Riders : Giacomo Agostini

Agostini was born 16 June 1942 in Brescia, Lombardy. He is an Italian multi-time world champion Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. Nicknamed Ago, he is the all-time leader in victories in motorcycle Grand Prix history, with 122 Grand Prix wins and 15 World Championships titles.

Agostini was the son of a wealthy Italian industrialist. His father originally didn't approve of his son's motorcycle racing career. He did everything he could to persuade his son not to race. Agostini would have to steal away to compete, first in hill climb events and then in road racing.

Eventually his father came to terms with his racing and he won the 1963 Italian 175cc championship aboard a Morini. He got his break when Morini factory rider, Tarquinio Provini left the team to ride for Benelli. Count Alfonso Morini hired the young Agostini to ride for him. In 1964, Agostini would win the Italian 350cc title and proved his ability by finishing fourth in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

These results caught the eye of Count Domenico Agusta who signed Agostini to ride for his MV Agusta squad as Mike Hailwood's team-mate. Agostini then fought a season-long battle with Honda's Jim Redman for the 1965 350cc world championship. He seemed to have the title won when he led the final round in Japan at Suzuka when his bike failed him, handing the title to Redman. At the end of the 1965 season, Hailwood left to join Honda as he had tired of working for the difficult Count Agusta. With Agostini now the top MV Agusta rider, he responded by winning the 500cc title seven years in succession for the Italian factory. He would also win the 350cc title seven times in succession and won 10 Isle of Man TTs. In 1967 he battled Hailwood in one of the most dramatic seasons in Grand Prix history. Each rider had 5 victories before the championship was decided in Agostini's favor at the last race of the season.

Agostini dropped a bombshell on the Grand Prix world when he announced he would never again race at the Isle of Man TT, after the death of his close friend, Gilberto Parlotti during the 1972 TT. He considered the circuit unsafe for world championship competition. At the time, the TT was the most prestigious race on the motorcycling calendar. Other top riders joined his boycott of the event and by 1976, the event was stricken from the Grand Prix schedule.

Agostini surprised the racing world when he announced that he would leave MV Agusta to ride for Yamaha in 1974 season. On his first outing for the Japanese factory, he won the prestigious Daytona 200, the premiere American motorcycle race. He went on to claim the 1974 350cc World Championship but injuries and mechanical problems kept him from winning the 500cc crown. He rebounded and won the 1975 500cc title, marking the first time a two-stroke machine won the premier class. The 1975 championship would also be the last world title for the 33 year old Italian. In 1976, he rode both Yamaha and MV bikes in the 500cc class, yet raced only once in the 350cc to win in Assen. For the challenging Nürburgring, he chose the 500cc MV Agusta and took it to victory, winning the last Grand Prix for both himself, the marque and four-stroke engines. He retired from motorcycle competition after finishing 6th in the 1977 season in which he also raced in 750cc endurance races for Yamaha.

Like John Surtees and Mike Hailwood before him, Agostini began an auto racing career in 1978 but only raced in Formula One outside the World Championship. He competed in the European Formula 2 series in a Chevron B42-BMW and British Aurora Formula 1 with his own team and a Williams FW06. He ended his auto racing career in 1980.

In 1982, Ago returned to the motorcycle racing as the Marlboro Yamaha team manager. As team manager he managed many successful riders including Kenny Roberts, and Eddie Lawson. He also served as the Cagiva race team manager in 1992. Agostini, who was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999, is considered one of the greatest Grand Prix riders of all time. In 14 years he won a record 15 Grand Prix World Championship titles and 122 Grand Prix victories. In 2000, the FIM named him a Grand Prix "Legend".