the end of 2021 to pursue a career in car racing, with the Italian now competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s LMGT3 class in a WRT-run BMW.

He was fourth at the recent Fuji 6 Hours round of the WEC.