Marc Marquez accuses Valentino Rossi of 'disrespect', 'intimidation' in explosive interview: Report

Marc Marquez has lashed out at his longtime rival Valentino Rossi, calling him out for “intimidation” and “disrespect,” and criticising his part in their infamous fights. Marquez will make a comeback for the 2023 MotoGP season (the second since Rossi retired), confident that a championship would tie him with his longtime rival’s total of seven victories. Nearly eight years after their nastiest exchanges, Marquez and Rossi’s feisty personal relationship is clearly no closer to cooling down. Their names will live on in folklore forever, and fans will continue to debate who is the greatest.

What was the incident?

“That public attack at the press conference was bad,” Marquez said on Spanish TV, referring to 2015 as per crash.net. By asserting that Honda’s Marquez, who was no longer a contender, was helping Jorge Lorenzo, his Yamaha teammate and title rival, win the championship, Rossi shocked the MotoGP paddock. “I had his phone number and Valentino had mine,” Marquez remembered. “And we didn’t call each other. I was 22 years old, he was more than 10 years older, he had experience. The Malaysian press conference arrived and instead of taking me aside and speaking he attacked me publicly, it was disrespectful. I think it was intimidation.”

In a notorious moment in MotoGP history, Rossi claimed he was upset with the Spaniard at the time over a personal issue and added that he would have preferred Lorenzo to win. Days later, at the 2015 Malaysian MotoGP, Marquez and Rossi engaged in an exhilarating battle with a touch of animosity. “It was a crazy lap, we fought in an incredible way,” Marquez recalled. “Then Valentino made that decision. He threw me. It was no accident.”

“It may be that you push hard, losing control of the bike and colliding with that of the opponent, but it is no coincidence that you corner a rider on the side of the track, look at him and hit him with his leg. It was intentional,” he added.

How are things between the two presently?

Rossi was criticised by rivals for his part and punished by starting at the back of the grid in the season-finale in Valencia, which ultimately allowed Lorenzo to win the championship. Marquez crashed and retired from the race. Marquez and Rossi’s fight never ended, and the Honda rider has brought it up as he gets ready to visit Sepang, the scene of their most famous collision, for the 2023 preseason test.

“I don’t have to be friends with everyone,” Marquez said. “At the beginning I was willing to make peace with Valentino, but not anymore. We may well be indifferent. It wasn’t always this way. I grew up with two legends, one was Dani Pedrosa, the other was Valentino Rossi.”

The devoted fan bases of Rossi and Marquez have been debating for almost eight years about whose legacy will be greater and who was the aggressor and victim in their infamous rivalry. If Marquez, who is 29 years old, is to match Rossi’s number of championships, he must overcome two years of injury hell and a subpar Honda bike this year. One of the reasons Marquez no longer actively uses social media is the animosity of their rivalry.