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What's gonna happen

when the red lights go out

at 2:
00 in the afternoon?

MotoGP race time.

In the next 45 minutes,

Wheel to wheel, side by side

at 200 miles an hour.

What's gonna happen?

On a good day, the answer doesn't

come until the very end.

The race is a battle

to the finish line.

June 15th, 2009

was a very good day.

The Catalan Grand Prix,

two laps to go.

Thirty-year-old Italian

multiple MotoGP champion

Valentino Rossi,

against his 21-year-old Spanish

teammate, Jorge Lorenzo.

"Teammate" is a

misleading term.

They are bitter rivals

in the same colors

on the same bikes.

Rossi is used to

being number one.

Lorenzo wants to be.

Lorenzo has won two of the

five races so far this season,

the champion only one.

Now, Rossi faces losing to Lorenzo in

front of the Spaniard's home crowd

and losing another five points

to him in the championship.

Victory would put

Rossi level on points.

More importantly, it would

put Lorenzo in his place,

at least for the time being.

A hundred thousand fans are watching

the battle around the track,

millions more on TV

around the world.

Here he

comes, down the straight,

Jorge Lorenzo's

gonna go through,

and he's gone through

Valentino Rossi.

Lorenzo brakes,

closes the door.

Very smart move, fairing

to fairing in the chicane.

He's trying to get past.

Jorge won't let him.

Final lap. Lorenzo in

front, Rossi behind.

Attention, attention. They've

been together all race long.

Of all those

watching, nobody knows better

than Rossi's own team where his

last chances to overtake are.

Faster, faster,

faster here!

Go, go!

More, more faster!

Rossi's best chance

is in the next few corners.

From Turn 10 onwards

it's all but impossible.

Haifa lap

to go here at Barcelona-

Jorge's beating him

hand to hand.

It's crazy, he'll be

leading the championship.

Go Valentino, go!

Head to head.

Lorenzo's carrying

a lot of speed out of Turn 9.

There's no way

through there.

Oh, mamma mia!

Mamma mia! Mamma mia!

On the inside,

Jorge's really got him.

Three corners to win

the Catalan Grand Prix.

He said

to me before this weekend,

if you go into

these corners first,

you know you're

gonna win the race.

Almost impossible. Very, very difficult.

Lorenzo ahead, Rossi behind.

There's no room here.

When Jorge

closed the door on me in Turn 9,

I say, "F***, I have to

try in the last corner."

But I don't know

if I crash.

And I hope, if I crash, we

crash together. Not alone.

And from that moment, I tried to

stay very, very, very close to him.

And I know I have a small

chance on the last corner.

It is strange

because I thought, "Okay, if

I can be the maximum fast,

"the maximum quick I can be

in the last two corners,

"he can't overtake me."

I just ride to go fast,

so some part of me thought, "Okay,

Valentino is going to try."

So, I didn't want to close

more, because Valentino is...

He's going to try the same.

So, maybe we could crash.

And another

part of me thought,

"Valentino is not

going to try,

"it's impossible

to pass there."

The surprise

was the important thing,

because also

Jorge don't expect.

When we arrived

to the last corner,

I said, "I have to brake a little bit

later than him, but not too much."

So, when he brake, I brake a bit

later, like five, six meters later,

and I try to put my bike

at 180 kilometers an hour

in 35 centimeters.

And I say,

"Maybe now I crash."

At the maximum braking,

when I go to the apex,

I feel the front go away.

And I say, "Please, don't

slide more because we crash."

But the front stayed.

The Bridgestone

front tire is a great tire.

What a race. He's got one corner left.

He's going for the inside.

And Rossi, he manages

something in the final corner.

I don't believe it.

I can't believe it.

He's done it.

I can't believe it.

It's impossible. Bravo!

And we arrived on the finish line

like this, but a little bit in front.

And it was

a great emotion.

What a race.

What a pass.

How did he do it?

Rossi's done it.

Valentino Rossi is one

of the most incredible riders...

I make

a really good race-

The only mistake I made

was in the last corner.

You always have something to

learn every day in racing.

Rossi!

They come and they go.

And they go as fast

as they possibly can.

For over 60 years, the fastest

motorcycle racers in the world

have dreamed

the same dream.

To win at the highest level.

The Grand Prix

World Championship.

Most of them last

a few seasons.

A rare few,

a decade or more.

And some,

just a few races.

Most walk away.

Some do not.

Safer now than it was,

but how can it ever be safe?

Wheel to wheel at 200 miles

an hour on a motorcycle.

People die doing this.

But most of them live.

Really live.

Over 750 riders

since 1949,

all brave, all fast,

and almost all destined to fail

at the ultimate challenge.

In 60 years, only 24 riders have won

the premier class world championship.

Of them, a few

won multiple titles.

And at the very summit of the

sport stand just two men

who have won the title

more than five times each,

Giacomo Agostini, who raced

in the '60s and the '70s

and took the premier

class crown eight times.

And Valentino Rossi, on his way

to his seventh title in 2009.

How many more races?

How many more

championships can he win?

Is he the greatest of all time?

Time will tell.

But for every year

that you push your bike

and your body

to the limit,

you push your luck

to the limit, as well.

You can't be

the fastest forever.

And when the red lights go

out, nobody's looking back.

The past is behind you.

And there's only

one question.

Who's fastest now?

I like to ride

motorcycles- I enjoy a lot-

I go in the best

circuit in the world

with the best bike

in the world,

try to go

as fast as possible.

Until I have this taste

and this passion

for riding motorcycles,

why I have

to stay at home?

Rossi won six of

the 18 Grand Prixs in 2009,

Lorenzo, four.

Another world championship

for the Italian

and a step closer for Lorenzo,

who finished second.

Valentino has won

a lot of world titles.

And Valentino has done a lot of

things for the motorcycle sport.

So, you must have

a lot of respect for him.

But for me,

he is not a god.

If you work really hard,

if your technique is extremely

good, then you can beat him.

As important as winning

races, is not crashing out of them.

In 2009, Rossi failed to finish

only once, at Indianapolis.

At the next Grand Prix

in San Marino, his home race,

he mocked his stupid-ass mistake at

Indy with a special helmet design

and a victory celebration

to go with it.

Lorenzo crashed

out of four races in 2009.

There goes up to 100 points

in the championship.

You can't afford to crash, and

you can't afford to get hurt.

But both are inevitable.

Where do MotoGP riders

go in the winter?

Onto the dirt for fun,

and they say, for fitness.

Training in

motocross is very important.

For physical, for mental,

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