3 Riders Who HATED Max Biaggi The Most

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]Max Biaggi was born to be hated. The Roman Emperor. Four consecutive 250 cc world championships, 13 premier class Grand Prix victories, and a personality so arrogant that even his own teammates wanted to punch him in the face. Biaggi didn't just race motorcycles, he made enemies on purpose, with pleasure, and with a pride that made humility look like weakness. He dated supermodels. He walked into press conferences like he owned the paddock, and he spoke to rivals the same way emperors spoke to peasants. "Wash your mouth out before you talk about me." That's what Max Biaggi told a 17-year-old Valentino Rossi in a restaurant in Japan. And that insult started a war that would define both their careers. But Rossi wasn't the only rider who hated Max Biaggi. At 54 years old, two decades removed from his MotoGP career, Biaggi's legacy isn't measured in champion- ships or victories. It's measured in the three riders who despised him so completely that even retirement couldn't erase the hatred. Rider number one, Valentino Rossi. The first rider who hated Max Biaggi the most was Valentino Rossi, and the hatred started before the two men ever raced against each other. In 1996, Rossi was a 17-year-old kid making his debut in the 125 cc world championship.

[00:01:29]Biaggi was already a two-time 250 cc world champion, the Roman Emperor.

[00:01:35]Italy's first mainstream motorcycle racing celebrity since Giacomo Agostini.

[00:01:40]Dating supermodels, front-page headlines in gossip magazines, living the life of a star while Rossi was still learning how to deal with press interviews. But Rossi had a problem with Biaggi that had nothing to do with racing. Rossi was a fan of Loris Capirossi. And Capirossi's biggest rival in the 250 cc class was Max Biaggi. That simple fact placed Biaggi in Rossi's enemy camp before the two had ever spoken. Rossi formed his opinion of Biaggi from what he read in the press, watched on television, heard from others, and decided that the arrogant Roman with the supermodel girlfriend represented everything wrong with motorcycle racing. Too serious. Too proud. Too concerned with image and status instead of just riding motorcycles and having fun. By 1997, Rossi had won his first world championship in the 125 cc class and started grabbing headlines across Italy.

[00:02:40]Motorcycle racing in Italy is mainstream, almost as big as football.

[00:02:45]And when a 17-year-old long-haired kid from Tavullia started stealing Biaggi's press coverage, the Roman emperor's ego couldn't handle it. At the opening round of the 1997 World Championship in Malaysia, a journalist asked Rossi if he dreamed of being the Max Biaggi of the 125 class.

[00:03:05]Rossi's response became legendary. "I'm sorry, but I think it's going to be him that dreams of being the Rossi of 250."

[00:03:13]The insult detonated across Italian media. And at the very next round in Japan, Biaggi confronted Rossi in a restaurant near the Suzuka Circuit.

[00:03:23]Spotting Rossi sitting with Italian journalists, Biaggi marched straight up to the teenager and said the words that would define their rivalry for the next decade. "Before talking about me, you should wash your mouth out." Within earshot of the Italian press, Biaggi couldn't have created more of a sensation if he had pulled the pin on a live grenade. The war had begun, and neither man would back down for the next 8 years. When both riders reached the premiere 500 cc class in the early 2000s, the hatred exploded into physical violence. The 2001 season became an all-out war between Biaggi on the factory Yamaha and Rossi on the factory Honda. At Suzuka, Japan, Biaggi tried to force Rossi off the track at 220 km/h racing down the main straight. Rossi overtook him anyway and gave Biaggi a one finger salute at 160 mph. Both riders received rebukes from the FIM, motorcycling's governing body, but neither cared. The feud was personal, national, and consuming. Two races later at the Catalan Grand Prix in Barcelona, the hatred reached its breaking point.

[00:04:39]Rossi won the race comfortably. "Passing him was like the best orgasm," Rossi would later say. But after the race, as both riders climbed the narrow staircase toward the podium, Biaggi shoved Rossi's manager, Gibo Badioli, out of the way.

[00:04:55]Rossi shouted, "What the [ __ ] do you think you're doing?" Biaggi turned around and the two pumped-up racers, buzzing on adrenaline and mutual hatred, started throwing punches at each other on the stairs. Rossi's manager separated them and received a headbutt from Biaggi for his efforts. Half an hour later, at the podium press conference, a journalist asked Biaggi about the cut above his eye. Biaggi, bleeding from his face, looked into the cameras and said, "It must have been caused by a mosquito bite." The paddock erupted. The Italian media went insane and Honda organized a press conference at the next race to force both riders to publicly agree to stop fighting. It worked temporarily, but the damage was permanent. The rivalry between Rossi and Biaggi wasn't just about racing. It was a battle of personalities.

