Italian MotoGP rider Dovizioso announces retirement from the sport after San Marino VC

The World Road Motorcycle Championship will lose one of the greatest icons in the history of the series. September’s San Marino Grand Prix will be Andrea Dovizioso’s last race of his long 21-year career. The Italian will be replaced by Yamaha test rider Briton Cal Crutchlow for the final six rounds of the season.

WithU Yamaha RNF stable rider Dovizioso announced his decision ahead of the race weekend at Silverstone in Britain.

The course of this season has not been kind to the thirty-six-year-old Forlimpopoli native. He has scored just ten points from eleven starts, with his best result coming at the Portuguese Grand Prix where he finished eleventh. In this race, he took half of all the championship “pips” he has won so far.

The announcement was made official on the Yamaha Racing website, where CEO Lin Jarvis made the announcement along with Dovizioso.

“We are all sorry to see Andrea leave our sport earlier than expected. He is a great MotoGP icon and will be missed in the paddock,” Jarvis described his feelings.

“We considered ourselves very fortunate that he was available and willing to join our racing program last year. Andrea’s great expertise and experience has been a great help to Yamaha and the RNF team. Unfortunately he was unable to get the most out of the M1 machine. The results were therefore not coming, which was understandably frustrating for him. Finally, during the summer break, he confirmed to us that he will retire before the end of the season.”

Dovizioso then added: “I never felt comfortable with the bike and was unable to realise its potential, even though the team and all of Yamaha were always there to help me. The results were not optimal, but I still consider the relationship with Yamaha a very important experience in my life.

I thank Yamaha for their support and I also thank my team and WithU and the other sponsors who participated in the project. It didn’t work out the way we thought it would, but it was the right thing to at least try. My adventure in Misano will come to an end, but my relationship with all the people who participated in this challenge will always remain intact. Thank you all,” concluded the Italian.

The Italian will be replaced by Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow for the last six Grands Prix.

Dovizioso announced in mid-July that this season would be his last. The 2004 125cc world champion will have completed 346 races after the San Marino Grand Prix. He has won a total of 24 times, 15 of them in the MotoGP class, where he has been runner-up three times in a row (2017-2019), always behind Marc Márquez.

Source: Yamaha Racing, MotoGP