When Rossi arrived on the scene in the late 1990s Max Biaggi, from Rome, was the hero of Italy. Cold, difficult and 'serious', Biaggi was never going to get along with Rossi. Simmering away nicely, their rivalry boiled over when Biaggi was rumoured to be dating Naomi Campbell; during one post-race celebration in 1997 Rossi rode the warm-down lap with a blond blow-up doll dressed in a football jersey emblazoned with 'Claudia Schiffer' behind him. In 2001 he and Biaggi came to blows at the Spanish GP, and the next day Biaggi turned up at a press conference with a cut eye, mumbling about Catalonian mosquitoes.
Another rival, Sete Gibernau, was a temperamental Spaniard considered the best rider never to win a title. He and Rossi were friends and holidayed together at Rossi's villa in Ibiza, but the friendship soured when Rossi kept beating Gibernau. It didn't help that Rossi was wildly popular in Spain, whereas Gibernau was hated in Italy. In 2004 at Qatar, Rossi was relegated to the back of the grid for illegally brushing sand off his grid position. Fingers pointed at Gibernau and his team for blabbing to the authorities. Rossi declared that Gibernau would never win another race. He was proved right, partly because Rossi won 11 further races that year.
Yes, he is some character! TJ
