Hitting the Apex

hundreds of races and hundreds

of crashes from the start.

Thousands of young riders go racing

each year in Europe, Asia and America,

dreaming of a place on the world stage.

Very few of them will get there.

Nobody knows

the ferocity of the competition

better than Valentino Rossi.

He's raced in over 300 grand prix

since 1996,

won over 100 of them

and taken nine world championships.

He made it to MotoGP

the way most of them do,

rising through the junior

and intermediate classes,

learning the grand prix tracks

on 140-mile-an-hour bikes.

Then 170-mile-an-hour bikes

before the move to MotoGP

and over 200 miles an hour.

Year after year, he's fought off

wave after wave of challengers.

Over 100 riders have come and gone

in his time at the top.

Rossi is the only one left

from the MotoGP class of 2000.

From 2001 to 2005, he won

five MotoGP championships in a row.

Rossi goes through and

there's nothing Biaggi can do about it.

Oh! They touched! He's wide!

Oh, Rossi's pushing him off the track!

Rossi's gonna take victory

in the Spanish cup.

He was

the undisputed king of the sport.

At the end of the decade

he was still fighting, still winning.

One more premier class title

and he would equal the all-time record.

One more step to cementing his status

as the greatest motorcycle racer

of all time.

But by 2010, Rossi had his hands full.

The men who could beat him had arrived.

If you'd known where to look,

you could have seen them

coming for him all along.

1994, Spain.

Seven-year-old Jorge Lorenzo

slips and slides his way

around a car park in Mallorca.

Casey Stoner on 166.

Keep your eyes on Casey.

1997, Australia.

Twelve-year-old Casey Stoner

leads the pack in a dirt-track race.

Casey Stoner 166

with that nice comfortable lead.

He led hundreds

Rate this script:(0.00 / 0 votes)