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Rossi:
“Nicky is one of the best friends I have ever had in the paddock. We were teammates with Honda in his rookie year, 2003, when he was a young beginner in his first European experience. That season ended with the World Championship for me and his first podium at Phillip Island.
“A few years we battled against one another for the 2006 World Championship. It came down to the last race and in the end, unfortunately for me, he beat me to become MotoGP World Champion. After the race we shook hands and hugged.
“Later we became teammates again in the difficult years at Ducati, where we fought tooth and nail several times, even just to take the last spot in the top five.
“Nicky would often come to the Ranch, where it was always fantastic to see him and to try to grasp some secrets, battling together, because he was one of the fastest flat track riders in the world and before moving over to asphalt, he won in the most important American Flat Track races like the Peoria TT.
“But my fondest memory of him is when he came to shake my hand after the unlucky Valencia 2015 race, during the victory lap. For him it was his goodbye to MotoGP and I had just lost the championship. His look of support from behind his visor is one of the few positive memories I have of that day.
“Come on, Nicky, we are all with you.”
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