Valentino Rossi, (born February 16, 1979 in Urbino),is
an Italian professional motorcycle racer and multiple
MotoGP World Champion.
He is one of the most successful motorcycle racers
of all time, with 9 Grand Prix World Championships
to his name.
Following his father, Graziano Rossi, Rossi
started racing in Grand Prix in 1996 for
Aprilia in the 125cc category and won his
first World Championship the following year.
From there, he moved up to the 250cc
category with Aprilia and won the 250cc
World Championship in 1999.
He won the 500cc World
Championship with Honda in 2001
He won the MotoGP World Championships in
2002 and 2003, and continued his streak of backto-back championships by winning the 2004 and
2005 titles after leaving Honda to join Yamaha,
before regaining the title in 2008 and retaining it in
2009.
Rossi is first in all time
500 cc/MotoGP race
wins standings, with 78
victories, and second in
all time overall wins
standings with 104 race
wins (behind Giacomo
Agostini with 122).