1. Latest Motogp News
2. Latest News India

Valentino Rossi ‘already feels good’ after surgery on double leg break. Valentino Rossi is hoping to return for the MotoGP of Japan. NBA news: Klay Thompson to Lakers, LeBron James SHOCK.

Injured nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi will not be replaced by his Yamaha team for this weekend's San Marino Grand Prix at Misano.

The 38-year-old Italian is recovering after breaking his right leg in a training accident last week.

His Spanish team-mate Maverick Vinales, who is third in the championship, will be Yamaha's sole racer this weekend.

Doctors have said Rossi, who is fourth in the overall standings, will need 30-40 days' rest.

That means Rossi is likely to miss the race in Spain on 24 September, but could be fit in time for the following grand prix in Japan on 15 October.

British rider Cal Crutchlow, meanwhile, will race at Misano with a splint attached to his left index finger after accidentally severing a tendon while using a knife.

'I slept on it, but as the bleeding continued, I went to the emergency room at Pistoia Hospital,' said the non-works LCR Honda team rider.

'I then had an operation on my finger to reattach the tendon and then stitch it all back up.

'I am sure the racing will be difficult, but I will try 100% as always. Let's see how it goes.'

Latest Motogp News

Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi in action during Australian GP. Picture: Mark StewartSource:News Corp Australia

A RIDER of such precocious talent and fearlessness not seen since Valentino Rossi first burst on the scene, Honda’s Spanish superstar Marc Marquez sits on the verge of his fifth MotoGP title next weekend in Japan.

The title seems a formality and if it doesn’t happen at Motegi, it surely will at Phillip Island a week later as Australian organisers hope.

But the elevation of Marquez among the sport’s greats also triggers debate of how he compares to other heroes.

ACTION: ISLAND TO HOST FIRST SUPERBIKES TRIPLE TREAT

INJURY: LORENZO PULLS OUT OF MAIDEN THAILAND GP

Now 25, his record has parallels to Rossi’s statistics at the same age.

Both were just 17 when they first won in the 125s.

Both started in premier class on a Honda (although Rossi soon jumped to Yamaha).

Marc Marquez celebrates his 2017 Australian MotoGP win. Picture: Mark StewartSource:News Corp Australia

Valentino Rossi celebrates his 2014 Australian MotoGP win. Picture: Michael KleinSource:News Corp Australia

And seven world titles across 11 seasons, once Marquez inevitably adds 2019 to his credits. Even their birthdays are just a day apart.

Australian motorcycle racing legend Mick Doohan has trouble splitting them.

“It’s great for the sport to have someone like Rossi at one end of his career and Marquez who is still fairly early or right bang in the middle of it,” Doohan said.

“They’ve both got different styles and tactics. They are equally fast. Rossi is a little bit calmer these days, perhaps, but he’s never been a crasher.

“Marquez has been, for the want of a better word, loose on a bike and more aggressive than Rossi might have been. But they work equally effectively.

“Speed and talent they are equal, but Rossi edges it on longevity and being able to maintain the momentum at the top.’’

Rossi v Marquez

MotoGP greats at age 25

Valentino Rossi

140 races, 84 wins, 45 poles, 3106 points, 7 world titles

1x 125cc, 1x 250cc, 1x 500cc, 4x MotoGP

Marc Marquez

182 races, 68 wins, 78 poles, 2851 points, 6 world titles

1x 125cc, 1x Moto2, 4x MotoGP

Marquez’s zeal led to a “bin it or win it” bravura that resulted in several retirements in 2015 when a calmer approach could have secured another crown.

The Honda factory team rider has dominated MotoGP since his arrival in 2013, graduating as the wonder kid who had ruled Moto2 in 2012 and Moto3 two years before that.

He started the year after Australian great Casey Stoner’s retirement, thus denying fans a mouth-watering clash of two natural-born racers.

Marquez won the premier class crown in that rookie year at age 20 — the youngest in the MotoGP era — even despite a controversial black flag at Phillip Island. Concerns over the impact on tyres from the newly laid asphalt meant the race featured mandatory stops, but the Spaniard failed to change bikes in the pit window.

Latest News India

Next year, in 2014, he won 10 races in a row, a feat not achieved since Doohan in 1997.

Rossi, the Italian great, is still riding fast at age 39, and is placed third in this year’s competition. He ain’t just making up the numbers.

Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez go head-to-head at the Australian GP. Picture: Jake NowakowskiSource:News Corp Australia

By 25, Rossi too ruled the world. A total of 84 wins from 140 starts is clear evidence.

Such was Rossi’s dominance in the early 2000s that, as the sport morphed from 500cc to the MotoGP classification, he won 51 of 81 races in a golden five-year period to 2005.

Marquez has started more races, mostly because the calendar is now 19 rounds long, compared to 15 when Rossi launched his career.

Former 500cc race winner and now pitlane commentator Simon Crafar said comparing riders from different times was tricky but good riders could win on anything.

“There is no doubt in my mind that if you take any of the standout champions of any time period and move them back or forward in time they’d figure out how to win, it’s what they do,’’ Crafar said.

Originally published as Marquez following in Rossi’s footsteps