“Valentino Rossi got results in any condition, but Marc Marquez moved the limit”

“I realised he had moved the limit. The way he rode, he used his body like I’ve never seen anyone do before.” 

Melandri continues naming the MotoGP riders who he rates as the best: “Surely Rossi is also on the podium, not so much for pure speed, but the way in which he always obtained the result, in any condition. 

“In the dry, in the wet, in the intermediate, he was always among the best.” 

No surprises so far, you might think, but Melandri’s third-favourite is not a name that you will have expected.

“A Japanese rider I met in 125cc, Tomomi Manako,” he said.

“I remember it was the first year I was racing in the world championship, I was 15 years old; before that I watched him on TV, I observed him with admiration and I learned a lot from him.”

Melandri, a 250cc champion, remembered Dani Pedrosa: “He was the cleanest rider on the track, but not because he was psychologically weak.

“However, he was so small that in hand-to-hand combat he always got the worst of it. 

“Therefore, he had to try to keep his distance from others as much as possible. 

“This led him to always be super clean.”

He recalls Marco Simoncelli, his teammate in 2010: “I was like an older brother, since I was in my eighth year. 

“We had many technical meetings together, analysing the data, and even when he was serious he took life as a game.”

Melandri’s best MotoGP memory was at Mugello in 2005: “At the end of the straight in front of the home crowd I passed Rossi and Max Biaggi in one go. 

“That overtaking was almost worth a world championship!”

Today, a new era of riders is also led by an Italian.

Melandri predicts this season’s champion: “Pecco Bagnaia, because he is the most complete rider. 

“He’s the most ready, he’s aware of his strength and his speed because he won last year and has the best bike, which he rides better than anyone else.”

But Melandri likens himself to Enea Bastianini: “Both for the riding position in the saddle, and for his aptitude for the race, more waiting in the first part and looking for a solution in the final part.”