Rossi sailed through all of these, his natural ability making it look not only easy, but also hugely enjoyable. New techniques are required when the horsepower overcomes the ability of the rear tyre to grip, and the strength and integrity of the chassis. The different skills required to go from a 125cc two-stroke to a 250 are at least in the same area, but it is proportionately harder again to take the step to an over-powered 500. Rossi’s gift took him through all three classes. Not only are they set in their ways, they also run out of the essential hunger, what Mick Doohan called “the want”. The amazing and wonderful thing, however, is just how long it has taken. While he butted his head against problems getting the Yamaha set up right, or in finding ways to ride round its problems, Fabio Quartararo was winning race after race on it, and romping to a massive championship lead. Now aged 42, Rossi was no longer able to adapt his technique, while a crop of talented younger riders were finding ways to be more creative. Over the first nine races, his best was a single tenth, with only three other finishes in the points, and three race crashes. “At the beginning of this season I hoped to go on for two more years,” he said, announcing his retirement after the summer break. After winning 115 GPs and nine World Championships, it’s hard to watch.

Impossible also not to feel a sense of disappointed inevitability when he again drops to the back end of the points… and that on a good day. It’s impossible not to admire the sheer love of the sport that kept him trying likewise the commercial clout that secured him a top-level factory Yamaha.

Rossi’s results in 2021 have been beneath his dignity.

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