Valentino Rossi says Troy Bayliss has convinced him not to retire from MotoGP, saying it’s ‘very sad’.

Rossi won his last world championship in 2009, although he finished 2nd for three consecutive seasons between 2014 and 2016. His last race victory was the 2017 Dutch TT and he has moved into midfield in the last two years.

Give us your MotoGP Mount Rushmore

Valentino Rossi didn’t want any regrets like Troy Bayliss.

Speaking on Coloring podcast, Rossi says the ‘joy of racing’ motivates him to continue racing, as well as the challenge of matching ‘young, strong riders’.

He was also wary of hanging up his helmet too early and regretting it. Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher was 37 when he first retired, but Rossi said he could have ‘carried on’. He finally returned to the grid in 2010.

Likewise, Rossi looked up to Bayliss, who won three World Superbike titles on either side of MotoGP. In the year

“I love racing and racing motorcycles and I said I want to race until I can,” Rossi said. “One time I was talking to Schumacher and I remember another time[talking to]Troy Bayliss, I saw them very sad because they stopped when they could have gone on.

“So I said, ‘I’ll race until I can’t do it anymore,’ and that’s what I did, and then the motivation was the joy of racing.

“Then as I got older, I won less, so I compared myself to riders of another generation, young, strong and motivated, trying to understand how to go faster with them, trying to raise my level.”

‘Many drivers are my fans’ – Valentino Rossi on the switch to car racing

Even after stepping away from MotoGP, Rossi continued to compete, this time on four wheels. He has been active in GT racing till date.

Asked how he felt about the other drivers, Rossi pointed out that many of his rivals idolized him growing up.

“A lot of drivers are my fans,” he said. They’re more or less 28 or 26-year-olds, and that’s the generation I grew up with.

Rossi also runs the VR46 MotoGP teamAlthough its availability at the races is limited by the racing program itself.