[00:05:48]Rossi, the fun-loving clown from the Adriatic coast, versus Biaggi, the aristocratic Roman who wore his heart on his sleeve. Alison Forth, who worked as global press officer for Yamaha when both riders were on the team, described them as chalk and cheese. "Max wears his heart on his sleeve much more than Valentino. So, you really know what he's thinking. Vale was much more in control of himself." But, the real destruction came in the results. Between 2000 and 2005, when both riders competed directly against each other, Biaggi finished behind Rossi in the championship standings every single season. Every year. Runner-up in 2001 and 2002. Third in 2003 and 2004. And by 2005, when Biaggi was riding for the factory Honda team at age 34, he didn't win a single race. Honda replaced him with Dani Pedrosa for 2006, and Biaggi's MotoGP career was over.

[00:06:50]Rossi had destroyed him. Not just on the track, but psychologically. "Biaggi suffered because all the media started going to Valentino." one paddock insider explained. "Biaggi was destroyed in the mind by the sheer normality of Valentino." Years later, both men made peace. In 2023, Biaggi admitted, "We were two idiots who waged war against each other through the press instead of clarifying in person." But, the damage was done. Valentino Rossi didn't just beat Max Biaggi. He erased him from Italian motorcycle racing history by becoming so popular that Biaggi's four 250cc world championships became footnotes. That's the worst kind of hatred. The kind that makes you irrelevant. Rider number two, Loris Capirossi. The second rider who hated Max Biaggi the most was Loris Capirossi, and the hatred was born not from rivalry on the track, but from betrayal off it.

[00:07:49]Because Capirossi wasn't just Biaggi's rival in the 250cc class during the 1990s, he was also the rider Valentino Rossi idolized. Rossi made his debut in the 125cc World Championship in 1996, already a fan of Capirossi. And since Biaggi was Capirossi's main rival in the 250cc class, that automatically placed Biaggi in the enemy camp. Rossi formed a dislike of Biaggi from what he read in the press and heard from others. And most of what he heard came from Capirossi's side of the 250cc war. The battles between Biaggi and Capirossi in the 250cc class were brutal, physical, and personal in ways that racing rarely becomes. Biaggi won four consecutive 250cc World Championships from 1994 to 1997.

[00:08:45]Capirossi was the man trying to stop him. In 1993, before Biaggi dominated the class, Capirossi finished runner-up to Japan's Tetsuya Harada. But once Biaggi arrived and started winning, Capirossi's chances of another title disappeared. The Italian press covered the rivalry like a civil war. Two Italians, two completely different personalities, and only one championship available. But the defining moment of their hatred came in 1998. A race that would become one of the most controversial in Grand Prix history. The final round of the 250cc Championship in Argentina. Capirossi and his teammate Tetsuya Harada, both riding for Aprilia, were separated by four points going into the final race. Harada was leading the championship. Capirossi was four points behind. And on the final lap of the final race, Harada was running in second place with Capirossi in third. If the positions stayed the same, the two riders would be equal on points, and Harada would win the championship on a count back. Coming into the final corner of the final lap, Capirossi made a move, a desperate, calculated, deliberate move up the inside of his own teammate that looked more like a T-bone collision than a racing pass. Harada's bike was rammed from behind by Capirossi's machine and sent sprawling off the track. Capirossi hung on to his motorcycle and finished second, won the world championship, and immediately became the most hated rider in the paddock. Aprilia fired him in the off-season, the FIM penalized him, and the racing world condemned him for deliberately crashing his own teammate to steal a championship. But here's the connection to Biaggi. The environment that created Capirossi's desperation was born from years of Biaggi showing the 250cc paddock that nice guys finish second. A lesson Capirossi took to its absolute extreme in 1998.

