Ducati boss plays down Troy Bayliss/Valentino Rossi showdown

Ducati race boss Claudio Domenicali has said he would love to see Valentino Rossi and Troy Bayliss go head-to-head in a dream World Superbike clash.

But sadly for millions of race fans, Domenicali also doubts the one-off race between the reigning World Superbike and MotoGP world champions is likely to happen.

Rossi kicked off mass rumours at the end of last season when he said he would love to tackle Bayliss on a Yamaha R1 in World Superbikes.

“Rumours intensified that the fantasy duel would happen in Qatar in March, but the only flaw in Rossi’s plan was that at 40, Bayliss had already retired from racing having signed off his career in style by capturing a third WSB title.

There has been speculation too that Bayliss would be tempted out of retirement to take on Rossi, but he told MCN he would want £1m to take on the record-breaking MotoGP world champion.

Domenicali was asked whether he thought the battle would take place, and he said: “I don’t think so. I think for him (Bayliss) it was very difficult for him to retire. He would have loved to continue racing.

“I respect also his personal situation. He was really struggling and he had tears in his eyes when we had a dealer meeting. It’s really personally difficult for him.

“So I think he took a decision, he decided that he is 40 years old and he wanted to dedicate his time for his family. Keeping continuing to ask him and to push him to come back in the arena in my mind is not very good.”

Domenicali though did say that if Bayliss did make a request to make a shock comeback, he would give it serious consideration.

The Ducati CEO added: “If he asks us, we are available, but I don’t like too much the whole situation. Even as a kind of just a motorcycle fan, I would love seeing that.

“But I think that if you consider all the personal situation that is behind and having seen a person of 40-year-old on my side, really in a very difficult situation with tears, it hits you. And so it makes you think that there are even different values than motorcycle racing.”