When Vale said he would not go to Ducati as they were like Honda I don't think he meant us to take him so seriously and then hold it against him so many years later. Things change, life moves on, everything evolves. The Ducati team at that time are a totally different team to the one we have today.
If Vale said what he did all those years ago in all seriousness I would suggest that he is now mature enough to see that it was a very rash statement. Never say never.
So, he left Honda and went to Yamaha and turned them around - does that mean that the poor guy either has to stay with Yamaha or find some other team so that he has to turn them around to? Or can he choose the team he would like to go to? The team who will give him what he is asking for. I think Vale has earned his right to choose.

As for him "wasting time" in Rally and F1 - give the guy a break - let him live a little! He is not a slave to MotoGP only to be released to have some fun and consider his future once MotoGP has finished with him and wrung him out completely. I cannot believe the selfishness of such a statement!

The book is called "What if I had never tried it". Think about that.

if i saw livio suppo id bust his head. making a fool out of Capirossi. what suppo did showed an extreme lack of respect for one of the most experienced riders on the track. this also shows ducatis attitude toward riders, they dont care about one of the experienced riders and they will contract a crash plagued rookie. makes a lot of sense...

Jacky are you a lawyer or something,you can always say thing right on the spot!

That's pretty close to what I think too.
Valentino Rossi is not a motogp machine.
He's a human being, and one day he'll leave the paddock for a rally car, a F1 or a DTM car. And it'll make no difference for me: I'll follow him anywhere he goes.

That's why Ducati or any other team would make no difference for me.
Years ago, he wrote his autobiography.
He told us his feelings about his family and friends, about his rivals, about Honda or Ducati. But things evolve.
What was true yesterday may not be true tomorrow.

The best italian rider on a Ducati...
We may say in a few years, "what if he had never tried it"?

Spot on Liberator.
And I love your pic of Vale on the ducati

Wouldn't life be dreadful if we all had to stand by things we said when we were young (perhaps I am the only one who is already old enough to appreciate this)
Good God! I could still be waiting for Donny Osmond to ask me to marry him!!!!!!
The best job I ever had was the one I had said 3 years previously I would NEVER take. 2nd time around my circumstances were different, I could take the risk and it paid off.
I once said I did not want to have kids....there are times when I still think that but by and large I am so glad that I did. Just as well really.

Vale is the same and entitled to live his life as he wishes, to make the right choices for him at the time.

Talent is the tool to success. But it is not a guarantee to be success.
Seriousness is needed as MotoGP is class of the kings.

He's free to do rally and F1 and etc. But in my opinion he should prioritise MotoGP than any other thing if he is really into it. If he really serious and love MotoGP. It's natural thing. People will prefer to do something he loves than he less like. He can do his hobby not at the same time as MotoGP testing. Doesn't have to be at the same time. If at the same time. It's up to him to choose. which one he'd like to choose. Whatever his decision is, later on he should accept whatever the result he received. In this case he can't complain of keep losing. Complain about other side. He should introspect himself. What he has done wrong. He should think could it be him, then he should think about the team, or the bike, or the tire? Not keep repeatedly blaming bike bike bike. tire tire tire. I am just afraid people will think he is another version of Max. And ironically at the future nobody would have him as rider. Sad end for a living legend.

So in my opinion win the title back then he's free to go to any other company he'd like to ride with. So no one will talk about it someday. Something like "...now He (Rossi) knows that bike is more important than the rider..." . Imagine what Biaggi and Sete would talk about. They will laugh outloud while reading these kind of news.

I read the book that's why I am against his move to Ducati.

Anyway everybody has their opinion. I'm just curious what people think about his idea to move to Ducati.

It lowers his pride. His self esteem. In front of most people who already impressed by Rossi effort to keep the world title with Yamaha.

Wow that was much to read! But very interesting things to hear of all of you.. I totally agree with you JR! He is a free man , and free to do whatever he wants to. If he makes a decision he has some good reasons for it and I respect whatever he will do! Who are we to say where he should and shouldn't go to ?!?

And about the things he said about Ducati... Well everyone had ever had such thing in his life I guess, that years ago you were thinking differently about something?! Don't be so hard on him for that! He has to right to choose to whatever team he wants to go to...and if he goes to Ducati, well so be it! I'll keep following him wherever he goes..

We'll see what the future brings!

I will be happy to watch Vale ride with whatever team he chooses. It's entirely his decision and if he truly thinks that being with Ducati is his best option then it must be right. Yes he did say in his book that Ducati had a similar mentality to Honda but thats what he thought back in 2003 things have probably changed since then.
Anyway he has only thrown a few words out there about possibly going somewhere else let's not get too concerned yet. I hope that Yamaha can give him what he wants and he can finish his career with them surely that would be the best for him.

Well, I totally agree with the opinion that we should trust Valentino on his decisions. We don’t know the whole picture, what we know is that he had a difficult season with lots of problems and we shouldn’t forget last season’s problems (although he overcame them and finally reached and passed Hayden at the end, when he was 51 pts behind). I can’t and I don’t want to find any analogy between Vale & Max (that is, between Rossi & Biaggi, I wonder how can there be any comparison?), or between Ducati & Honda. What he wrote about Ducati in his book described the situation 4 years ago and many things have changed in MotoGP since then. What I understand is that he needs a chance to be competitive, to fight and win (not just win), and I believe he deserves it.