Can Valentino Rossi make 2015 the year of the G.O.A.T?

It’s difficult to fathom that at 36 years of age, Valentino Rossi is still riding at the peak of his abilities.

As he commences his 20th season in grand prix motorcycle racing, the Italian continues to chase that elusive 10th overall championship and eighth in the premier class.

The remarkable feat of winning eight titles in MotoGP/500cc championship has only been achieved by one rider so far, Giacomo Agostini.

MotoGP yielded Rossi his last championship in 2009, seven agonising years ago. Since then, the Doctor parted ways with his beloved M1 Yamaha to try replicate the success of two-time champion Casey Stoner on the volatile Ducati.

Across the two years that he rode for the Italian marque, Rossi toiled, while Stoner won his second and final championship in 2011 for the factory Honda squad.

His former and incumbent Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo was also able to clinch a second title in 2012, while Rossi could only execute three podiums.

2013 saw the return of The Doctor to his M1 and to Yamaha, yet five podiums and a sole victory at the Dutch round that year was still not enough for the record-equalling crown.

At the time, the sport was being swept away by the young ingenuity of Marc Márquez, clinching the most coveted prize in the grand prix motorcycling world in his rookie year and at the tender age of 20.

During the 2013 off-season came the sombre news that Rossi’s long-time crew chief and companion, Aussie Jeremy Burgess, had been let go. A ruthless Rossi needed change, a breath of new life, and he got that in Silvano Galbusera; former chief to his compatriot Marco Melandri in the World Superbikes.

His 10 podiums and two race wins at home in San Marino and then Phillip Island quickly vindicated the appointment of Galbusera, who indeed felt the immense pressure of being chief to a figure such as Rossi in 2014.

The year is now 2015 and the rider who will forever be synonymous with the number 46 has made the best possible start towards that fleeting championship win.

Triumph in Qatar over the dramatically improved Ducatis – being operated by the two Andreas, Dovizioso and Iannone – along with his Yamaha teammate Lorenzo, has highlighted that this may be the year that the stalwart adds an eighth plaque with his name onto the tower of champions.

The competition as always will be fierce; the juvenescence flare of Márquez, the gladiatorial Lorenzo and even these reinvigorated Ducatis all threaten Rossi’s championship aspirations.

Excluding a name such as Dani Pedrosa’s from that list is disheartening, as he too would have been relentlessly eying his maiden premier-class title. But with the unfortunate news of his injury, one has to question how long he has left in that exclusive circle of competitors, and indeed in MotoGP.

Nevertheless, Rossi has made the best possible start towards equalling Agostini this year. His biggest test will be consistency, and where better to demonstrate this than the Circuit of the Americas in Austin next week; a circuit at which the Italian has yielded a best finish of sixth since its MotoGP debut in 2013.

Even with the arrival of the next generation, embodied in Márquez, Rossi has proved the old guard can succeed. Winning his eighth premier class title in 2015 will rid the rider of any critics who question his presence in the sport at the age of 36.

In the Chinese zodiac, 2015 is the year of the goat. It would be pleasing to the MotoGP romantics if it were also the year the G.O.A.T (greatest of all time) is granted another success – which would be met with thee traditional, frolicsome celebrations that viewers have become accustomed to across his career.