Hard work key to Valentino Rossi’s success

Valentino Rossi’s incredible work ethic played a fundamental part in the Italian winning back the MotoGP world crown for the first time since 2005 last season.

That’s the view of his Fiat Yamaha team boss Davide Brivio after Rossi roared back to prominence in 2008 with nine wins on his way to a sixth premier class title.

The Italian said he had to work and train harder than ever before to defeat the new wave of young talent like Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, and Brivio said that regime.

And Brivio, who watched Rossi impress on his way to 12th place during last weekend’s Wales Rally GB, told MCN: “The exceptional thing that he did this year is show that even if you have a lot of talent and even if you are Valentino Rossi, you have to work very hard to achieve the world championship.

“I think this is the message the young riders should take on board. Normally too many sportsmen rely too much on their talent and maybe they forget a little bit to work.

“Valentino didn’t approach this season saying ‘I am seven-times world champion and if the tyre and bike is good I can win any race.’ He thought like that but this is not enough and he also put in a lot of hard work.”