A rider’s first MotoGP victory is often extremely emotional, as it is nothing less than the reward for years of toil, tearing yourself apart and suffering. In addition, the first success can also come at a particularly important stage of your career, as was the case with Johann Zarco and Fabio Di Giannantonio in 2023. While one finally took advantage of what was probably his last chance to make it big, the other delivered just when his MotoGP time was about to end. Both have thus entered an exclusive list of Grand Prix winners. An achievement that only 406 riders have achieved since the start of the motorcycle world championship in 1949. [Stand 2023, Anm.] succeeded.
For some of these drivers, the first Grand Prix victory was only the first of many, for others it was the high point of a career that subsequently declined. Only 293 drivers were able to win a second race, and only 250 more often. Only 98 drivers reached the ten GP win mark, and only exceptional talents such as Marc Marquez, Jorge Lorenzo, Mick Doohan and Mike Hailwood achieved more than 50 Grand Prix victories.
Valentino Rossi: Second MotoGP rider with 100th GP victories
And then there is MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi: He secured a special place in the history books on June 27, 2009 with his triumph at the Dutch TT in Assen. It was no less than his 100th Grand Prix victory in the motorcycle world championship! Only one motorcycle racer had previously achieved this mark: record world champion and veteran Giacomo Agostini. He celebrated his 100th of a total of 122 GP victories in Finland in 1972 – not in the premier class, however, but in the 350cc race. At that time, it was still common for drivers to compete in several world championship classes at the same time. So it is not surprising that Agostini was able to storm from his first to his 100th Grand Prix victory in just eight years.
When Valentino Rossi celebrated his first GP victory in the 125cc race in the Czech Republic in 1996, this was no longer the norm. Times had changed, and every driver only competed in one world championship class. And that naturally made it extremely difficult to achieve a high number of Grand Prix victories. In the mid-1990s, there were many indications that Agostini could remain the only driver in the 100 club forever. It would have taken a racing driver with exceptional talent to change that – but Valentino Rossi was exactly that.
‘The Doctor’ made his debut in the premier class in 2000 with two world championship titles and 26 Grand Prix victories under his belt. After a short warm-up period in the first few races, he quickly achieved his first victory at Donington Park, which was to mark the beginning of no less than nine years of Rossi dominance in MotoGP. Between 2001 and 2008, the Italian won no less than 69 of the 134 races he started, first for Honda and then for Yamaha. An incredible rate of 51.5 percent, which since then only Marc Marquez has been able to repeat in his prime.
Valentino Rossi before the 2009 MotoGP season: History is about to be made
Before the start of the 2009 MotoGP season, it was clear that defending champion Rossi could make history this year. He only needed three more victories to reach the 100 club. The first of these came in Jerez and a few weeks later Rossi – after a legendary duel with teammate Jorge Lorenzo – was at the top for a second time in Barcelona. Just in time for the Dutch TT, the seventh race of the season, the time had come: he was just one victory away from the sensational mark of 100 Grand Prix victories after 217 race starts and 13.5 years of motorcycle world championship.
When Rossi put himself in the best starting position in MotoGP history on Friday with his first real pole position of the year – qualifying in Japan was cancelled due to the weather, and the FP1 result gave him first place on the grid – the entire motorcycle world was looking forward to Assen on race Saturday. And the doctor delivered a performance that was as remarkable as it was worthy. Although he lost the sprint to the first corner against fast starter Dani Pedrosa, he regained the lead on the second lap and did not give it up again. Pedrosa crashed while trying to follow, and Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner could not keep up anyway.
Dutch TT 2009: Rossi dominance causes boredom
Rossi put 5.5 seconds between himself and his irascible Yamaha teammates at the finish. Last year’s World Championship rival Stoner was beaten by more than 23 seconds. At no point was the historic victory in doubt for even a second. It was a gala performance by Rossi, which admittedly made for a fairly unspectacular race. Only the six-man battle in the midfield between Nicky Hayden, Randy de Puniet, James Toseland, Loris Capirossi, Mika Kallio and Toni Elias provided some entertainment for the almost 110,000 spectators there.
At least after the end of the race, Rossi still provided his fans with a real highlight. During the cool-down lap, the Yamaha star stopped at the end of the back straight ‘Veenslang’ to hold one of his famous victory celebrations. There, the doctor unrolled a poster almost two meters high and over 20 meters long, on which all of his 99 GP victories to date could be seen. At the end of the poster wall, a large ‘100’ was printed. Rossi then had his photo taken next to it and the moment captured for eternity.
The strange thing: After that victory in the Dutch TT in 2009, it seemed only a matter of time before Rossi would replace his compatriot Agostini as the record winner of the motorcycle world championship. But that never happened – even though the doctor would continue to ride in the premier class for another 12 years. Rossi did win three more victories in 2009 and also won the 2010 season opener, but then suffered a serious injury for the first time in his career at his home race in Mugello. After that, he would never be the same again and would only win eleven more, the last time in June 2017 – of course at the Dutch TT in Assen. With a total of 115 Grand Prix victories, Rossi is in second place in the all-time rankings, just behind Agostini (122) and well ahead of Angel Nieto (90) and Marc Marquez (85).