MotoGP: Rossi unveils Mugello special helmet design

Valentino Rossi has unveiled his now-traditional special edition helmet for his home race at Mugello this weekend, going with a football theme for the one-off helmet for the Italian Grand Prix to pay tribute to friend and Italian legend Francesco Totti.

However, Rossi also pays tribute to friend and former teammate Nicky Hayden on the helmet with a special merged version of their 46 and 69 logos in a prominent place on the AGV helmet.

Rossi had a difficult first day at Mugello as he continues to recover from injuries sustained last week in a motocross crash. Complaining of arm pain and breathing difficulties during free practice one and two on Friday, the nine-time world champion is nonetheless confident he can improve as the weekend goes on.

“Today’s sessions were very important to get an understanding of my condition. This morning I suffered a lot, I had a lot of pain on the right, especially on acceleration, but this afternoon the situation was a bit better. I struggled physically, especially with my breathing, because I’m not at 100%, but it is getting better. We hope that tomorrow and Sunday the situation will improve. Usually Friday is the most difficult day, so we had to suffer a bit, but we tried.”