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For the best part of two decades, Italy’s Mugello circuit has been a cathedral to one man: Valentino Rossi.
With the high valley walls in the Tuscan hills creating one of motorsport’s grandest natural amphitheatres and with the nine-time motorcycle racing world champion dominating at his home race for seven straight years in the 2000s, it’s become almost a religious festival at MotoGP’s Italian Grand Prix.
Things will be very different this year, of course, with no fans allowed to attend as the coronavirus pandemic continues to roll on.
But in a normal year, the hills are a sea of fluorescent T-shirts, flags and hats, yellow smoke billows out from flares, and the noise of the screaming crowd actually manages to drown out the howl of MotoGP machines when one particular bike rolls down pitlane.
That situation can’t last forever. As Rossi’s career continues to tail off and he looks increasingly ready to accept that retirement is inevitable at some point in the coming years, it’s going to make for a very different atmosphere at the iconic venue when the first MotoGP race weekend without him finally happens.
Which brings us to the question in hand: who exactly will take over this particular mantle from the most famous name in motorbike racing when he does step down? Who will sell tickets, clear out merchandise stands and drive the crowd to ecstasy at Mugello in the future?
Arguably, it’s a role that was reserved for one of Rossi’s closest friends, with the wild riding, rambunctious personality and talent on a motorbike of Marco Simoncelli setting him up to lead a new wave after the Doctor.
Sadly, that’s a dream that would never be realised, given the huge hole left in the sport by Simoncelli’s tragic death at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix.
And now, even as a whole new crop of fast, exciting and talented Italian riders come through, none among them looks set to come anywhere close to taking on Rossi’s role.
The most obvious candidate, perhaps, is Ducati rider Pecco Bagnaia.
Going into this weekend only a point from championship leader Fabio Quartararo and with an excellent chance of taking his first MotoGP victory at the Mugello circuit (where his predecessor Danilo Petrucci did the same in 2019, and where Jorge Lorenzo scored his first Ducati win a year earlier), it should be Bagnaia that the fans are getting behind.
But, with a somewhat reserved personality, none of the showman flair of his mentor Rossi, and without the victory record that helped propel the 42-year-old to the status of Italy’s biggest athlete, it seems like the time has passed for Bagnaia.
Sure, he’ll always have a fan following, and being an Italian on an Italian bike will help, but it won’t be enough.
The same applies to fellow VR46 Academy product Franco Morbidelli. An engaging, intelligent and self-aware racer, he’s also by far the most chilled out guy on the grid, and as a result it’s hard to imagine him driving anyone into ecstasy cheering for him to win. Much like Bagnaia, he’ll always have a following (and rightly so), but it’ll never approach Rossi-mania.
Beyond them, there’s a host of fresh young Italian talent either already on the grid or in the process of making its way through.
Reigning Moto2 champion Enea Bastianini and his rival turned Esponsorama Ducati MotoGP team-mate Luca Marini have had solid starts to the year, and current middleweight frontrunners Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio will impress next year when they get their expected MotoGP promotions.
Again, they might be fast and they might be talented – and in the case of Bezzecchi in particular, the star factor that made Rossi who he is is there, even if it’s so far untapped. But the unique combination of raw talent and media savvy isn’t.
That’s not the end of the world for Italian motorbike racing, simply because it’s the situation that the rest of the world finds itself in and it manages just fine.
Valentino Rossi is a once in a generation character, and he’s done great things for Italian motorbike racing – but weigh up his impact on Italy versus the impact of a series of champions from Spain without his showman skills and it balances out.
There hasn’t been a Spanish Rossi, and it doesn’t look like there’s one coming, either. But with names like Marc Marquez, Lorenzo, Sete Gibernau and Dani Pedrosa flying the flag, the rivalry between them has almost been a greater driver of fan support than the stand-out presence of one Rossi-like figure.
There’s another factor to consider in Italy too, though. Unlike in Formula 1, two-wheeled racing has never really drawn fan loyalty to teams or brands in the same way that Italians automatically go crazy for Ferrari or that Williams and McLaren still have a special place in the hearts of Brits.
But who knows what impact of a full-on, totally committed, VR46 Ducati team will have on the premier class.
Set to exist from 2022, it essentially gives Rossi a place to point his fans to, allowing them to remain Rossi fans even if it’s not him but his designated successors that they’re cheering for – and keeping the hills of Mugello yellow for years to come.
