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'Roman Emperor' Biaggi inducted in MotoGP Hall of Fame

Dorna Sports (MotoGP commercial rights holder) CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta presented Biaggi with his MotoGP Legend Medal at the ceremony, with plenty of famous faces from the paddock in attendance.

Max Biaggi

Bengaluru, May 31: Four-time 250cc world champion Max Biaggi was inducted into the MotoGP Hall of Fame on the sidlines of last week's ItalianGP with the spectacular Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello proving the perfect backdrop.

Dorna Sports (MotoGP commercial rights holder) CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta presented Biaggi with his MotoGP Legend Medal at the ceremony, with plenty of famous faces from the paddock in attendance - and a very special video message sent in from Prince Albert II of Monaco, too.

MotoGP great Valentino Rossi was also of the recent inductees into the MotoGP Hall of Fame.

Grazie Vale! Valentino Rossi named MotoGP LegendGrazie Vale! Valentino Rossi named MotoGP Legend

Incredibly - given the career he would go on to build - Biaggi started racing late, first competing at the age of 18.

From there, his rise was stratospheric as 1991 saw his first Grand Prix races and points in the 250cc class, 1992 heralded his first win and by 1994, the Roman Emperor was a world champion for the first time - also taking Aprilia's first title in the 250cc class.

The glory did not stop there, as Biaggi took the 250cc crown an incredible four times in a row and with two different factories, reigning the category from 1994 until 1997 inclusive and reserving his place in history as one of the best ever to race in the class.

Max Biaggi and Carmelo Ezpeleta

In 1998 Biaggi moved up to the premier class and, incredibly, he won on his 500cc debut - something not repeated since. He came runner up that year and began another run of impressive performances, never finishing outside the top five in the Championship in any premier class season between 1998 and 2005, his final hurrah in MotoGP.

By the time Biaggi departed the Grand Prix paddock he had accrued 42 victories, of which 13 were in the premier class, and 111 podiums and 56 pole positions overall.

But his motorcycle racing career was far from over, as he moved to World Superbike Championship (WSBK) and took 21 wins and 71 podiums.

The Italian crowned himself the champion in 2010 and 2012 -- therefore the first MotoGP Legend to also be a WSBK champion.

""First of all, thanks everybody for coming. This is a very special day for me and, first of all, I need to thank Carmelo and Dorna, who make this happen, because without them, nothing was possible, so thank you very much, Carmelo. Secondly, I want to say thanks simply to everyone who makes this happen; all the manufacturers' work in the past, starting from Aprilia, Honda, Yamaha, and all the people that are here are basically the ones that supported me all the time, in different teams and situations, in the good and bad days. So, I'm proud that everybody came; for me, this means a lot, because life still goes on after racing," said Biaggi.

The 50-year-old joins a long list of greats who have been made MotoGP Legends that includes apart from Rossi, the likes of Giacomo Agostini, Mick Doohan, Geoff Duke, Wayne Gardner, Mike Hailwood, Daijiro Kato, Eddie Lawson, Anton Mang, Angel Nieto, Wayne Rainey, Phil Read, Jim Redman, Kenny Roberts, Jarno Saarinen, Kevin Schwantz, Barry Sheene, Marco Simoncelli, Freddie Spencer, Casey Stoner, John Surtees, Carlo Ubbiali, Alex Crivillé, Franco Uncini, Marco Lucchinelli, Randy Mamola, Kork Ballington, Dani Pedrosa, Stefan Dörflinger, Jorge 'Aspar' Martinez and the late, great Nicky Hayden.

Story first published: Tuesday, May 31, 2022, 12:28 [IST]
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