Marco Bezzecchi: “Amazing” to see Casey Stoner riding with Valentino Rossi again

VR46 MotoGP rider Marco Bezzecchi was among those lucky enough to witness Casey Stoner’s surprise visit to Valentino Rossi’s moto ranch first-hand.

Stoner, present in Europe for a Charity Race of Champions at EICMA, accepted an invitation from his former great rival, joining Rossi and the VR46 Academy at their home dirt-track training ground.

“It was fantastic,” Bezzecchi said. “I met Casey for the first time last year in Phillip Island, when I had the possibility to speak a bit with him.

“But it's always difficult in the paddock, especially seeing him, that he is quite shy, also everyone is himself, so it's difficult to understand a person when you meet him in some places where there's a lot of people.

“So it was amazing to have him at the ranch. 

"First of all, to see him riding with Vale, because I was a kid when they were racing against each other, and I grew up watching the fantastic four ‘Aliens’ Vale, Casey, Lorenzo, Pedrosa when I was very young, and to see them on track together was amazing.

“But also, Casey is a fantastic guy.

“He's very kind. Very shy, but fantastic. A very good guy and we had the possibility to spend some time with calm together, we had dinner altogether, and I'm very happy to have this possibility to share a complete day with him. 

"Because I already thought he was fantastic, but now even more.”

Stoner, a MotoGP champion for Ducati and Honda, has previously praised Bezzecchi’s riding style, saying he has “something the other riders lack… If you took out traction control, he would be one of the few who would still be able to ride in front.”

But given their past battles, did Bezzecchi ever expect to see Rossi and Stoner sharing a track as friends?

“Well, no, because when you are racing, the rivalry makes the relationship very difficult. Also right now with all the other riders, I don't think I could go to dinner with all the other riders. So no,” Bezzecchi said.

“But then when you stop, and you become more mature, more old, then everything changes and it was good to see them speaking about family, about kids, about motorbikes also.

“But to be honest, we spoke not a lot about MotoGP. We spoke more about normal life, flat track, and basic stuff.”

Bezzecchi’s own life will change after this weekend’s Barcelona season finale, when he leaves the VR46 team to start a 'new chapter' as a factory Aprilia MotoGP rider.

“It will be very emotional,” Bezzecchi said.

“For sure right now it's difficult to recognise completely like I will do Sunday after the race. But I want to really enjoy every single moment that I have with them, the people that I worked with for the past five years until the last moment.

“So it will be tough, but it will also be very special. I try to make some good surprises for them, and hopefully we can do a good weekend for them, and from Monday we will start this new chapter of my life.”

Bezzecchi won three MotoGP races and was third in last year’s world championship but has struggled to feel as comfortable on the GP23 with only one rostrum this season.