Valentino Rossi’s intimidation tactics helped Casey Stoner in fierce MotoGP battle

Two-time MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner has revealed the tactics Valentino Rossi would use to try and unsettle the Australian.

When Rossi ended his career in 2021, the Italian left the sport having developed several fierce rivalries over his career.

His biggest rival of the lot was Marc Marquez, who is currently level with Rossi on seven MotoGP titles, and nine world championship crowns in grand prix racing overall. 

Jorge Lorenzo, Max Biaggi and Sete Gibernau were all rivals of the Italian at some stage, as was Stoner, who competed against Rossi for several years at the top of MotoGP.

Stoner dominated the 2007 season with Ducati, beating Dani Pedrosa by 125 points and Rossi by 126 points.

However, the title battle flipped the other way in 2008, with Rossi getting the better of Stoner by 93 points. 

The pair were known for racing each other very hard but with respect, while Laguna Seca offered one of the more entertaining duels between the pair in 2008.

That being said, Stoner recently revealed some of the tactics Rossi would use to try and get inside the mind of his opponent, which “didn’t work”, according to Stoner.

Speaking at the Trento Festival dello Sport event earlier this month, Stoner said: “The most that I learned from Valentino [Rossi] was to learn the character of the riders you’re racing.

"It’s understanding their tactics, the way they like to work. Valentino liked to try and intimidate a lot off the track, and this might have worked in past years with some of his rivals, but for me it didn’t work, because it was giving me another layer of strength. 

“A layer of understanding of what this character is going to do. 

“Then in the media he was very good at getting people to side with his opinion, his direction, his narrative,” added Stoner. 

“He was very clever in that way and very open with the media. There were so many aspects to what he did with the media that really made me think about how I needed to approach it in a different way.”

Stoner also admitted that for a long time he was a fan of Rossi’s, although the pair’s on-track rivalry made it difficult to stay that way.

Stoner added: “For sure, I learned a lot from Valentino; good and bad. 

“I have to respect somebody that has achieved what he did, the character that he was. 

“I was always a fan of Valentino until we started to have our differences. This is a huge man in our sport and [with] what he’s achieved. 

“You would be stupid not to take some knowledge from what he’s able to do.”