Valentino Rossi had many fierce rivalries during his astonishing 26-year career in Grands Prix; from Sete Gibernau to Casey Stoner, and Jorge Lorenzo to Marc Marquez, but there was no one he hated more than Max Biaggi. That the feeling was entirely mutual, only added to the drama.
And this one went deep; so deep that it started long before the two even raced against each other. Rossi made his debut in the 125cc world championship in 1996, by which time Biaggi was already a two-time world champion in the 250cc class (he would eventually win four quarter-litre titles) and already something of a nemesis to Rossi. One of Biaggi’s main rivals in the middleweight Grand Prix class was Loris Capirossi and, since Rossi was a fan of Loris, Max was bad news from the outset.
Rossi formed a dislike of his countryman from what he had read in the press, seen on television, and heard from others, and since Biaggi was also a racing rival of Capirossi, this placed him firmly in the enemy camp. Two other riders who shared a mutual hatred and intense racing rivalry were Kevin Schwantz and Wayne Rainey, the two Americans who won four 500cc titles between them from 1990 to 1993. Rossi had been a Schwantz fan, Biaggi had been in the Rainey camp. It seemed that, in everything, the pair were polar opposites.
Known as the ‘Roman Emperor’ Max was a very different character to Rossi. Sombrefaced, immaculately dressed, proud, aloof, arrogant even, Biaggi was everything Rossi was not. He preferred to eat alone (a very un-Italian trait), he cultivated his image extremely carefully, he dated