[00:10:49]Biaggi had broken Capirossi psychologically by winning four consecutive championships while Capirossi watched from second and third place. And when Capirossi finally had a chance to win another title in 1998, he was so consumed by the need to win that he destroyed his own teammate rather than accept another season without a championship. The hatred between Biaggi and Capirossi wasn't as public as the Rossi feud. There were no physical fights, no press conference insults, but the rivalry was deep enough that when Rossi became a Capirossi fan, Biaggi automatically became Rossi's enemy. Capirossi represented everything Rossi loved about racing. Fun, aggressive, willing to crash rather than finish second. Biaggi represented everything Rossi hated. Arrogant, political, concerned with image more than results. And when Rossi entered the paddock already hating Biaggi because of Capirossi's influence, it guaranteed that the Rossi-Biaggi war would be fought with a personal intensity that went beyond normal racing rivalry. Years later, Capirossi and Biaggi made peace.

[00:12:06]"Time smooths things over when you're no longer racing." Capirossi said. But during their racing years, the hatred was real. And the fact that Capirossi was willing to crash his own teammate in 1998 rather than accept another championship defeat shows just how deeply the years of losing to Biaggi had destroyed him mentally. That's the legacy Max Biaggi left in the 250cc class. Not just championships, but psychological scars on the rivals he dominated.

[00:12:37]Rider number three, Tetsuya Harada. The third rider who hated Max Biaggi the most was Tetsuya Harada. The Japanese rider who won the 1993 250cc world championship and then spent the next five years watching Max Biaggi dominate the class he should have owned. Harada's hatred of Biaggi was different from Rossi's media war or Capirossi's psychological breakdown. Harada's hatred was quiet, professional, and born from the simple fact that Biaggi was faster when it mattered most. Harada arrived in the 250cc world championship in 1993 riding a Yamaha and won the title in his first attempt. Four race victories including his home race in Japan, beat Honda's Loris Capirossi, and established himself as the future of the 250 cc class. But a wrist injury destroyed his 1994 season. He finished seventh overall with only a single podium finish. And when he returned to full fitness in 1995, Max Biaggi was waiting for him. The 1995 season became a war between Harada's Yamaha and Biaggi's Aprilia. Harada won one race, finished second eight times, remarkable consistency, but Biaggi was better. More victories, more podiums. And when the championship was decided, Harada finished second overall, the closest he would ever come to winning another title. In 1996, Harada's Yamaha was underpowered compared to Biaggi's Aprilia. Four podium finishes, eighth place in the championship, another year of watching Biaggi win. In 1997, Harada switched to Aprilia, hoping that riding the same machinery as Biaggi would level the playing field. He finished the season with 235 points, the most he had ever scored, but Biaggi finished ahead of him, again. Third place in the championship, another year of being beaten by the Roman Emperor.

[00:14:44]And then came 1998, the year that destroyed Tetsuya Harada in ways that racing never could. Harada was Loris Capirossi's teammate at Aprilia. Both riders were fighting for the 1998 250 cc World Championship.

[00:15:01]Harada led for most of the season, rode brilliantly, and came to the final race in Argentina leading the championship by four points. On the final lap of the final race, Harada was running in second place. Capirossi was in third. If the position stayed the same, Harada would win the championship on a countback. And then Capirossi rammed him from behind in the final corner, sent Harada off the track, stole the championship, and left Harada with nothing. The crash wasn't Biaggi's fault, but the ruthlessness Capirossi showed was a direct reflection of the environment Biaggi created. A 250 cc class where second place meant nothing, and winning justified everything. Biaggi's dominance had spent years showing the pattern that nice guys finish second. And when Capirossi crashed Harada to win the 1998 title, it was the final proof that Biaggi's legacy in the 250 cc class wasn't just about championships. It was about creating a culture where rivals would do anything, including destroying their own teammates, rather than accept another season without a title. Harada never won another championship. He moved to the 500 cc class in 1999, struggled on underpowered machinery, returned to 250 cc in 2001 for one final attempt at a second title, won three races, but finished second overall to Japan's Daijiro Kato, and retired in 2002 at age 32. One championship, one stolen championship, and a career defined by being the rider who should have dominated the 250 cc class in the 1990s, but instead spent five years watching Max Biaggi win everything. Max Biaggi won six world championships, four in 250 cc, two in World Superbikes, 13 victories in the premier class, and a legacy measured not in trophies, but in the enemies he created. Valentino Rossi hated him so completely that he erased Biaggi from Italian racing history by becoming more popular. Loris Capirossi hated him so deeply that he crashed his own teammate rather than accept another championship defeat. And Tetsuya Harada hated him quietly for five years of being beaten by a man who arrived in the 250cc class and took everything Harada should have won. Some riders are remembered for what they achieved. Max Biaggi is remembered for who he destroyed.