Ducati Crew Chief: Valentino Rossi Has a Better Mentality than Casey Stoner
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BOLOGNA – Marco Rigamonti, the crew chief of the Ducati team, admits that Casey Stoner has superior talent than Valentino Rossi. However, he stressed that The Doctor, a nickname for Rossi, has better mental resilience than Stoner.
Casey Stoner is a racer from Australia who won the 2007 MotoGP title with Ducati. In that season, he collected 367 points from 18 races, with 10 wins and 14 podiums. However, the following season, Stoner failed to defend his title and had to settle for runner-up position. Over the next two seasons, he always finished in fourth position at the end of the standings.
Stoner then moved to Repsol Honda in MotoGP 2011, where he won the title by collecting 350 points, with 10 wins and 16 podiums. However, the following season, he was only able to finish in third place and decided to retire.
Meanwhile, Valentino Rossi joined the Ducati team in MotoGP in 2011 and 2012 after leaving Yamaha. However, he failed to show his best performance and was only able to finish outside the top five at the end of the standings.
Even though he failed to win a championship with the Ducati team, Marco Rigamonti still acknowledged the greatness of Valentino Rossi. He stated that Rossi had extraordinary mental resilience to win many titles in MotoGP.
“Valentino (Rossi) has extraordinary mental resilience. He is able to get everyone in trouble, even those who are stronger than him,” he said as quoted from Crash on Saturday (18/3/2023).
Rigamonti admits that Casey Stoner has greater talent than Valentino Rossi, but lacks mental resilience and is the reason for his retirement. He also saw that Marc Marquez had talent like Stoner and mental toughness like Rossi.
“Casey (Stoner) has an incredible talent for riding, more than Valentino, but he struggles with the pressure: every time he is on the starting grid, he feels nauseous, anxiety eats him alive, he wants to go home. This is also the reason why he decided to retire.
“In my opinion, there is only one stronger than the two, namely (Marc) Marquez. Because he is the perfect union of the two, Marc combines Stoner’s talent with Rossi’s mental resilience.”
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