Valentino Rossi’s Book and Documentary Are Coming — And This Time, It’s Personal
If you were expecting another polished highlight reel of elbow-down heroics and last-lap lunges, think again. According to Valentino Rossi, his long-rumoured book and documentary projects are already “well underway” — and they’re shaping up to be something very different.
Speaking on the Italian radio show Say Waaad on Radio Deejay, the seven-time MotoGP champion confirmed that the book will arrive first, with the documentary following once the final chapter is written. Importantly, Rossi was keen to stress what this won’t be: no glossy re-runs of Mugello mayhem, no dramatic re-enactments, and none of the Netflix-style manufactured rivalry that’s become fashionable in modern sports storytelling.
Instead, Rossi wants honesty. And for a rider who spent two decades mastering misdirection on and off the track, that alone makes this fascinating.
Life After the Paddock — Without Really Leaving It
Since retiring from full-time MotoGP competition at the end of 2021, Rossi’s life has shifted in ways even his most devoted fans rarely see. The forthcoming book and documentary are expected to explore that transition in detail: fatherhood, routine, and the psychological shift from being the man in the paddock to being present without being central.
Rossi now divides his time between raising his daughters, Giulietta and Gabriella, managing the ever-growing VR46 empire, and indulging his enduring love of competition through car racing. Endurance events and GT racing have replaced Sunday Grands Prix, but the competitive fire remains very much alive — it’s just pointed in a different direction.
This is not a retirement story. It’s an evolution story.
More Than Titles and Trophies
On paper, Rossi’s career is almost impossible to rival. Seven MotoGP world titles, nine world championships across all classes, and a career that spanned the 500cc two-stroke era through to the ultra-technical modern MotoGP machines. Few riders didn’t race against him; none escaped his influence.
Yet Rossi’s global appeal was never built on statistics alone. His charisma, humour, and unfiltered joy for racing turned MotoGP from a niche motorsport into must-watch theatre for millions. Even riders who beat him knew they were racing against the sport’s gravitational centre.
That affection hasn’t faded. The number 46 may be retired from competition, but it remains omnipresent in the paddock through VR46 Racing Team, and through the riders Rossi has mentored into the world championship ranks. His fingerprints are still all over the grid.
A Documentary Without the Myth-Making
Perhaps the most refreshing aspect of Rossi’s comments is his resistance to modern sports documentary clichés. This won’t be a mythology factory. There will be no artificial villains, no selective editing to inflate drama, and no attempt to rewrite history.
Instead, Rossi appears intent on showing the man behind the helmet — the adjustments, the doubts, the quiet victories that don’t come with champagne or podiums. For a generation of fans who grew up watching Rossi define what MotoGP could be, that kind of perspective may prove more powerful than any race footage.
Why This Matters to Motorcycling
Rossi’s story is inseparable from modern motorcycle racing. But this project goes beyond motorsport nostalgia. It speaks to something every rider understands eventually: the moment when riding stops being about proving something, and starts being about meaning something.
If Rossi gets this right — and his instincts suggest he will — the book and documentary won’t just document the end of an era. They’ll show how legends adapt when the chequered flag finally falls, and how a life built around speed learns to breathe at a different pace.
For Motorbike Mad readers, this is one to watch closely. Not because it revisits what we already know, but because it promises to reveal what comes next — when the helmet comes off, but the love for motorcycles never does.