When 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Valentino Rossi swapped Honda for Yamaha, he was leaving💦 behind a bike that powered him to threಌe consecutive championships for a team on a 12-year barren run.

It was a colossal risk but one that redefined MotoGP history. Honda dug their h♈eels in, not allowing Rossi to test his new Yamaha bi🤡ke until the latest possible opportunity before the 2004 season.

It didn’t matter. 🍌Rossi became the first rider since Eddie Lawson in the premier class to win consecutive championships on different bikes.

Yamaha teammate 'didn't expect' Valentino Rossi to win

Carlos Checa was his first teammate at Yamaha. It is a largely f🥀orgotten partnership, such is the length of Rossi’s tenure and the volatility he shared with other teammat𒉰es, notably Jorge Lorenzo.

Checa, who came seventh in 2004 as his new teammate stormed to the title, admits he was stunned that Rossi took a Yamaha bike from obscurity to glory.

“We didn’t believe Valentino was capable of winning with 👍Yamaha, and he did,” Checa once told DAZN.

“For me it was also a lesson becaus🌊e I think we fell asleep for a bit when we found limits on the bike.

“Valentino arriv🥂ed with energy at his best moment.”

Rossi is now synonymous with his time at Yamaha. The size of the risk he took, leaving♉ Honda, is now perhapsꦉ overlooked.

Checa said: “I believe i𝓰t was revenge for him: ‘Do you think I win because I haveไ a Honda?’

“Yamah🅘a had also worked a lot. He started a drastic change.”

Checa is now proud of the smal🐟l role he held in Rossi’s long list of successes. As his teammate in the same garage for one year, Checa helped de♛velop the bike that Rossi took to new heights.

“We worked a lot with the bike, I think we did an incredible job with Yamaha, but the satisfaction is that the following year they made a new bike and had to return to the old one, which🍒 is the one that we left,” he said.

Rossi demanded a wall separated the Yamaha garage when L🧜orenzo was his teammate, but there were no♊ such issues with Checa.

“He was very transparent, just like we see him,” the Spaniard൩ rec🔜alls. 

“Very competitiꦗve. He had enormous skills and, aboꦇve all, a mental management ability.

“He was a different guy who wanted to learn.

“I have an exceptional relationship with him. It was a great opportunity to share the garage, the experiences, the moments and the work with one of the best riders that has ever🤡 existed.”